Let’s be honest. We’re into flying because we enjoy the experience,
right? Flying light, sporting aircraft is not about flying to work
or transporting goods or people. And if enjoyment is the main
flying goal, then seaplanes are a big part of that pleasure.
Of the LSA-qualified seaplanes covered this year (FPNA Cape Town A-
22 and Airmax SeaMax), the SeaRey is more familiar to readers of Light
Sport and Ultralight Flying magazine and more affordable. The SeaRey
is familiar because of its past in this community. It’s built and it flies as
you’d expect, more so than some $135,000 carbon fiber speedster. It also
costs a great deal less and it’s available as a kit to save even more
dough.
Make no mistake. The SeaRey
LSX (the Experimental-LSA kit
version) and the SeaRey Sport
(the fully-built version in latter
stages of certification) are
advanced light planes, by which I
mean SeaRey has developed significantly
from its simpler 2-
stroke-powered early models.
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SeaRey… American-Made Amphibian
SeaRey Sets a New Standard for Floatplanes
Many pilots who have flown in water-borne aircraft believe this is the
finest and most enjoyable flying one can do.
If that statement holds water (is true), then the beautiful SeaRey amphibian
from Florida-based Progressive Aerodyne should be one of the most desirable
aircraft you can buy.
Pilots have spoken with their money. Since it arrived on the market in 1992,
the SeaRey has sold in increasing numbers each year.
Three years of Progressive Aerodyne history hardly tells the story behind
the SeaRey. A father and son ownership team, Wayne and Kerry Richter have
long experience in this business producing many hundreds of amphibious
ultralights.
The Richters were principals in a company called Advanced Aviation best
known for its amphib sea plane called the Buccaneer. After another designer
made the first single place Buccaneer, Kerry Richter made his name with a
two place model.
Skycatcher Ramps Up Deliveries — Paradise Airbags
Molly McMillin of the Wichita Eagle reports today that Cessna is speeding up its deliveries of the C-162 throughout 2010, after delays were announced early in the year. The announcement was made at the Aero Expo in Germany today. *** McMillin also writes that Cessna veep John Doman believes the piston-powered aircraft market may be stabilizing and could turn around soon to a growth profile, perhaps as early as mid-2011. *** In a related story, Shenyang Aircraft of China, the state-owned manufacturer of the Skycatcher airframe for Cessna, plans to build a new factory to expand its production volume. *** An airport will also be built at the site — but original plans for a mid-2010 opening have been delayed to 2011. *** Future Skycatchers will still be outfitted and test-flown in Wichita. *** UPDATE on Michael Combs “Flight for the Human Spirit” odyssey: he’s off and flying! The nasty Salina, KS weather that kept him on the ground for 3 days broke today and he promptly launched.
Ultralight Trainers…Exemptions?…SLSA Trainers
Ah, sweet Part 103 ultralights. These lightest of powered aircraft have the least FAA regulation of any flying machine. A single piece of letter paper holds the entire rule. But how do you learn to safely fly a single seater? Oh, there’s the rub. *** Through January 31, 2010, two-seat ultralights converted to ELSA status may train pilots for hire. Then they must cease… maybe. Some feel that the nation lacks enough such trainers so Aero Sports Connection petitioned for an extension. Sounds reasonable. *** But what about companies that spent resources to win FAA approval? It sounds like those who played by the rules as FAA wished could miss their reward of taking over such training aircraft sales. The controversy has complications and you probably don’t want to read it all. *** But here’s what industry organization LAMA has to say: “In the 4.3 years since the first approval, 100 SLSA models have been approved.
TL-Ultralight Makes First Flight in New Sirius
You might say it’s Sirius when TL-3000 takes to the air for the first time. Kidding aside, the new model’s U.S. importer is seriously happy about their composite high wing making its initial flight. Czech producer TL-Ultralight makes the sleek low-wing StingSport that SportairUSA has been selling since the first SLSA lifted into American skies. In development since 2006, TL president Jiri Tlusty recently flew the carbon fiber TL-3000 for the first time. *** SportairUSA boss Bill Canino was recently in Czech Republic making arrangements to market the TL-3000 alongside the Sting S3, an advanced generation version of the TL’s successful low wing model. The Arkansas-based importer says the 46-inch wide Sirius is powered by the 100-hp Rotax 912S, has a useful load of 600 pounds, and extended range with fuel capacity of more than 30 gallons. *** As with StingSport and Sting S3, TL-3000 will come standard with high-end safety features such as a Galaxy rocket-deployed parachute system, PCAS collision avoidance, and AmSafe 4-point inertial-reel seat belts.
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.
Lambada’s Choice
Motor Along Economically
Not all light sport aircraft (LSA) are made alike.
You probably knew that already, but consider
the Lambada. This sleek composite 2-seat
shoulder wing is part airplane, part glider and it has
the interchangeable wing tips to prove it.
For a soaring enthusiast like myself, flying the
Lambada gratified a desire I’ve had for years, since I
first saw the Urban Air design at a German airshow. On
January 9, 2008, I went aloft in a Lambada with Josef
Bostik – a former U.S. National Champion hang glider
pilot turned airline captain – at Wallaby Ranch, an
iconic hang glider park in Central Florida where hang
gliders are towed aloft behind specially built ultralights.
The particular Lambada I flew bore N-number
N109UA. Bostik indicated that 108 other Lambada
aircraft are flying around the world, though the
one I flew is the first ’08 model to pass ASTM standard
certification.
T-Bird I and the Future
An Easy-Flying Ultralight
Let’s see. A single-seat plane that can be purchased as an ultralight,
assuming your engine selection doesn’t push it over Part
103’s weight limit, or built from a kit and registered as an
Experimental-class aircraft, or purchased as a light sport aircraft
once the manufacturer meets the ASTM certification. What’s a pilot to do?
That’s the conundrum facing T-Bird I shoppers. This single-seater can be
a Part 103-compliant ultralight when using a Rotax 277, still available on
the used-engine market, though no longer supplied from Rotax’s Austrian
factory. Few prospective owners would select this engine, yet a more powerful
engine would push the T-Bird I over the Part 103 weight limit. Does that
leave only the Experimental amateur-built kit
option?
The answer is no, and yes. To explain this apparent
contradiction, a kit-built T-Bird I with a larger
Rotax engine or the 60-hp HKS 700E engine could
still qualify under the 51% rule.
NH:Higher Class Aviation’s Sport Hornet
At the close of business on January 31,
2008, 2-seat ultralight trainers and overweight
single-seater “ultralights” – as
readers of this publication understand these aircraft
– will cease to exist. More correctly, they
must have been converted to Experimental-Light
Sport Aircraft (ELSA) if their owners want to continue
flying them; otherwise these pilots’ options
are sharply limited.
But as Part 103-compliant ultralights continue
and if ultralight trainers go away, how will new
ultralight pilots be trained for flight in these
lightest of aircraft?
Happily, the subject of this month’s flight
review answers that question. Arguably the first
fixed-wing ultralight to make the jump – not to
ELSA conversion status but to full, Special-LSA
(SLSA) approval – is Higher Class Aviation’s
Sport Hornet.
Gaining Higher Class
We first saw the Hornet when Jim Millett
brought this new design to Sun ‘n Fun ’94 (the
event’s 20th anniversary). It was a bold move into
a market looking well established.
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