Ukraine Design Meets Florida Know-How
Early in the new millennium, I took a trip to Kiev, Ukraine. My mission was to visit two companies producing
aircraft for what was to become the light-sport aircraft segment. I didn’t
know then that the A-22 I flew with designer Yuri Yakovlev would become a
U.S.-assembled special light-sport aircraft (S-LSA).
Before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Americans hardly knew Ukraine,
a large and diverse country with a rich aviation heritage that once employed
lots of skilled aviation workers and engineers building large transport aircraft
and fighters. Ukrainians spent decades toiling for the Soviet state, and
most speak Russian today despite having an indigenous Ukrainian language.
Antonov, an aerospace name Americans have come to know, had a massive
Ukraine operation under the Soviet leadership.
When the communists withdrew, tens of thousands of experienced technicians
and engineers found themselves out of work. A few ended up building
little airplanes to earn a living.
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Tecnam’s All-Metal Italian Beauties
Announced in July ’04, the Light-Sport
Aircraft (LSA) category is still relatively new, and has
yet to celebrate its fourth birthday. But many of the airplanes
getting all the attention today were not born in
the last 3 1/2 years. Many have rather long histories,
some in Europe’s microlight category and others in countries
that have applicable standards.
Among the longest in production is the Tecnam family
of airplanes. The central Italian company reports more
than 2,000 of their light planes flying in what may be the
largest fleet in this market segment. Given this company’s
track record, these airplanes have gone through
rounds of improvement. Our subject this month, the
P2002 Sierra, came from the P-96. The numbers relate to
the year of development and show the low-wing Special
Light-Sport Aircraft (SLSA) from Tecnam has a dozen
years of history.
Costruzioni Aeronautiche Tecnam (the company’s complete
name) is 57 years old and traces its roots back to
the 1950 P48B Astore.
RANS S-19; Ready for the World
The Second SLSA from RANS
RANS Inc. continues to be a significant player in the homebuilt
aircraft market as one of the nation’s largest kit airframe
producers. In the last two years, Randy Schlitter, RANS’ designer
and CEO, added manufactured, ready-to-fly special
light-sport aircraft (S-LSA) to his enterprise; the S-7LS is
presently in production, and it will be joined by the S-19LS
in 2008. The good news for EAA members interested in building
one is that the new S-19 is also available in kit form.
Manufacturing completely built aircraft under ASTM
International standards is a diff erent work eff ort than kit
manufacturing under amateur-built standards. Even so,
several industry experts agree that RANS is a good candidate
to succeed at such a multi-tasking eff ort. (Randy and
his team already simultaneously run two companies, one
for airplanes and another for recumbent bicycles.)
RANS hopes to have the S-19LS manufactured model in
production by fall 2008, for those who want to buy and fly.
FAA Keeps Assessing; LAMA Audit of 22 Producers
FAA is more than half way through their assessment of the Light-Sport Aircraft industry. According to post-assessment interviews with companies, FAA teams performing these info-gathering visits have generally been satisfied but some changes will likely be made to assure better written records and procedures. *** In preparation for actions it believes will follow the assessments, industry business organization LAMA accelerated its effort to perform LAMA Compliance Audits on more companies. The industry association has been assembling an expert audit team, processes, and extensive checklists to make the effort easy on producers and very cost-efficient. *** LAMA Founder and Chairman Emeritus Larry Burke reports 22 companies are either done, in process, or in negotiation to become LAMA audited. When these are complete, possibly by next Oshkosh, LAMA says this will cover more than 80% of the Light-Sport Aircraft being sold. *** MARKET UPDATE — Following the 12/12/08 SPLOG, I want to clarify industry performance in 2008, a year most will record as “difficult.” In 11 months of 2008 producers registered 392 SLSA airplanes.
Remember the Cumulus Motorglider? It’s Flying!
In the 1990s I tried my hand at developing an airplane. While that business venture didn’t make me a millionaire, it provided a valuable lesson about what it takes to stay in the light-sport airplane business. Later, I realized the project needed someone who understood building techniques better than I did. That man was Dave Ekstrom and he ultimately took over my design, the Cumulus, a motorglider. He calls his business Ultralight Soaring Aviation LLC .
In the world of soaring, a motorglider is an expensive flying machine, making it not so different than high-end LSA that cost $130,000 or more. But Ekstrom comes from the world of homebuilts and he knew he could produce a kit for a lot less if buyers were willing to pull a few rivets (about 300 total hours are needed).
One of the 21 Cumulus builders is Andre Girard of Ottawa, Canada, who kindly provided Dave with the photos you see (five Cumulus kits are now airborne).
Shifting LSA Market Share Positions in Tough 2008
Reading the headlines these days shows the USA is flying through turbulence. Light-Sport Aircraft sales are suffering as are GA sales. Growth rates are off, without question, but not uniformly. We have a few companies that improved their positions in this difficult year. *** If you measure by the number of aircraft registered, top producers held on quite well, with Flight Design, Remos, Tecnam, Jabiru, Czech Aircraft Works and Legend, in order, recording the most registrations through eight months of 2008. If you measure by percentage of growth, we observe some interesting developments. But remember, those with the most total registrations are unlikely to also show the highest percentage of growth since their count on January 1, 2008. Smaller or new players logging some sales may have high percentages as they started low. *** Leading the percentage action was Urban Air, whose Lambada fleet has grown 140% (to 12).
Lycoming Announces LSA Powerplant, the IO-233
Here come the American engines! Rotax 912s from Austria presently dominate the LSA market with an estimated 70% of installations. Australia’s Jabiru with two engines (85-hp 2200 and 120-hp 3300) has another estimated 15%, leaving the U.S.-built Continental O-200 with about 15%. *** The Lycoming O-235 has been used (in Falcon LS and an RV-9 ELSA) but never LSA optimized. At Oshkosh ’08, the Pennsylvania company announced development of their IO-233 aimed specifically at LSA. At its heart, the new engine is an O-235, but it’s been equipped with electronic ignition, fuel injection in lieu of carburetors, and smaller jugs. “We shaved 40 pounds with thinner induction pipes and a less bulky flywheel, among other changes,” said Mike Kraft, Lycoming’s VP of engineering.” The IO-233 can produce 100 horsepower at 2400 rpm and 116 horsepower at 2700 rpm.
Strong Survive 2008; LSA Market Share Adjustments
Through the first six months of 2008, Light-Sport Aircraft deliveries have reflected the same challenges afflicting the rest of general or sport aviation…and for that matter, the overall U.S. economy. In fact, LSA registrations aren’t off as badly as are GA deliveries, perhaps due to significantly better fuel economy in an LSA. These FAA registrations can be analyzed to show trends. *** In the first half of 2008, the LSA industry registered 248 aircraft, which is 22% of all registrations from April 2005 through December 2007 (1,118). Many find it interesting to observe how market leaders compare. If a supplier registered less than 22% of their fleet in 2008, they slipped in market share (even if they registered more total airplanes). If they exceeded that figure, they gained market share. In the first half of 2008 gainers included: Remos up 62%; Czech Aircraft Works 47%; FPNA 45%; Gobosh 38%; Tecnam 35%; Aeropro 32%; and AMD 28%.
A Sleek Mystique
But this airplane offers no mystery …
Most pilots will find
nothing mysterious
about the Mystique. In
fact, many readers already
know its manufacturer,
Interplane Aircraft, which
also manufactures the
Skyboy that achieved early
success before light-sport
aircraft (LSA) were given
official status.
Yet to American pilot
eyes, the Mystique is a
new bird on the horizon.
It earned its special lightsport
aircraft (S-LSA)
airworthiness certificate
shortly before the U.S.
Sport Aviation Expo in
mid-January 2007. This is
the second S-LSA approval
for Interplane; Skyboy won
approval in October 2006.
Let’s Meet the Distributor and Manufacturer
Many LSA pilots have come to
know Doug and Betty Hempstead,
the proprietors of several aviation
companies based at the Sanford-Lee
County Regional Airport in North
Carolina. Doug and Betty operate a
flight school, two import enterprises,
and plan to embark on final assembly
of airplanes in the United States.
The Hempsteads import the Allegro,
manufactured in the Czech
Republic by Fantasy Air, under the
Fantasy Air USA name.
SkyLeader’s Wide-Body LSA
Update Note (2021) — This article published in 2008. The aircraft was then referred to as Skyleader 500. Later this was further upgraded and became the Skyleader 600. Obviously, some information presented below will be dated but much of the flight qualities reporting is still useful. —DJ
Sky Leading KP-5
First, Americans became aware of Kappa. This corporate identity was more easily pronounced than the next company name,
Jihlavan (roughly, “YEE-lah-von”) Airplanes. Now, after new investment and with new global ambitions, the company will be known a “Skyleader Aircraft.” American tongues can relax with this easy reference.
Unchanged are a common owner and the same skilled Jihlavan Airplanes
technicians building the elegant KP-5/Skyleader 500 from the Czech
Republic. It may not be the biggest seller among light sport aircraft (LSA),
but I find it to be one of the finest flying machines in the fleet. Skyleader
plans to standardize the brand around the world and will rename the KP-5
the Skyleader 500.
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