Search Results for : MG 21

Winged buddy Dan Johnson and his colleague Jan Fridrich, head of LAMA Europe, just posted Jan’s exhaustive parsing of the LSA registration data and came up with some shockers. ***  Dan calls it the LSA Market Share Report. The first thing he notes is apparent stability in the marketplace: overall registration numbers for the first half of 2011 are about the same as last year, he says, so at least the industry didn’t fall off from that tough year. The pace is on track to better 2009’s 177 total registrations and 2010’s 202. *** In 2010, 48 came from Cessna, which, when subtracted from the total, gives you 154 for the whole year for the rest of the fleet. *** So, looking again at 2011’s first half of 126, subtracting Cessna’s numbers from the total of 126 yields just 72. *** Double that (144) and we could end up with even fewer registrations than 2010, (not counting Cessna) although at just 10 less it’s not an earthshaking falloff unless you want to be a worrywart and consider 2009, which had 177 total…and none from Cessna.

A crack team of aeronautical whizbrains in the Institute of Aircraft Design at the University of Stuttgart, Germany has just passed its second important milestone in less than two months: its electric aircraft eGenius just flew more than two hours at more than 100 mph. *** Not by coincidence, that’s exactly the kind of performance that will be required to take $1.3 million top prize in the recently postponed (until September 25) CAFE Green Flight Challenge.  *** The GFC will award the prize money to the aircraft that can fly 200 miles at greater than 100 mph on the equivalent of one gallon of gas per occupant. The per occupant proviso is significant…and EGenius carries two people, so it can use enough batteries to store two gallons worth of energy.  *** That’s a lot of batteries given the current relative inefficiency of energy storage of batts vs.

“Come one, come all!” says the invitation to the great, annual Piper Fly-In that’s coming up next week. *** Dubbed SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY 2011, it’s the 26th anniversary of this “Family-Oriented” event. ***  It’s held at – where else? – William T. Piper Airport (KLHV) in Lock Haven, PA. *** The dates for those of you who are, like myself, Cub afflicted, is June 22 — 25, 2011. You can fly in (an airspace How-To is on the organizer’s website), drive in, camp under a wing for $15/nite if you like (lots of folks do) or stay at one of several hotels, motels or B&Bs in the area. Dozens of Cubs alone, along with other models, make the trek every year. *** The Piper Museum and Memorial area also there: that’s worth a trip for cub lovers all by itself. *** There are events and contests such as seminars, flea markets, bomb drop, spot landing, corn roasts, awards, nightly bands, tours and more.

Surprising word came today while hanging out at the Piper Sentimental Journey in Lock Haven, PA, that EAA has canceled its Electric Flight Challenge until next year’s AirVenture show to give manufacturers more time to satisfy FAA’s Phase 1 requirement. *** What’s Phase 1, you ask? Read on. Today’s release, announced the postponement even though there was “a strong influx of applications… nearly a dozen”, whatever that means — 11? 8.3? *** Anyway, a $60,000 Electric Flight Prize was to have been awarded after three flight competitions and an “innovation evaluation” at this year’s AirVenture (end of July). *** Now for Phase 1: EAA explains it’s the requirement for the normal 40-hour “fly off” period typically flown by experimentally-built kits, to verify the aircraft is safely controllable throughout its normal speed range and all expected maneuvers. *** Chairman Tom Poberezny was quoted as saying that, in essence, too many of the competitors wouldn’t have enough time to finish flying off their hours before the challenge began.

Enlightening news today from Vit Kotek, Marketing Manager for Evektor, that ties up the loose ends on the recent parachute deployment of an Evektor SportStar. *** Vit’s statement, edited only for clarity: *** “An accident of the SportStar RTC aircraft occurred during flight tests at Kunovice airport (LKKU) on 18th May, 2011. The test pilot was performing spin testing at aft C.G. The pilot successfully completed the program, after completing 30 spins. *** Then he decided to perform a maneuver, which we’re still not fully clear about, which put the airplane into a flight condition the pilot could not recover from. *** He activated the ballistic parachute system which deployed successfully. *** The airplane suspended below the parachute landed on a lake close to the airport and sunk after five minutes. The pilot swam safely to the shore. The airplane was fished out after six hours. The pilot was not injured.

As I write an article on the current state of electric flight worldwide, sad word comes that prolific, talented German aeronautical engineer Martin Wezel has died in the crash of the prototype Yuneec International E1000 electric airplane. *** Wezel’s company, Flugzeugtechnik Wezel, was well respected for its gliders and microlights, which included the Sting and Sirius SLSA. His Apis and Viva designs were also being developed by Yuneec for electric power. The E1000 design may also have been Wezel’s. *** A new, tandem-motored four-seat design, it was being developed for market by Yuneec but also to compete in the NASA CAFE Green Flight Challenge, the $1.65 million-prize competition that’s coming up in July. *** E1000 was also entered in EAA’s upcoming Electric Aircraft Competition (Oshkosh 2011 in late July). Not evident at this point is whether another E1000 was built or will be tested.

In this post there’s both good news and bad news. *** First up: blog reader Pete Zaitcev commented on my blog yesterday that the Front Range Airport (FTG) visit, on May 14, by the LSA Tour #3 will coincide with the Rocky Mountain LSA Expo. *** FTG is about 25 miles east of Denver at Watkins, CO. The event is sponsored by the Colorado Pilots Assoc. *** Looks like a fun time and a smart call for the Tour to plan a stop there. Thanks Pete!More good news:  Cessna Aircraft delivered 106 aircraft in the first quarter, up from 80 a year ago, and much of the increase comes from deliveries of the 19 Skycatchers. Cessna’s Bob Stangarone has told me the company expects to have delivered 150 by year’s end. *** The unhappy news concerns two LSA crashes. *** A PiperSport crash cost a young CFI his life in Florida.