Last summer, when EAA AirVenture Oshkosh exploded with news that FAA released Mosaic, nearly all the attention was on increased weight and speed, and capabilities like retractable gear, controllable props, even multiengine or turbine aircraft. Christmas in July, I called it, so plentiful were FAA’s gifts to pilots and industry.
While all these items will add capability, they also increase prices. Is that what you want? Let me guess not for most readers. This website thrives on affordable aviation. Features that add substantial cost limit affordability.
Mosaic will trigger a bifurcation within the LSA community and it goes something like this: If you like the airplane you have now, you probably will not like the price of a Mosaic LSA. However, if you feel constrained in weight-carrying capacity or speed or if you want multiple engines, then Mosaic may address your wishes.
The great news? You can have it both ways.
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Composite Whisper Resembles an RV; Offers Quicker Build, Faster Delivery, and Speedy Performance
As the recreational flying season slows and northern states button down for winter, one Florida LSA supplier is headed further south, much further. As he prepares for the upcoming 2024 season, Deon Lombard is headed to South Africa where he will work with the Whisper factory for three months as manufacturer and importer prepare to launch the product in the USA.
Deon is not the first to go after the Whisper prize in America but he is taking a different approach. Here’s the update on Whisper, which looks remarkably like an RV made out of composite.
As spring arrives, look for Deon and Whisper at Sun ‘n Fun 2024 when the famous Florida event celebrates its 50th anniversary.
With wait times exceeding a year for most fully-built LSA and even for many kits, Whisper looks more interesting with faster delivery predicted plus Mosaic-rule top speeds.
Article Updated 11/13/23 — see area captioned with **
Why “Whisper?”
This is not a battery electric aircraft so why call it Whisper?
Vickers Aircraft Claims a “World First” as their Wave LSA Seaplane Completes Flight Testing
“Vickers has achieved what others only dream about… a ‘World-First’,” the New Zealand LSA seaplane developer announced. The southern hemisphere company was reporting on the completion of their flight testing program.
“Wave performed exceptionally well, so well in fact that we believe we may have achieved a world-first, a 100% score, passing all criteria and requiring zero changes,” stated company CEO Paul Vickers. He suggested this achievement shows the prototype “is perfect and can enter production,” adding that fabrication of first components is underway.
Although in development for more than a decade, Vickers has indicated all along that their care in design would lead to a quickly approved product that could enter production quickly. The company appears to be reaching this goal.
Test Pilot Report
“In conducting our Flight Test Plan on the Vickers Wave proof of concept, an evaluation was made of the plane’s adherence to ASTM Light-Sport Aircraft industry consensus standards as accepted by FAA,” reported flight test pilot, L.
Top 50 Video: MVP — “Most Versatile Plane” LSA Seaplane Entry
Long before “Mosaic” was a term anyone used*, one airplane stood out for its highly-original design, innovative features, and amazing versatility. Welcome to the once-wonderful world of MVP, the Most Versatile Plane. I am featuring this aircraft as part of an on-going series of our Top 50 Videos (of 1,500) on Dave Loveman’s Light Sport and Ultralight Flyer YouTube channel.
The bad news is… MVP never made it to market, a shame… yet despite heroic fund-raising efforts, sufficient support never materialized.
The good news… other designers observed what MVP offered. Around the time MVP was actively fund raising, Vickers Aircraft down under in New Zealand had begun work on their Wave that is now nearing market release. Icon’s A5 was already mostly frozen for design but some European entries later showed innovations first promoted for MVP.
Developer Darrell Lynds scoured the world for investors. I went with him and other aviation pioneers to China in 2017 where Darrell worked non-stop trying to raise money.
Beautiful Bargain — Alto is Back, Again! Looks Great and Costs Surprisingly Little
At Midwest LSA Expo on Day Two, I gave my first Mosaic talk to a SRO room. The video turned out well so following some editing on the Q&A session that followed, I pledge to get this up next week.
My presentation was a distillation of 318 original pages into a 45-minute presentation. Some described it as “drinking out of a fire hose.”
The Q&A added another 30 minutes. Pilots in the audience helped me better understand this Mosaic monster. I hoped that would happen and I’m pleased it did.
After going through the entire document twice and multiple times for some portions, more is yet to be discovered (though I’m getting weary of studying it.)
Beyond Mosaic
After a vigorous discussion about FAA’s new rule, I was keen to get outside among the airplanes that I enjoy. In particular, I wanted to have a closer look at Direct Fly’s Alto NG.
Midwest LSA Expo — Opening Day Highlights Strong Aircraft Turnout and Lots of Demo Flying
One sure way to know if a show works is to observe vendor participation over a number of years. As this is my 14th year attending the Midwest LSA Expo, I can tell you 2023 represents a strong turnout. Companies come back year after year because it works to connect them with interested customers. Both sides end up with smiles.
In this article, I will give you a glimpse of what you can see if you can attend on Friday and Saturday. For those that cannot come, this will provide some taste of what happens in Mount Vernon, Illinois in early September. Hopefully, you can come in 2024.
Every image you see below shows that vendors did not just bring one airplane to test the market. In every case, these companies brought two, three, or even four aircraft to show. That’s very rare even at AirVenture or Sun ‘n Fun.
What this illustrates is that the Midwest LSA Expo (about an hour’s drive east of St.
Ahead of Its Time, Rainbow’s EMG — Electric Motor Glider — Proved Idea of Electric Part 103
Nine years ago, in 2014, electric aircraft were mostly experiments and the beginning was challenging. Several ill-fated projects attempted to electrically power airplanes that were inappropriate for such a powerplant. Batteries of the day had lousy power-to-weight ratios. Enough juice to lift and fly a two seater, much less a four seater, by an electric motor made for very short duration flights, measured in minutes not hours. An electric Cessna 172 project never succeeded; hardly a wonder.
Similar challenges face more than 350 air taxi start-up businesses. Sure, someday you might zip around big cities using UberAir but I think that remains years in the future. Range anxiety felt in electric cars becomes much more intense in an aircraft.
On the other hand, electric Part 103 aircraft enjoy two enormous advantages: (1) they only need to fly 30 minutes to an hour to deliver all the fun their owners have in mind; and (2) since Part 103 aircraft are the lightest in powered aviation, lifting them by electric power and batteries is far more achievable with today’s technology.
Midwest Expo 2023, Zenith’s Homecoming, Aero Showcase, and a New Owner of Jabiru
When AirVenture Oshkosh ends, you can almost hear a national sigh as if to denote the flying season is over. EAA’s magnificent summer celebration of flight leads to Labor Day and into fall.
Fun flying in northern climates might begin to slow but in the southern half of the U.S., flying for fun is entering its best season.
As if to prove the point, coming up soon:
15th annual Midwest LSA Expo,
Zenith’s 32nd Annual Homecoming event follows the Expo, with even larger crowds,
Aero Showcase’s second event is scheduled and being promoted, and
down under — where Australis is exiting winter (yeah, weird, huh?) — big changes for Jabiru
Midwest 2023
I’ve taken to shortening the event name to “Midwest (Year)” because I say or write it so often. This show — as you might expect, in the Midwest USA — has become a foundation of my aviation calendar. I only missed one year due to a hurricane in Florida where I live.
Here’s Some Good News from Ukraine — LSA Manufacturer Aeroprakt Is Building Steadily
We are awash in bad news from Ukraine. Some is honest reporting of the extremely difficult circumstances for many in the war-racked nation. Yet media does not always grace itself, always finding the worst of the news to report in somber tones.
Amazingly, it’s not all bad. While heads of state send troops into harms way, most of a nation’s citizenry merely attempts to live a normal life amid the chaos of war. Doing business and living your life while bomb warning sirens shriek is something most Americans can’t grasp, thankfully.
Aeroprakt, builder of the very successful A-22 and A-32 series of Special LSA, suffered directly when a missile hit their flying club building (report here, scroll to last video). Their main factory remains in the central city of Kyiv, where it has been for many years. I visited this location back in 2003 so they’ve been stable for more than 20 years.
Back to Our Top-50 Videos — Aerolite 103 May Be the Top Seller Among True Ultralights
Among the couple hundred readers who commented on my recent Mosaic article, several referenced Private Pilots who consider a Sport Pilot to be “unqualified.” I’ve heard that, too. In fact, I’ve heard similar comments my entire long career.
It’s a pecking order thing, I suppose, a natural human response, but I dislike when one aviator puts down another. Is a hang glider pilot somehow less than a power pilot? Is a LSA pilot doing a lesser job flying than a GA pilot? Indeed, is the humble prop pilot somehow less than a jet pilot? Are pilots who like rotary or seaplanes oddballs? I think not but such opinions are too-commonly heard.
Similarly, why are pilots so ill-informed about Part 103? Most pilots have heard of the category yet most of them know next-to nothing about the aircraft type. Contrarily, I can say this: the ones who learn about Aerolite 103 know this is a right-proper light aircraft and they want more… for less.
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