When this website went live a few months before the Sport Pilot & Light-Sport Aircraft rule was announced at Oshkosh 2004, it began life as an archive of several hundred pilot reports I had written for a number of print magazines in aviation. That launch seems a long time ago … it has been eleven and a half years. (Development started only a few years after the World Wide Web emerged and ByDanJohnson.com went live in April 2004.)
One year after going live, I began to add news via a blog, which I called “Splog,” for Sport Pilot web log. Videos started in 2008 and by 2015, news and video have become the primary content items.
You might be surprised to hear ByDanJohnson.com predates YouTube, which began when three former PayPal employees created a video-sharing website. The Internet domain name YouTube.com was activated on February 14, 2005 and the website went public in November of that same year.
VIDEO — Check Out the Speedy Swiss Risen
In addition to what you can read on ByDanJohnson.com, we have a growing library of videos. When I attend airshows, I frequently hear from attendees that they thoroughly enjoy these 8-12 minute productions. I have the fun job, seeking out airplanes and speaking to the developers behind them while on camera. After that my video partner, Dave, does the big job of editing these things into what I consider to be very nice productions. You get views of the airplane, hear the details, and see more about them than any other way than attending the airshow yourself.
In this newest posted video, you see the gorgeous Risen from Sea-Avio.com (SEA is Swiss Excellence Airplanes). Update June 2020 — SEA is now Porto Aviation Group. Now, this is not simply one more entry in the increasingly crowded Light-Sport or (European) microlight market. This may be the fastest airplane in the fleet and is certainly — if not the fastest — one of the speediest airplanes to use the Rotax 912 ULS engine.
Van’s RV-12 Enter Rare Realm of Four Digits
I’ve enjoyed a front row seat for all eleven years that Light-Sport Aircraft have been part of the aviation firmament. In those years of closely following this industry, I’ve only seen companies reach the four digit horizon three times.
What does that mean and why might you find it meaningful?
First came Cessna’s Skycatcher. More recently it was (quite convincingly) Icon’s A5. Now, welcome Van’s Aircraft.
Cessna once claimed more than 1,000 orders for their now-discontinued Skycatcher LSA. The company delivered 271 of them (according to our review of FAA’s N-number database) but we won’t see any more. Icon reports more than 1,300 orders, making them Top Gun in the LSA roost, though they have delivered only one, to EAA’s Young Eagles program. Then, we have Van’s … the undisputed leader of kit aircraft deliveries. In fact, the latter is nearly ready to enter the aviation stratosphere of five digits.
DemoVenture 2015 — Flying at Oshkosh
Shows like Sebring and Midwest LSA Expo are known for being great places to demo fly a Light-Sport or light kit you may be considering to buy. They earned that reputation because it is typically much easier to fly at those lower-key, less crowded events than at giant shows like AirVenture. However, some companies make demo flying a mission at Oshkosh and this article covers three that delivered an exceptional number of demo flights.
Icon reported doing around 150 demonstration flights in the first public outing of the long-awaited LSA seaplane. Writers for aviation’s largest magazines got their private crack at the new bird beforehand … since returning from Oshkosh, I’ve seen A5 on the covers of Flying, AOPA Pilot, Sport Aviation, and Plane & Pilot. That’s an enormous splash. I can’t recall any single aircraft capturing all four titles in the same month, quite a credit to Team Icon for deftly executing such a major marketing push.
The World of LSA and American Opportunities
Updated 8/21/15 — This article has been updated with a reader comment seen at the bottom.
When the SP/LSA regulation was announced 11 years ago nearly all registered Light-Sport Aircraft originated in Europe. Indeed, the first two accepted as SLSA were the Evektor SportStar and Flight Design’s CT series. For several early years, Europe accounted for more than two-thirds of all LSA brands in the USA.
However, in a decade, a lot has changed.
Now, American companies have had time to shift from kit making (a very different business model) or have developed brand-new aircraft or offer a revised version of an existing model to meet the ASTM standards so they could gain FAA acceptance.
American companies are also starting to make inroads into other countries that accept ASTM standards.
Some countries simply copy FAA regs while others accept the ASTM standards set and then layer on some of their own regulations.
Searey Now Completely Ready to Enter China
Icon recently won FAA acceptance as the California company demonstrated meeting ASTM standards for their A5 seaplane and made a big show out of delivering the first airplane to EAA Young Eagles … the same move, by the way, as Cessna did with their Skycatcher. We expect Icon’s future to work out better as they begin to fulfill more than 1,300 orders.
However, another LSA seaplane is demonstrably ahead in the government approval race.
“Led by consultants from SilverLight Aviation, Progressive Aerodyne of Tavares, Florida recently received Production Certificate approval from China’s CAAC.” According to SilverLight spokesman Abid Farooqui, “This makes Searey the first U.S.-made LSA to achieve this distinction and have both Type Design Approval as well as a Production Certificate for its Searey LSA airplane.” Searey’s earlier Type Design approval and recent Production Certificate were gained under the supervision and guidance of SilverLight, which is based in Zephyrhills.
AirVenture Wrap-Up: Shiny Part 103, Icon Rising
The big summer celebration of flight has ended. I have more info from AirVenture 2015 and next I plan a summary article. A preview includes the most positive prognosis from industry players I have seen in recent years; strong sales reported by several producers; several interesting developments or benchmarks; and a wonderful week of weather as icing on the cake. My video partner and I put in long days to secure perhaps 30 or more new videos including many on the freshest topics in light aviation. Stay tuned for more and go here to see the hundreds of videos we have posted from previous events.
The Shiniest Part 103 … We shot a video interview on the line of Hummel Aviation light aircraft, including two Part 103 models and one Experimental Amateur Built version. Toward the end of the week, one that had been sheltered in a tent on one end of the sprawling AirVenture grounds was hand towed to the Ultralight Area — called the Fun Fly Zone — so people could see this mirror-finish (highly polished aluminum) UltraCruiser in the air.
4 things to See at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2015
The “Big Show” is just days away, so of course, journalists and readers are asking what will be present? The question is worthwhile, but often the most interesting discoveries are not foretold either to maintain secrecy or due to the last minute scramble to make a new project showable. Here are four products attendees may want to investigate. Watch for more previews.
“What a journey so far, wrote Jordan Denitz, spokesman for The Airplane Factory USA! Globetrotters Mike Blyth with Patrick Huang of The Airplane Factory Asia have completed their first three legs on their way around the world in a Sling powered by the Rotax 912iS. Starting in Johannesburg, South Africa, they traveled to Namibia, Ghana, and Cape Verde.
On Monday they were taking a well deserved rest after 37 hours and more than 4,000 nautical miles logged so far. “They are gearing up for the biggest hop yet, crossing the Atlantic,” added Jordan.
Opening Day Firsts: Icon, American Legend, Dynon
I promised to tell you what was under the blue wrap disguising the powerplant on the unnamed taildragger in my earlier article. Here it comes with other opening day news from AirVenture 2015.
Icon Aircraft made their first delivery of an A5 after a tremendous media build-up, as this California company has clearly demonstrated it can do brilliantly. Not only was a huge crowd in attendance but a large flock of young people in matching tee-shirts accompanied the airplane as it was towed down the main drag — called Celebration Way — to Boeing Plaza and the runway.
The reason for the young folks was because airplane number one went to EAA’s Young Eagles, but this is especially fitting as Icon has aimed their aircraft in a different direction than any other airplane maker with which I am familiar. One pilot who flew the A5 said, “It has an automotive-like interior.
South Africans Arrive Before AirVenture 2015 Opens
It’s almost time! — The tents are in place. Most of the displays are built. Airplanes are already parked by the thousands in EAA voluminous parking areas. The campground and every hotel room for miles is packed full. While the usual pandemonium reigns the night before opening, it is a familiar scene that somehow, almost magically resolves into a ready-to-go show on opening day only hours away, tomorrow, Monday July 20th, the earliest start to AirVenture Oshkosh in years.
Today, I got a text — thank some tech guru for inventing text, which always seems to get through quickly even when phone calls do not, with hundreds of thousands of attendees all using their smartphones at the same time.
The text from The Airplane Factory USA‘s Matt Liknaitzky read, “Mike [Blythe] and Patrick [Huang] are arriving in the Sling 912 iS … if ya wanna see them.” We did, so we dashed north to the North Aircraft Display Area space.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- …
- 64
- Next Page »