Look carefully. Can you count the number of separate clear panels in the cockpit?
The all-terrain Storch has main gear with an unusually deep stroke.
Smoothly executed with CAD/CAM software and manufacturing Viper is built very conventionally.
With a 48-inch wide interior, Viper will fit even larger American occupants in comfort.
In multiple ways Sebring 2011 is starting off the aviation year in grand fashion.
Crowds are strong through the first three days. The LAMA Dinner with special guest AOPA President
Craig Fuller was a big hit to the standing-room-only crowd. Weather has been warm and accommodating
— though poor conditions to the north prevented several airplanes from arriving on schedule.
*** In my rounds with UltralightNews to shoot more LSA videos, we
uncovered two new Special Light-Sport Aircraft models that were not previously on the
SLSA List. I rushed to add them as I recently found out
another FAA branch regularly uses our SLSA List — I was informed Aircraft
Registration in Oklahoma uses this resource before issuing at least some new registrations
so it’s in a seller’s best interest to be sure their models are on the List.
*** Welcome to SLSA #113, the Cricket Aviation
Storch. With fabrication
in Columbia and final assembly and fitting in Deland Florida, here’s a fascinating LSA
replica of the famous original Storch that rescued Italian scoundrel Mussolini from a
steep hillside during World War II. Several other efforts have brought this unique machine
to U.S. shores before but none prior succeeded in winning approval under ASTM standards.
Standing on its long legs and with many pieces of windscreen providing a marvelous view,
the Storch is a unique animal in the LSA fleet. She may not be fast, but can deliver a
kind of bush capability unlike anything we’ve seen.
*** A new model you once had to go to Europe to see is the
Viper SD-4
from Slovenia. It is now logged in the SLSA List as #114. The all-metal
low wing has a broad cockpit well suited to Americans with conventional lines and
construction materials. Viper’s back swinging canopy affords huge
visibility and from my few minutes in the cockpit the model appears to be focused
on comfortable cross country flying. See Jim Lawrence’s “Sebring Day 2” post below
for a few specifications.
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