That was several hours of my life I will never get back — booking airline, rental car, and a series of hotel rooms… and then cancelling all of them! Drat!
Yet my frustration in scuttling travel plans to attend and work Aero Friedrichshafen is minor compared to the effort by the people running Aero and the 700 vendors that all must now change their plans. Even noting this does not count the hundreds of small businesses from gas stations to restaurants to hotels and more that will suffer sharp revenue losses, possibly resulting in many jobs being terminated.
What a mess!
Not Just China’s Problem
“As Head of Aero Friedrichshafen, I have experienced many situations during the last 30 years which have affected the global economy and the aerospace industry in a negative way,” started Roland Bosch, the longtime leader of this very popular European airshow. “But never before has an incident had such a strong impact on the global economy like the new coronavirus.
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Flight Design’s “Secret Weapon” in the USA: Tom & Tom Gutmann and Airtime Aviation
How does one LSA brand rise and stay above others?
Many reasons can be introduced; all possibly valid. However, it doesn’t hurt when a brand has a distributor that itself rises above all the rest.
In case you think I am torturing the “above all the rest” metaphor, well, you may not have met the Gutmann team in the flesh. Once you do, I think you’ll see my point very clearly.
Looking Up to Tom & Tom
My tongue-in-cheek subtitle comes from the perspective of an average-sized pilot talking to the father and son team of Tom Sr. and Tom Jr. Gutmann. These gentle giants stand so tall above me that even Tom Cruise’s acting box would not let me look this pair eye-to-eye.
Indeed, it is a tribute to the spaciousness of CT-series interiors that both these beefy fellows fit inside comfortably. Don’t try that in a Cessna 150 (or even a 172)!
900-Mile-Flight to Copperstate in the Open Cockpit TEAM AirBike. Well done!
Update 2/17/20 — From a commenter whose handle is “Concerned Citizen” on Videoman Dave’s YouTube channel comes this update on Mike’s flight home: “Mike left Copperstate Sunday morning and made three legs, stopping in Blythe, Bermuda Dunes, then Banning due to severe winds and rain. After a two-day layover with strong wind gusts, Mike made a hop to Rosamond, then the next day, an incredible dawn-to-dusk day, flying from Rosamond, near Edwards Air Force Base, to Corning, California! …nearly 500 miles and eleven hours in a single day! The little Rotax 447 was flawless the whole trip. Mike. Is. Da. MAN!” —DJ
Most motorcyclists say 900 miles on a bike is a long trip. Seems reasonable. How about when it’s an aerial motorcycle? …out in the breeze, smelling the air, feeling the hot or cool — hmmm, sounds interesting, doesn’t it?
Meet a man who recently made such a flight, over three days, and taking 17 hours of flight time to reach Copperstate 2020 with his legs out in the breeze (pretty true to the motorcycle metaphor, don’t you think?).
Full Flight Review of Scout from The Light Aircraft Company
Welcome to the two-seat Sherwood Scout. We previously presented Sherwood’s single-place Kub. Now, our favorite British writer, Dave Unwin — master pilot of many aircraft of widely varying types — reviews the UK company’s Scout model. All photos are by UK photographer extraordinaire, Keith Wilson. Thanks to both gentlemen. Enjoy! —DJ
A handsome high-wing, side-by-side two seater, Scout’s lineage goes back to 1983, when Dean Wilson’s trendsetter-to-be Avid Flyer was first introduced.
His often-imitated design was the basis for Kitfox, Rocky Mountain’s Ridge Runner and the Flying K Sky Raider. The latter morphed into the Just Aircraft Escapade.
When The Light Aircraft Company — TLAC — bought the design in 2013 the first thing Paul Hendry-Smith and his team did was implement a significant number of improvements to both its design and construction.
They improved stability, pitch authority, and decreased adverse yaw. After a year of flight testing various revisions, they enlarged both the elevator and rudder, cleaned up the junction between the wing root and flaps, added gap seals and implemented several other aerodynamic tweaks.
Airtime Aviation, Inc. (Fly CT)
Airtime Aircraft (FlyCT.com), is the nation’s largest seller of Light-Sport Aircraft, focused on the: CTLS and CT Super, the top-selling LSA in America. Airtime has represented Flight Design’s CT series since Day One and knows more about the model than anyone outside the manufacturer. Run by a father and son team, Tom and Tom Gutmann Sr. and Jr. are enthusiasts that can get you in the aircraft you want and can help you maintain, upgrade, or enjoy your aircraft.
Vickers Wave Light-Sport Seaplane Gets a Weight Increase from FAA; First Flight Approaches
It’s big. It’s bold. It’s beautiful. It’s loaded with snazzy custom features. And it’s gonna be powerful.
You might think those words don’t apply to many Light-Sport Aircraft. Certainly, “big” is not a word most pilots associate with LSA. A number are actually rather compact, though with standardized rules, aircraft parameters don’t differ as much as some might think.
Wave is different …at least in one particular way. The newest LSA seaplane in development in the Southern Hemisphere has something special. What is it?
Vickers recently announced winning a weight increase exemption for their deluxe Wave. As other producers wait to read FAA’s coming regulation regarding aircraft size, Wave can begin leveraging their higher gross weight to increase capability and power.
Principal Paul Vickers stated, “After many months we can finally announce that Vickers Aircraft has received our FAA weight exemption for the Wave™ LSA. This will allow a MTOW of 1,850 pounds (839 kilograms), so we can incorporate additional safety features that will set the Wave apart and help us achieve our long-term goal of moving aviation forward.” He added, “Some of these safety features include water maneuvering thruster, CrossOver Landing gear, increased horsepower, and the required fuel capacity to ensure the Wave is operated safely and can perform its mission.”
Paul continued, “We have designed the Wave for this increased MTOW and have incorporated the required additional structure.” He feels this sets up Wave to smoothly transition into the LSA rule changes that are on the horizon, new definitions that will include adjustments regarding the weight of Light-Sport Aircraft.
Midwest LSA Expo — Decade 2, Day 1: Video Pilot Reports on CTSS, Shock Ultra, and Colt
What a great day to start off the Midwest LSA Expo! (And what a contrast to the hurricane just stared down by my Florida neighbors!) The 2019 running of this event about an hour east of St. Louis kicks off its second decade.
On Day One, Videoman Dave and I did our Video Pilot Report routine on three Light-Sport Aircraft: Flight Design‘s CT SuperSport, Sportair USA‘s Shock Ultra, and Texas Aircraft’s Colt. All three are quite different, each was delightful in its own way. Doing three of these VPRs took the entire day …and that’s before the big job of editing begins.
CT SuperSport
If SuperSport looks familiar to you, it should. It’s based on the CTSW but joins several elements of the newer CTLS. In Europe, Flight Design has continued to deliver a lighter model from the CT series to conform to the microlight or European ultralight parameters.
Everybody Loves a Hero — How about One from Sector Aircraft …the Brazilian Invasion Continues
From Brazil comes a new Hero, an aircraft most Americans have never seen. Outside of the South American country, few know of Hero in its two models. That’s about to change with this article.
The cantilevered all-metal design has excellent ramp appeal, good specifications, and approval as a Special Light-Sport Aircraft is underway at this time, the developer said. He also added, is coming to the USA, to Florida, to be manufactured. The Brazilian invasion continues…
For this article, I exchanged communications with André Godoy, Sector Aircraft‘s CEO and aircraft designer. He explained, “I have experience building LSA for other companies in Brazil but I am now working on my new design and company. His project is “Hero, a new high wing LSA.”
Brazilian Invasion
Among nations that embrace non-commercial aviation, America leads the parade. Europe has a very large aviation community and like most non-U.S. regions, the concentration is on sport or recreational aircraft.
Texas Aircraft Manufacturing
Texas Aircraft, from the Lone Star state, offers a bright new entry: Colt 100, a descendant from an established Brazilian light aircraft. Colt is a handsome, clean-sheet design built of aluminum with a steel safety cell structure, performing strongly with its Rotax 912 engine, and showing a well-equipped, modern, deluxe interior that any pilot can love.
Aero Friedrichshafen Day 3: ELECTRIC, Hybrid on Tecnam and Comco – Battery on Horten and Bristell
More from Aero as Day 3 closes. Because of the number on display — and because several readers asked — this post will focus on electric propulsion in two distinct forms. Whatever you think about electric as a means of lifting aircraft aloft, escaping its approach appears impossible. Experimentation is happening in all quarters. The following review is far from exhaustive; many other examples could be found at Aero Friedrichshafen 2019.
Most agree that batteries are the weak link in the chain and despite repeated promises of annual increases in energy density of 5-8%, it hasn’t happened over ten years I’ve followed this fairly closely. That does not preclude certain effective uses, for example, local area primary flight training or aerobatic flying. Yet flying cross country on batteries remains somewhere in the future. Nonetheless, projects abound and solutions may be upon us. Here’s what I saw today.
Hybrid Power from Tecnam, Rotax, and Siemens — I had no choice but to drop big names because these three powerhouses are joining forces on a hybrid system.
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