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Somebody at the L.A. Times has got a sweet tooth for the flying car, specifically the Terrafugia Transition SLSA-legal “roadable” airplane. No less than six feature articles about flying cars have appeared in the prestigious newspaper’s online edition in the last month alone, in departments as diverse as Business, U.S., Nation Now, Tech Now and Automobiles, penned by a variety of journalists. *** All this attention also signifies somebody at Terrafugia is really doing a superb job at getting the word out, which has in fact been evident from the beginning: I’ve seen notices of hundreds of articles in all kinds of publications since the program was first announced some years ago.Clearly the idea of a Jetsons-style flying car continues to tickle the cultural subconscious. *** That the Transition is wildly unaffordable for most 99 percenters hardly matters: it’s kind of a kick, isn’t it, to imagine being able to fly your car anywhere, then drive around once you get there?

*** While at Sun ‘n Fun I heard the good news that the long-in-development Terrafugia Transition® Street-Legal Airplane (that’s it’s latest name) hit the road, then the skies on its first production prototype flight. *** You may remember there was a “Roadable” in the name at one time, but whatever the official moniker, everybody pretty much still calls it “that flying car.”Terrafugia forges on with the first flight announcement, happily picked up in media outlets from science mags to newspapers around the world, which took place March 23, 2012. *** How long until the $250,000-plus car-plane rolls off the production lines? Sometime within the next year is as close as the company is willing to predict, having been at it for a few years now. *** The flight reached 1400’ AGL and lasted eight minutes. Six flight test phases are planned before the craft, which is still targeted for ASTM certification as an S-LSA, is ready for prime time.By the way, if you’re in the Big Apple, you can see the production prototype up close and personal.

I caught up with a fellow hang glider pioneer from the 70s’, Scott Severen of U.S. Aviation, Denton, TX who filled me in on the latest events for his broad-based Light Sport/GA service and repair center. *** U.S. Aviation is a large, well-established aviation service center that does it all: flight training, aircraft and avionics sales, service and maintenance (for general aviation as well as LSA). *** Scott has been involved with Indus Aviation and its Thorpedo LSA aircraft for years. That project is moving to a China-based manufacturing base and “It’s a big process to pull it all together,” he says. He was just over there, assembling a couple Thorpedos to support the transition. *** “It will be a beautiful facility over there once it’s built. We’ll still do parts and aircraft sales in Dallas, and US Aviation will assist in factory support of the Thorpedo; it’s one of several LSA we do.

Bret Koebbe of Sporty’s Pilot Shop introduced me to a cool new ADS-B weather uplink product, the Stratus. *** US built by Appareo Systems, it’s a completely portable, wire-free, subscription-free weather solution that works in conjunction only (so far) with the Foreflight ap for the iPad. *** The Stratus provides ADS-B-based weather, Nexrad, Metars, TAS, Airmets, Sigmets, TFRS, “the whole nine yards of everything that’s included with ADS-B” as Bret describes it, all wirelessly transmitted to your in-cockpit iPad. *** It uses the iPad’s WiFi connection, and can be broadcast to more than one iPad in the cockpit. Just open Foreflight, link it to the Stratus box, and you’ve got all your weather info with you. *** The ADS-B weather coverage will be coast to coast-complete sometime in 2013. *** It’s a simple device: eight-hour battery, wire free, built-in ADS-B antenna buiilt into the box, and also includes WAAS GPS with 1-2 meter accuracy.

Sun ‘n Fun got off to a great start with weather in the low 80’s, a helpful breeze and lots of new buildings and of course massive traffic jams coming in to the show because some things should never change no matter how many improvements are made. *** Seriously, the Sun ‘n Fun folks do a great job and there are many new things on the field to make life more enjoyable for spectators and those of us here to work.First up: Jim Dehart of Atlanta Light Sport Aviation was excited to show off his school’s new FK12 Comet with the first-in-US Lycoming IO-233 fully aerobatic light sport engine. *** “The airplane is really powerful,” Jim says, “and at 696 lbs. will be a real performer.” *** He quotes the horsepower at 125 hp but I’ve seen it at 116 max everywhere else so either I’ve got it wrong and there’s a bump in power from the inverted fuel/oil system on the aerobatic version (standard carburetted version also available, as well as a Rotax version, or he meant to say 116 hp.

Supersonic flight pioneer and WWII ace Chuck Yeager is famous for using, if not coining, the term “pushing the envelope,” which has entered the popular lexicon for just about anything to do with growth and meeting challenges. *** In that vein, since the day the Light Sport category became a fixture of the aviation regulatory landscape, there have been calls to do everything from abolish it outright to expand it’s current parameter. The parameters invoked to arrive at the perfect light aircraft involve the Usual Suspects: faster, bigger, stronger, heavier, better load, no altitude restrictions etcetera etcetera etcetera. *** In that vein, I want to share with you some cogent email comments received from Plane & Pilot magazine reader Dr. Barry Gloger who puts forward a well-reasoned argument for reworking the LSA concept. *** Whether you agree or not with his point of view, it’s hard to refute his logic, since it’s based on his expertise in the actual physical size of the “average American.” *** And now for The Usual Disclaimer: his viewpoint does not necessarily reflect my opinion or that of the staff of P&P mag.

“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.

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.