FAA issued its 20-year forecast for aviation showing growth prospects for business jets and Light-Sport Aircraft. It also forecasts a decline in the total number of piston-powered aircraft. Viewed from a distance, this might seem beneficial to Light-Sport Aircraft producers and sellers. Reasonably, FAA’s report appears to suggest recreational pilots will enjoy more hours aloft in a growing fleet of LSA. *** Against a backdrop of what seems to be continuously increasing prices for avgas — some believe 100LL might even disappear — the fuel efficiency of LSA becomes more important. For example, Rotax just launched their 912 iS fuel-injected engine boasting a 21% reduction in fuel consumption, taking the popular engine from burning about five gallons per hour to a theoretical four gallons in an hour of flying. Should we LSA enthusiasts celebrate these facts? *** Regretfully, I find FAA’s forecast improbable (see details below). Not that the agency’s number crunchers are wrong; in fact, I hope they might be right.
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MoGas Flying Higher As AvGas Price Rises
“Things are really popping with autogas,” said Kent Misegades, one member of a group trying to assure more LSA-friendly fuels (like zero ethanol or E0). Though the new Rotax 912 iS can handle ethanol, it truly loves E0 and many experts say it runs more powerfully and cleaner with such fuel plus wear and tear is reportedly reduced. Another big plus is that such fuel is significantly cheaper than avgas like 100LL. *** Kent reported that they found a new supplier in California resulting in the Santa Rosa airport beginning to sell it. “With the recent rise in avgas prices and the latest news of the Friends of Earth lawsuit against the EPA, my inbox is full of requests for help to get autogas,” added Kent. “Todd Petersen is even busier with autogas STCs, which have been selling well in recent years.” *** Kent further described the benefits “As LSA owners know, autogas is not only an excellent fuel for the engines that power the vast majority of light aircraft, but it is the only affordable, lead-free, FAA-approved aviation fuel we have in any quantity.
New Fuel-Injected Rotax 912 iS!
Rotax Aircraft Engines just raised the bar with its new Rotax 912 iS, fuel-injected, 100-hp engine, based on the truly ubiquitous core 912 mill we all know so well. *** FYI: Did you know more than 170,000 Rotax aircraft units are in service worldwide? Wow! That’s a lot of engines. *** The new powerplant is being hailed as the most fuel efficient aviation engine for light sport aircraft. *** Alas, the 912 iS won’t download your email, doesn’t have a Retina display and has nothing in fact to do with Apple. Watch the video below for more details on the new engine’s operation. *** The “i” of course stands for fuel injected, and with this happy development come beaucoup bennies: • Up to 30% lower fuel consumption than previous versions, and up to 78% lower than “comparable competitive engines”. Could this lead to smaller fuel tanks in LSA? That would easily make up for the 13 pound increase in engine weight and then some without giving up range.
Lessons From The Field, Part Deux
Time to wrap up this week’s discussion with John Lampson, CFII and veteran Flight Design CTLS instructor. *** Our topic: How and why are LSA different than GA airplanes and what transition challenges do they present for experienced GA pilots?”LSA really perform,” says John. “When you add power in the CT, it wants to just leap off the ground. That’s not true of most heavier GA airplanes.” *** “As I said earlier, GA experience shouldn’t hold pilots back in an LSA. But I’ve noticed they’re often surprised at the lighter, more dramatic, responsive feel of LSA, especially when they make the exact same control inputs that they’re used to for a GA airplane.” *** “New pilots on the other hand, with no prior flying experience, have no preconceptions. I can teach them from the ground up. They don’t have to combat and unlearn those old habits first.” *** Does that mean baby blue students get with the program quicker?
Falcons On The Hunt
Just heard from “Doc” Bailey of the Renegade Light-Sport gang, who have taken over U.S. production of the sleek, muscular Falcon SLSA along with wrangling the new Lycoming 233 LSA series of engines.In mid-May, Doc says they’ll be introducing their latest US version of the Falcon, including the tailwheel to tricycle version which uses the same airframe. *** The entire plane is now made here in the US, and based on the constant attention and sales at Sebring, Renegade would seem to have a success on their hands. I’ll be flying it in the next few weeks: have been looking forward to that for some time.Meanwhile, Doc tells me, “We have just moved into our new 44,000 square foot facility here at Lee’s Summit (MO). Sometime I would like to give you a tour of our facility and then when and if you want to go to North Carolina I will take you to our new composite plant, (where) we hope to be making as many as six LSA airframes there soon for different ‘want to be Made in the USA’ vendors.” *** He says the new version of the Falcon will knock my socks off.
Rans S-7 Courier LS
Available Fully Assembled or as a Kit
Unlike the flock of internationally
designed Special Light-Sport Aircraft,
RANS is a familiar name to Americans.
Even closer to home, ultralight enthusiasts know
the brand very well; ultralight aviation is the
arena that gave designer Randy Schlitter his
start. I first recall seeing the brand at Sun ‘n
Fun around 1984. And each year subsequently, it
seemed, Randy showed up with something new.
Not long into this profusion of new designs came
the S-7.
“The design of the S-7 originated out of the
need to train [single-place] Coyote I pilots,”
Randy explains, “so the cockpit was set up the
same with throttle on the left, and stick in the
middle.” Randy adds that he named the Courier
in honor of one of his favorite planes, the STOLperforming
Helio Courier.
The S-7 Courier was the first 2-seater produced
by RANS, dating to 1985 when the first prototype
flew, succeeding the S-4/5 single-seater that
kick-started the aviation business of the nowwell-
known airplane manufacturer.
End-‘O-Year Registration Numbers
The much-anticipated LSA Market Share numbers as compiled by LAMA Europe’s head dude Jan Fridrich are up on Dan Johnson’s blog this week. They expand on some anticipated, surprising and overall encouraging themes. Sales were up at Sebring and many companies are posting strong numbers. *** First, in the No Brainer Dept: Cessna and CubCrafters won the year hands down. *** Big Cessna, as the charts Dan and Jan compile clearly show, had the largest number of registrations in 2011 with 134, a record for the LSA industry and fully 48% of all listings for the year. The numbers reflect Cessna playing catchup on its 1,000 order glut back at the beginning of the LSA movement. *** As Dan is always quick to clarify and I like to remind you, these are not sales numbers, but actual registrations and thus will lag sales numbers somewhat or, in Cessna’s case with their long initial production delays, quite a bit.
Icon Back on the Radar Screen
The splash heard ’round the LSA world continues to send out ripples, though it’s been years now since startup LSA maker Icon Aircraft first announced, with considerable marketing fanfare, its amphibious light sport amphibious project, the A5. *** Now comes word today from the company that’s it’s just completed a “demanding regimen of spin-resistance test flights. This milestone will make the A5 the first production aircraft in history to be designed to and completely comply with the Federal Aviation Administration’s full-envelope Part 23 spin-resistance standards developed from NASA’s work on the topic.” *** The lengthy release (a PDF file) goes on to enumerate the general cost in lives and hardware to civilian flying from stall/spin accidents, and cites its intentions to “design the A5 to the more difficult to achieve but safer standard of ‘spin resistant,’” as opposed to spin recoverable. *** Icon also conformed its testing regimen to the FAA Part 23 standard for certified aircraft.
Electric-Powered Light Aircraft
Flying with Juice
As an airplane approaches, a whirring sound accompanied by a
barely discernible whine and a mild propeller buzz exhibit a
Doppler effect as the plane passes overhead. What is that curious noise?
We are intimately attuned to internal combustion engine sounds –
some experts claim they can identify the brand and size of an engine
simply by listening to it run. We’re less aware of electric motor noises
because we quickly tune them out. Electric motors run everywhere in
our lives – in our refrigerators, our computers, in our ceiling fans, and
numerous other appliances. Most motors – it’s incorrect to call them an
“engine” – are exceptionally quiet, and that’s a good thing.
One wonders if relatively quiet electric motors on aircraft will invade
our piston-powered world, especially given noise sensitivity at many airports.
Some say, “We’re about to see if electric works.” I say, “We’re seeing
it right now!”
Two years ago, I wrote about ultralights – literally Part 103-compliant
ultralights – operating remarkably well on electric power.1 In the ensuing
months, more projects have been announced.
Sebring’s Record Crowds, Brisk Sales & Sunny Skies
The eighth running of Sebring just finished and a resounding success it was on nearly all counts. A few dour faces noted exhibitors were off a rather modest 5% (according to officials) but in every other category, smiles were broad from most attending or exhibiting at Sebring 2012. *** The weather was the best ever with temperatures hitting 80 degrees and every day was sunny and pleasant. My colleague, Jim Lawrence, presents many interesting points in his January 21 article. Here I’ll add my own views and experiences and both of us will have more in the days ahead. *** Metric #1 — Attendance set an opening day record on Thursday the 19th, surprising many, though perhaps expectations were low after the last three years of economic sluggishness. On Friday evening, airport manager Mike Willingham told me an all-time Sebring Expo record was set on the second day and judging from the thick crowds clustered around nearly every booth and filling the walkways, that was easy to believe.
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