During my recent appearance on the Powered Sport Flying (Internet) Radio Show, I said I remained amazed that although the western U.S. has a large share of all pilots and airplanes in the country, no western airshow seems to have taken off the way Sun ‘n Fun or AirVenture has. True enough, no west-of-the-Mississippi event comes close in size to the eastern shows, but my comments weren’t fair to steady work by organizers of Copperstate, an event with a 37-year history (nor to the even-larger and older Arlington show or the Golden West event.) These western shows may not be huge, but they reveal an aviation passion. *** This year’s Copperstate will be held in Casa Grande, Arizona — just south of Phoenix — from Thursday, October 21st through Saturday, October 23rd. The 2009 edition reported “more than 6,500 attendees.” I spoke with new LSA enthusiast Steve Bass, Copperstate Fly-In Vice President and Light Sport & Ultralight Committee Chairman.
Search Results for : powered parachute
Not finding exactly what you expected? Try our advanced search option.
Select a manufacturer to go straight to all our content about that manufacturer.
Select an aircraft model to go straight to all our content about that model.
Flying Rainbow’s Cheetah XLS
One of the lesser-known S-LSA I caught up with at the Midwest EXPO was the Rainbow Aircraft Cheetah XLS. It’s an ultralight-style LSA — tube and ripstop Trilam fabric envelopes that are pre-sewn, pulled over the airframe components and laced up for tightness — with a rakish look and some rather unique features such as its dual throttles each folding out of the way with the armrest. *** For those of us challenged by aviation budget considerations, the price of $53,000 ready to fly is certainly a draw and makes it nearly the least expensive three-axis, traditional planform SLSA (lower-yet models include the CGS Hawk or the open-cockpit M-Squared Breese). You could choose weight-shift control trikes and powered parachutes for less greenbacks, but the Cheetah is one of the lowest cost fixed wing LSA on the U.S. market. *** The company that imports the Cheetah, Midwest Sport Aviation, was founded by three brothers who grew up going to the nearby Oshkosh airshows with their dad, a commercial-rated pilot.
FPNA A-22 Capetown Amphibian
Capetown RacingLight-sport floatplane that’s a joy to fly
America has far more lakes than airports. By itself, my home state of Minnesota has more lakes than the entire nation has airports. Given this 50:1 advantage, floatplanes or seaplanes make a lot of sense; there are many places you can land, plus you can reach interesting locations you never considered in a land plane.
Lucky me. I’ve gotten to fly lots of light floatplanes and I get a huge smile on my face every time I launch from water or splash down in a lake. The sensation has no match in landplanes. Once you’ve flown a floatplane, you’ll forever look at flying through a new lens.
Imagine flying a mere wingspan above the water, safely|hopping over small islands and zooming down to the water’s surface on the far side, always landing directly into the wind, taxiing up to a dock or beaching on the sand or stopping to do a little fishing while standing on one float.
Budget Builds (Low Cost Homebuilts)
Yes! You can build and fly a “real” airplane for the cost of a new SUV.
Contrary to popular opinion,
airplanes don’t have to be outrageously
expensive-at least not
all of them. The Sport Pilot/Light-Sport
Aircraft initiative is one program that
promises to lower the cost of ready-to-fly
aircraft. But many of these Special LSAs
and Experimental LSAs will be priced
well more than $40,000 and can run
upwards of $85,000.
One way to get airborne for less
than $40K is to choose an ultralight,
powered parachute or weight-shift
trike. But if you want something more
conventional, more comfortable or
larger, you’re likely to find what you
want in the world of kit aircraft. After
all these years, building an Experimental/
Amateur-Built airplane still qualifies
as one of the least expensive ways
to get a get a great airplane into the air
on a reasonable budget.
Our $40K benchmark is designed
to narrow the field for builders on a
budget-and that benchmark means
a completed, ready-for-flight airplane.
Oshkosh Day 4
Catching up with Jon Hansen and James DeHart of Hansen Air Group in Georgia. They rep the lovely line of FK Lightplanes German composite aircraft for all of North America (except Florida.) *** Jon had just delivered the first FK 9 ELA to a customer, who was there when I came by with four of his six children, all boys. Three of them, at least so far, want to be pilots like their dad. Nice looking family as you can see. *** The FK 9 ELA (which will be redubbed Sparrow to avoid confusion — some folks think “E” means Experimental) is a handsome, clean airplane that deserves to capture attention. There are a whole line of these immaculate S-LSA, including the FA-04 that set a cross-country flight record for LSA last year and the gorgeous FK-14 Polaris that was originally going to be offered by Cirrus until that company ran into difficulties last year.
Flying Missionary Car Now Street Legal
Since everybody seems to be talking these days about flying cars, specifically the Terrafugia (the company excels at promoting its Transition model, which recently got a weight allowance boost from FAA), I thought I’d update my earlier post about the I-TEC Maverick Sport Model. *** It’s a cool idea, this flying car developed for missionary work in third-world countries like the Amazon rainforest, where getting from village to village can be daunting to impossible for traditional vehicles. *** Instead of folding wings, it uses a paraglider-style canopy for lift. I-TEC (Indigenous People’s Technology and Education Center) spent seven years in development. I talked with one of the I-TECcies at Sun ‘n Fun 2010 and they’re pretty proud of this compact, relatively inexpensive vehicle. *** Changing from road warrior to sky king takes just a few minutes. Once rigged, the fabric-fuselage Maverick lifts off in 250 feet, climbs at 500 feet per minute, and rips along at just under 40 knots.
Second Chantz… for the Second Time
On ultralight aircraft, the installation of an airframe parachute was estimated at a third to half of all aircraft. In general aviation, the use of such a system on the Cirrus Design line of aircraft created thousands of airframe parachute owners. In Light-Sport, three producers — BRS, Magnum (Stratos 07), and Galaxy — have installed airframe parachutes on a solid percentage of SLSA. Sounds like it’s all taken care of, right? Wrong! *** The trouble with existing producers is that little or no new development work is being done for Part 103 ultralights, powered parachutes, or trikes. Likewise many kit-built aircraft have no supplier willing to customize an airframe parachute for their (possibly one-off) airplane. Now, that’s changing. *** An old friend, John Dunham, once ran Second Chantz, the other airframe parachute company in the USA (besides BRS). In the mid-’90s, he made a deal with BRS and left the business.
SeaMax Illustrates a Point About Niche LSA
One of the oft-repeated questions about this new thing called Light-Sport Aircraft is: “When will the shakeout occur? When will some of these 75 companies [who certified a SLSA] disappear… and which ones will fail?” *** First, my ability to see the future is no better than anyone else. We’ve lost a few suppliers (Taylorcraft, Urban Air, Spain’s CAG, Higher Class). But as a longtime observer of many sport aviation segments, here’s my view: (1) The current market leaders — the top dozen or so — will likely remain as they’ve already proven themselves. Remember, many overseas brands have world markets so they don’t rely 100% on U.S. sales. And should they fail, it will most likely be due to business practices, not their aircraft design. A few newcomers will enter the top ranks, including such legacy brands as Cessna (which has presently delivered so few Skycatchers that the giant manufacturer is not yet in the Top 20).
First Third of 2010 Even Slower than 2009
Sun ‘n Fun was a bright spot for the light aircraft industry as more than 20 sales appeared likely or were consummated. Yet anecdotal reports about generally sluggish sales were confirmed in a recent review. At least until Sun ‘n Fun, Light-Sport Aircraft FAA registrations show 2010 was even slower than a tough 2009. Last year, the industry registered 234 airplanes (plus weight-shift and powered parachutes yielding approximately 275 total LSA of all types). That’s more than 20 airplanes a month, yet 2010 appears to have slowed to around 15 per month. Those figures compare with about 45 per month back in 2006 and 2007. *** Why? No one has a crystal ball, but common suspects are: * an oscillating stock market causing hesitation among would-be buyers; * government budget problems, both in Europe and in the U.S.; * a still-stagnant housing market; and, * a widely-held feeling that LSA are still proving themselves, both for the certification method and many unfamiliar brands especially when the latter affects perceptions of customer service.
Judging Winners Sun ‘n Fun 2010
I once followed judging at shows like AirVenture and Sun ‘n Fun. In fact, an aircraft I helped inspire — a modernized primary glider called the SuperFloater — won Outstanding New Design at Sun ‘n Fun 1995. Judges closely examined homebuilts, kit or restored vintage airplanes, and warbirds. If they included factory built aircraft, I was not aware of it. *** So, this year I admitted surprise after learning factory-built Light-Sport Aircraft won awards. *** To honor the hundreds or thousands of hours people put into their winners, I want to highlight some LSA and ultralights that judges liked. The Grand Champion LSA was Wayne Spring’s 2010 Predator powered parachute; Reserve Grand Champ was James Jonannes’ 2009 Arion Lightning LS-1; Grand Champion Ultralight was James Wiebe’s 2010 Belite Superlite; and, Reserve Grand Champ was Danny Dezauche’s 2010 CGS Hawk Ultra.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- …
- 45
- Next Page »