Tecnam North America is banking on what CEO Phil Solomon believes is a strong market interest in taildragger LSA. *** Tecnam is putting their R&D into attracting some of that market share with the revamped P92 tricycle gear S-LSA into a tail dragger version, and adding in some spice to boot: either a Lycoming YO-233-B2A or a Rotax 912/S2 powerplant is available to power it. *** The new version of the long-popular, well-proven P92 comes with a host of typical Tecnam quality features too, including a new wood-grain panel, adjustable seats, luggage compatrments, map and storage compartments on the door, epoxy corrosion proofing, lock/key entrance, tinted windows and lots more. *** Hydraulic toe brakes, electric flaps and lots more to join the electric trim and free castoring tail wheel. *** I’m hoping to fly it the week after the show, if some paperwork issues with the brand new plane get resolved.
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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.
Now You Don’t See It, Now You Do
The Aviator Airbag System was introduced to America at the Evolution Trikes booth at the Sebring LSA Expo 2012 courtesy of Laurent Thevenot. Designed and manufactured for La Mouette in France by Helite, the complete system includes two airbags and sensors. For trikes, two different airbags are recommended. For the person in the back seat, the smaller vest (photo) is enough to protect the passenger’s head from snapping forward too quickly or too far in a crash, thereby preventing neck injuries. *** For the person in the front seat, a larger jacket is recommended. It also protects the wearer from neck injuries, but go further by protecting the pilot from the control bar, which could come rearward in a violent impact and break the pilot’s ribs. The larger jacket expands to 40 gallons of volume. *** The system uses a patented cold gas technology, unlike typical hot gas technology used in other airbag systems.
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.
Nowhere But Up… Welcome to a New Writer
After a whole week of low clouds and drizzly rain, the weather cleared as if a curtain was lifted across the stage of the sky. I had time for an evening flight before official sunset. Hurrying to the airfield I arrived just in time to see a giant rainbow downwind. I took this as a good omen. *** My Evans VP-1, G-BIFO (Biffo) is based close to my house and is always at the front of hangar, so just twenty minutes after I leave home we’re both standing outside, bathed in the evening sunlight. As we usually fly together at least twice every week Biffo looks at me almost accusingly, as if to say “Where’ve you been?” *** So far, I’ve been rushing, but as I slip the chocks in front of the wheels, I deliberately slow things down. I check the fuel and oil, do a careful preflight, and complete the time-honoured ritual of pumping the primer, setting the choke, sucking in and selecting the mags on.
Post-Sebring Ketchup
After an arduous shooting/flying schedule at Sebring and several more days in country shooting and flying around Florida, I wung my way home to bang out some stories and pix for the mag. *** And now for the rest of the Sebring story: *** I made my way through the big exhibitor tent at show central and ran into Adam Valencic of Light Sport Group, who cued me in on their latest product. They’re the folks who market the cool wide-angle A/V-ator HD camcorder that mounts in the cockpit and also stores data for later GPS tracking on computer. *** The new unit is called Dr. Rotech. The palm-sized device is an engine electronics diagnostic tool for Rotax four-stroke engines which tests everything electrical: • Generator coil (on stator) • Charging coil (on stator) • Trigger coil (A&B) • Primary ignition coil (A&B) • Secondary ignition coil • Spark plug connector • Ignition switch • Engine ground *** Verifying or tracking down problems in electrical systems such as cracked wires, loose connections and failed components can take a lot of time.
Winning the LEAP and Berblinger Prize
Winning the LEAP and Berblinger Prize
Writing for Plane & Pilot magazine,
Jim Lawrence opined,
“As an industry, electric
flight is still in toddler mode. Batteries
provide, pound for pound, a mere fraction
of the energy density of gasoline.
Therein, as the Bard said, lies the rub:
The culprit is weight, simply because one
pound of avgas has roughly 40 times the
energy delivery of a pound of battery. For
electric aircraft (and other vehicles) to
become common, battery efficiency will
need to double, then double again, and
double again.
“To spur recognition and development,
several major awards and
competitions now offer substantial
money prizes. On the last day of this
year’s Aero e-flight-expo in Germany,
the Berblinger Flight Competition
divided |100,000 ($142,604)
among three proven aircraft, each
with a unique application of electric
power: the elegant, single-seat
Lange Antares 20E self-launcher
sailplane (the world’s first certified electric);
Eric Raymond’s record-setting,
solar-powered Sunseeker; and Manfred
Ruhmer’s Elektro-Swift, an ultralight
flying wing with streamlined pod and
folding pusher prop.
Composite Fuselage as “Battteries?”
Composite Fuselage as “Batteries?”
A June 6, 2011, article in the New York Times reported that researchers
at Imperial College London, the Swedish Institute of Composites, and
Volvo are looking to build auto bodies with carbon composites that
can serve as capacitors (devices that hold an electrical charge) that could store
more electrical energy than batteries. The dual-function materials could also
make electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles lighter.
To enable the composite materials to store electricity, the resin that binds
the carbon fibers is laced with lithium ions; the fibers serve as conductive electrodes
for this type of charge-holding capacitor.
At present, the research teams have a distance to go to gain such efficiencies.
The work continues and funding appears secure.
If future composite structures could store energy as efficiently as lithium-ion
batteries, an electric vehicle would require only the roof, hood, and trunk lid to
be made of such materials to achieve an 80-mile range, researchers said.
Energy Density Primer
Energy Density Primer
Perhaps it is helpful to understand the significant
technical challenge electric flight still faces by comparing
the energy densities of gasoline and batteries.
Jim Lawrence (also see “Winning the Berblinger Prize
and LEAP” sidebar) wrote, “Lead-acid batteries like those
in boats and cars have been around for 150 years. They’re
cheap and relatively environmentally friendly to fabricate
and recycle, compared to lithium-based (Li-Ion-lithium-ion,
and LiPo – lithium-polymer) batteries. Lead-acids store
around 6% the energy density of gasoline. Running the
numbers tells us it takes 167 pounds of batteries to hold the
same energy as a single pound of gas.
“Lithium batteries as typically used in cameras, cell
phones and radio-control models store around four times as
much energy as a lead-acid battery, but cost several times
more per watt-hour. That still means an airplane needs to
carry more than 40 pounds of batteries for the equivalent
energy of a single pound of gas.
Icon Aircraft’s A5 Seaplane
Growing “Out of the Box”
A large number of current pilots
have some sense of foreboding
regarding the dwindling numbers
of the pilot population. Many feel powerless
to change this fact, what
with our airports often surrounded
by a 10-foot-high
chain link
fence topped
with barbed wire
plus prices for training
and airplane ownership
out of reach for many
Americans.
An Eye for the New
Airshow visitors with an
eye for the new may have seen ICON
Aircraft and their gleaming silver-and-accent-red A5 seaplane at
Oshkosh AirVenture ’08. The company’s displays have attracted as
much attention as their aircraft design.
ICON’s A5 is a handsomely stylish Light-Sport Aircraft design.
Airshow visitors had good reason to pay it attention. Many gawking
attendees found A5’s “wow factor” off the charts.
But the story here is much more than the aircraft, fetching though it
is. The real ICON story is that of a company trying to bring aviation
and flying to people who don’t have a pilot’s license.
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