Search Results for : MG 21

Dave Graham of Legend Aircraft just sent out word that the next LSA Tour launches tomorrow for a 4-day swing up the front range of the Colorado Rockies. See the list of locations below. *** “We’ve adopted the four-day format,” says Dave. “The six-day tour is just too tiring.” Reporting on the Tour’s recent swing through the Southeast, Dave reports about 250 people came out to the Greenville, SC location. There was a restaurant, good support from the hosting FBO, and “some business was done that day.” *** Not all the venues were as cooperative as they could have been, he says, but considers this a work in progress and expects advanced planning will help sharpen up the logistics and overall experience down the road. *** Check prior reports on the Georgia LSA Tour and Florida LSA Tour. Each dealer brings a demo airplane which gives potential customers a great opportunity to strap on the aircraft and compare apples to apples — which can be a challenge at major airshows, with aircraft booths spread all over the place amid the background noise of other aviation attractions.

Aero Friedrichshafen, Europe’s big annual GA convention, has more than 600 exhibitors showing their wares and innovations right now through tomorrow. *** Sub-titled The Global Show for General Aviation, if you want to see what’s happening and what’s coming down the pike, you’ll not find a more intensely focused representation than at Aero. *** The show spreads displays from many big names and newcomers alike, up through bizjets, across its 11 big hangar-style display areas. *** I like this show, although lamentably I’ve yet to go, because it never fails to draw cool new stuff, in particular Microlight/LSA developments and electric and solar powered birds. Thousands of visitors flock to the “e-flight Expo” at Aero, in its third year as part of the show. *** Two big events will highlight the show this year: the Berblinger Flight Competition and the awarding of three LEAP prizes from Erik Lindbergh (Lucky Lindy’s grandson).

After the disastrous tornadic storm that blew through the area last Thursday, Lakeland was blessed with warm, then hot, picture book Florida weather and good crowds, right up through final day Sunday, as the fabulous Blue Angels, a stunning demo by the Air Force F22 Raptor, Patty Wagstaff’s always-incredible acro routine, and the Aeroshell T-6 squadron doing its thing: always great to see those (noisy but iconic) big old WWII trainers do such graceful, precision loops and rolls in formation through the sky, leaving billows of white smoke to mark their path.I was a bit under the weather last night so no blog…knew I shouldn’t have eaten that chicken…but back at it today to fly with Bill Cox as he previewed Garmin’s exciting new GTN touch screen technology. *** Then pounding the sneaker rubber to finish up the rounds of the five exhibit hangars and survey new products and gadgets. I even bought myself some oil-filled insoles to calm my throbbing tootsies…one ends up walking miles and miles at these airshows, unless you can pop $60/day or more to rent a small personal electric cart.

Sun ‘n Fun 2011 kicks off, even as scores of planes — yours truly included — remain scattered around at airports up to hundreds of miles away, trying to beat the storm system that’s prevented them from making it to Lakeland, Florida so far. *** The big airshow’s big boss, John Burton, promises an impressive line up: • Blue Angels performances four different days; highlighting the celebration of the 100th anniversary of naval aviation; • a 20-year retrospective on Desert Storm; • a 10-year commemoration of September 11, 2001; • the formal opening of the new Central Florida Aerospace Academy (CFAA) on the Sun ’n Fun campus; • F-22 Raptor flight three different days; • AvBid Airplane Auctions; • Hot air balloon launch at dawn on Saturday, April 2; • Daily and nightly airshows with fireworks; • AOPA “Rally GA” Day; • Lindbergh Foundation Awards for electric-powered flight advances; • “Green Space” exhibit of environmentally friendly, aviation-related products and services, anchored by Lindbergh Foundation; • 75th Anniversary Cub Convoy mass arrival to Sun ’n Fun on Monday, March 28.

The FAA has a helpful publication that wouldn’t hurt us to check out now and then, whatever our level of experience and skill: the Airplane Flying Handbook. *** Sure, it may seem like plain vanilla… but where would hot fudge sundaes and banana splits be without good old dependable vanilla? *** We pilots need to maintain our good airmanship foundation, no matter how big a hotshot we sometimes imagine ourselves to be. Reviewing the essentials helps us recall those nuances we forget, or shortcut… and which, in a pinch, we may desperately need in our quiver of flying skills. *** Once we start down that “I-got-this-wired” slippery slope, the risk of incidents and accidents increases. Who needs that kind of education?Case in point: FAA’s Handbook section on porpoising. *** I sometimes revisit a landing tendency that I’ve been working to correct: I will make a bigger-than-necessary pitch correction after bouncing a landing.

Good news from Allegro LSA’s head honcho Doug Hempstead, as he spoke with Plane & Pilot publisher Mike McMann. *** Allegro, now a solely-American made, composite/aluminum SLSA (my flight report is due out soon in the magazine) told Mike he expects to hire as many as 35 workers within the next year. These are jobs that were formerly held by Czech Republic personnel. *** Allegro is a Czech-designed airplane (Fantasy Air) that, like so many LSA, was built in Czech Republic and assembled, test flown and delivered in the States.  *** Doug and his wife Betty bought the rights to produce the airplane here and production is now underway at the company’s Sanford, NC plant. *** More than 450 of the Kevlar-composite fuselage/aluminum wing Allegros have been sold since 1994, mostly overseas. The Hempsteads hope to change that proportion…and employ more Americans in the process. *** Three Allegro models are offered: Classic Trainer at $89,000 (also configurable as an IFR trainer), Voyager at $94,000 (adds things like MGL Voyager EFIS, Garmin radio and transponder and vertical card compass), and Executive at $99,000 (adds two Dynon Skyview Synthetic Vision displays).

Now this sounds like fun: trying to blow up an iPad2! *** Jeppesen, the aeronautical charting company, just ran a rapid decompression test on the iPad 2. The poor, innocent device was explosively decompressed at an altitude of 51,000 feet! It came through with flying colors, which ought to be good news for just about every private or airline jet passenger intent on finishing their latest World of Warcraft scenario (after getting to a safe altitude first of course.) *** Jeppesen had previously tested the original iPad, part of a successful program to get initial FAA authorization for the Jeppesen Mobile TC charting App. *** The Jeppesen Mobile TC App is available, of course, from the App Store or through iTunes, and it’s free for those already subscribed to Jepp’s electronic navigation service. *** What does this have to do with LSA? Nothing much, I just thought the prospect of iPad2 coming through the fog of a rapid decomp unscathed was kind of cool.