Search Results for : MG 21

Top General Aviation manufacturer *** Cirrus Aircraft, which makes the Cirrus line of four-seat, all-composite aircraft, just announced it’s partnering with another composite company, one that’s had its share of delays in getting to market: Icon Aircraft. *** The Icon A5, a sleek, highly-promoted amphibian SLSA, has gathered several hundred orders although the company, formed in 2005, is still in development testing. Its latest production estimate is another year off. *** Cirrus said it expects to add up to 60 jobs at its Grand Forks, N.D., plant as it manufactures a large portion of the A5. *** ICON says it sought the partnership with Cirrus “because of its reputation for quality composite airframes in its SR-20 and SR-22 planes.” *** For its part, Cirrus, which originally planned to rebadge and market a sleek, European-built SLSA of its own back in the beginning of the Light Sport era (2004), says the partnership will give it a horse in the new category.

Edit: There was some confusion after I first posted this a few days before Oshkosh, so I hope this addendum clears things up: *** First Piper, now Cessna…wow, didn’t see this coming. I’m referring to Piper leaving the LSA field after dropping the PiperSport a couple years back. Similarly, Cessna will no longer list the Skycatcher in the LSA category, but…and here’s where there was some misunderstanding, although I do say this in the text below…the aircraft will continue to be produced at its current specs and will still be legal to fly by Sport Pilots. *** —– *** Even though I’m not arriving in Oshkosh until Friday, this newsflash hot off the wire can’t wait. I just picked this up from the Wichita Eagle. In brief, it says: *** Cessna just announced they’ll move the C-162 Skycatcher into the Primary Aircraft category. It will no longer be a Light Sport Aircraft .

Pipistrel in particular seems to be riding the crest of ever-growing reputation. It’s new Alpha Trainer, which I’m scheduled to fly tomorrow morning, lucky me (I’m the first US journalist I think to have the privilege), is already selling and selling well, with at least a couple checks changing hands at the show earlier in the week and another sold by Rand Vollmer, the Southeast Pipistrel go-to guy, today, the $83,000 ($89,000 with shipping from Slovenia and U.S. set up and other costs factored in) is staged to make a big play for individuals and flight schools who are ready for an aircraft that is truly cheap to fly (2 gph in training takeoff/landing circuits, 3-3.5 gph at 107 knot cruise…and all this on an 80 hp Rotax 912!) and representative of a progressive, brilliant design team that promises more exciting developments in years to come. *** Exciting as in the Panthera 4-seat Ferrari-like cruiser that is currently in development for 2013 delivery as a certificated airplane in Europe…2015-6 in the U.S *** Pipistrel is a bold, imaginative company of forward thinkers like company founder Ivo Boscarol, award-winning engineers like project leader Tine Tomazic and savvy marketers like U.S.

Just put in my first day at the show, only doing 3 days this year, plus a layover day to pick up any after-show-convenient flight reports. *** Todd Ellefson, Will Escutia and Daniel Perez and the new owners of Quicksilver, the venerable ultralight company, announced it will pursue ASTM conformation certification for two of its time-proven models, the GT-500 and Sport 2S, as S-LSA and E-LSA. Quicksilver has sold more than 15,000 aircraft over the years, and has one of the most beautiful, slam-dunk, bolt-together kits you’ve ever seen. I built several in the early 1980′s: absolutely impeccable, easy-build kits. *** The FAA verification process has already begun toward offering models as Experimentally Amateur Built kits as well, which will allow two-seat former Ultralight category Quicksilver models that were phased out when the Light Sport Aircraft category came into being to have a home again. *** Although a good percent of the many, many Piper Cubs have gone home, there is still a distinct marigold presence of dozens of the classic bird that brought civilian flying almost singlehandedly to the nation back in the ’30s and ’40s.

First Piper, now Cessna…wow, didn’t see this coming. *** Even though I’m not arriving in Oshkosh until Friday, this newsflash hot off the wire can’t wait. I just picked this up from the Wichita Eagle. In brief, it says: *** Cessna just announced they’ll move the C-162 Skycatcher into the Primary Aircraft category. It will no longer be a Light Sport Aircraft . This on the heels of news that the Wichita-based aviation giant had pulled it’s European marketing and EASA CS-LSA certification efforts because of the cost and complexity above and beyond certifying to the U.S. Light Sport category. *** The company said switching to Primary Aircraft will aid in the certification process with countries worldwide, which certainly includes Europe’s EASA CS-LSA standards, which you can think of as FAA Airworthiness Lite, or looked at another way, LSA Heavy. *** Cessna was quick to add that the Skycatcher will still be flyable by pilots with a sport pilot license.

“Situational Awareness” is one of those phrases you hear a lot when aviation safety is the topic… and when isn’t aviation safety the topic in a cockpit? *** New on the market is a device to allow pilots to keep their eyes on the skies… while also having instrument readouts right in their field of view. *** HUD, or Heads-Up Display, a military technology that allows pilots to get all the info they need without having to scan the instrument panel so often, is here for the small aircraft screen. Milan, Italy-based PAT Avionics is the maker of the new G-HULP. *** HUD displays let you keep eyes outside without missing critical readouts *** Marco Mille, Chief Technology Officer for PAT, says this about it: “After three years of research and development, (HUD) technology is finally available to make experimental and light sport aircraft pilots safer.” *** The G-HULP allows pilots to easily monitor readouts such as air speed, altitude and course data, while looking forward, since the information is projected on a transparent glass display right above the instrument panel in the pilot’s direct forward view.

Catching up from the road after 3 weeks (1 day to go) in Hamburg, Germany on family business and a laptop double-meltdown (don’t ask). *** The Sling is a South African LSA that made a splash in 2009 with a ‘round-the-world flight just received its official S-LSA Airworthiness certificate, making it #125 on the official list.The Airplane Factory in Johannesburg, and more than 60 have been delivered worldwide. Developed in 2006, and with more than 100 orders total to date, the company is hoping the Sling will compete successfully in the crowded U.S. market. *** The staff is made up of 75 full timers — no garage band airplane company here — and produces five ready-to-fly Slings per month, and even more in kit form. *** For the U.S. market, the Sling will also be offered in kit form, either as an E-LSA or Experimental Amateur-Built. *** The Airplane Factory of Torrance, CA will wrangle the U.S.

* REVISED June 21: Missing text at end replaced. * *** Some big news developing recently regarding the European Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) certification of the first three light sport aircraft in its new category designed to legitimize ASTM-certified LSA. *** The new category is called EASA CS-LSA. We’ve talked about it before, see below, but this is a significant step forward and here are some of the highlights. *** The three planes are names we’re all familiar with: the Flight Design CTLS-ELA, Czech Sport Aircraft PS-28 Cruiser (which is known here as the Sportruiser and was, for a year, the Piper Sport), and Evektor’s SportStar RTC (stands for Restricted Type Certificate). The Cruiser was the first to be awarded the cert, with the CTLS-ELA coming right after. Both were heralded at the recent Aero convention in Europe, while the SportStar was announced a few days ago.

This is pretty cool, I have to say: a flying…what, waterbike? Winged pontoon? Powered box kite? Here’s the home page for *** Flynano: and doesn’t this supremely giddy pilot in the illustration remind you of U2′s Bono? Hmmm…backer? Person of Interest? Is Lindsay Lohan going to buy one? Stay tuned… *** A year ago, I wrote about these enterprising and clever folks behind the Flynano project. They made a (cue: drum roll) big splash at Europe’s 2011 Aero show when they introduced the mockup. Frankly, I confess to a tad of private skepticism: it looked like a long shot to ever fly, let alone actually come to market. That’s why I try to curb my public expressions of criticism: it’s so easy to be proven wrong. *** I was concerned that although the boxwing concept — a joined upper/lower wing, tailless design — has been proven, (and even marketed in Europe as the Sunny Boxwing, see video at bottom), the Flynano could easily have been just another blue-sky, briefly-ballyhooed project, like so many that have come down the pike (do the name Moeller Aircar ring a familiar note?) *** Yet how cool indeed ‘twould be if this easy-fly skimmer-bug of a recreational aircraft that only operates from the water could actually fly?

Although we Sport Pilots only have to self-certify (and have a driver’s license) to legally fly Light Sport Aircraft, *** the success of the self-certification “medical” has no doubt factored into AOPA and EAA’s joint proposal to FAA to expand the concept to include Private Pilots. *** To add your comments to the FAA page about such a medical exemption, go here…the end of the comment period is near, so if you have a take on this topic, let it fly.