Hot Off The Water

To the answer “Progressive Aerodyne!” comes the Jeopardy question “What LSA company thumbs its nose at the bad economy?”
Certainly one of the most-fun LSA flights I’ve had in some time came at the controls of that company’s SeaRey amphibian.

Designer Kerry Richter and his SeaRey, buzzing the pond at Progressive Aerodyne's factory in Tavares, FL

My LSA pal Dan Johnson recently wrote up a piece on the amphib which spurred me to excerpt some highlights in advance of my own flight report on the lively sea bird coming soon in Plane & Pilot.
Kerry and Wayne Richter, second and third generation founders of Progressive Aerodyne, started back in the ‘70s with many memorable UL birds they created with dad/grandfather Stanley Richter.  The company then was Advanced Aviation and it put out, among other craft, several iterations of a very popular ultralight amphib: the Buccaneer.

Buccaneer SX-1.  Photo - www.lightsportaircraftpilot.com

Building on that success, as Dan notes, Progressive Aerodyne popped out 31 Experimental Amateur Built kits in 2010.
After Sebring 2011, they sold 14!  That's impressive for any aviation company in these difficult times.
All those new builders will have lots of company: more than 600 SeaRey builders are already splashing into lakes and rivers all over the world.
The kit goes out the door at around $70,000.
And as I reported last month, Kerry tells me the SeaRey SLSA should be through ASTM accreditation by Oshkosh and will sell in the neighborhood of $120,000 -- "loaded" -- a very attractive price for an amphibian.
I went to Progressive Aerodyne's factory in Tavares, Florida after the show to shoot and get the tour.  Kerry is one busy designer.  He demonstrated a folding-wing option he’s developing that can be done, on land, by one person!
If you’ve got flying from water on your mind, this is one hot setup.  Other LSA amphibs have yet to make the big splash SeaRey has.  
A good part of that has to be its nearly two decades of design refinements and a cohort of happy owners.  Here's one well-seasoned, robust design...and one heck of a lot of fun to fly.

AERO...and e-Flight Expo...coming soon

The e-flight Expo kicks off for the third time at "AERO" in Friedrichshafen, Germany, April 13-April 16.  

Bunches of new aircraft and propulsion technologies along with the awarding of the Lindbergh Electric Aircraft Prize (LEAP) will mark the gathering of 550 exhibitors from 26 countries.
The e-flight name stands for more than electrical flight innovations: ecological and evolutionary advances in flight regardless of their nature are embraced, although electric is certainly leading the show.
Erik Lindbergh, grandson of Charles Lindbergh, will present his foundation’s prize for outstanding achievements in the development of electric flight.  

This year should bring several exciting advances in electric flight .  I’ll be doing a broad story for the magazine soon on what’s up and what’s coming.
Another highlight of the Expo is "History for the Future of Flight”, a tantalizing assemblage of descendants and close relatives of last century’s aviation pioneers:  Claude Dornier, Igor Sikorsky, Marcel Dassault and Count Zeppelin.  

Bertrand Piccard, globe-circling balloonist and grandson of the atmospheric scientist Auguste Piccard, will also be there...unless test flights for his ongoing electric flight project "Solar Impulse" interfere.
Mr. Lindbergh, a tireless environmental champion in his own right, will also bring Albert II, Prince of Monaco, to augment support for Lindbergh’s championing of “electric mobility”, which includes  – aviation but also other forms of more planet-friendly transportation.  

Yuneec's new Viva two-seat electric powered motorglider

The expo will feature flight demonstrations from Yuneec’s e430 and E-Spyder electric aircraft, and the Chinese company’s new Viva.  The two-seat, side-by-side all-electric motorglider has a folding prop in the nose, run by a 40-kilowatt electric motor.
Top Slovenian LSA maker Pipistrel will display a four-seat hybrid airplane.
And Flight Design, top U.S. LSA producer, plans to display the latest version of its hybrid engine: a Rotax 914 combined with an electric motor.
But wait: There’s more!  36 teams will take to the air in the Berblinger Flight Competition, created to demonstrate "flying using innovative techniques" based on the latest research, knowledge and developments in aviation.
Germany, Slovenia, Italy, France, Australia, Czech Republic and Austria will field teams...but none from the U.S.  What’s up with that?

Yuneec E-Spyder (based on FlightStar ultralight)

The prize will go to aircraft capable of “carrying people and incorporating original and innovative ideas of environmental sustainability, economy, safety and/or construction.”
The first, technical part of the competition happens April 15, 2011 at AERO.  The winner gets €100,000 in prize money - that’ll work!
The second part takes place in the German city of Ulm on its 200th anniversary of Albrecht Ludwig Berblinger’s attempt to cross the Danube River in a hang glider of his own design.  Studies of his failed attempt indicate the design was sound...he could very well have succeeded, in 1811, if he’d had more knowledge of thermal air currents over the cold river. 

Expect AERO's e-flight to once again be the premier showcase of cool new stuff that will change all our lives in years to come.

AOPA to FAA: Let CFI-S Hours Count for the Private License!

There’s been some controversy lately regarding FAA’s mandate that flight training towards the Sport Pilot license is not allowed to count toward the Private Pilot (PPL) and higher licenses and ratings unless the instructor is a certificated CFI, rather than a CFI-S (as FAA delineates Sport Pilot-only instructors).
Recently, AOPA petitioned the FAA to change the regulations and allow those hours to count for all higher levels of certificated airmanship.
The pilot member organization picked up support along the way from EAA, GAMA (General Aviation Manufacturers Association), and NAFI (National Association of Flight Instructors), all of which are now petitioning FAA to change these regs: FAR Part 61.99 and 61.109. 

Should hours logged with a CFI-S count toward the Private - and beyond?

The specific language asks FAA to “permit the instruction time received in pursuit of a sport pilot certificate to be credited toward the instruction requirements of additional certificates and ratings.”
Of course, getting advanced ratings requires training from a qualified CFI.  The petition only addresses Sport Pilot training as given by a CFI-S.
The crux seems to be FAA's 2009 ruling reinterpretation that revised its own 2002 take that held ultralight flight time logged by Sport Pilots would count toward higher-level certificates. 
The 2009 statement posited that allowing CFI-S training to count toward the PPL in effect constituted permission for CFI-S to provide training for the PPL.
No way, said AOPA, proclaiming that aeronautical experience gained in pursuit of the SPL provides “a valuable foundation for the additional requirements of the private pilot certificate.”
Nobody’s suggesting that CFI-S can legally take a student through the PPL.  Buy why shouldn’t the skills taught by one count?
Does any pilot logically believe that good instruction doesn’t make them a better pilot from Day One?
FAA’s narrow view is akin to making a student retake 7th grade algebra before he takes geometry in the 9th grade, because he was taught by middle school instructors instead of in high school. 
Math is math and teaching is teaching. 
Aeronautical skills and knowledge, as with riding a bicycle, don’t simply evaporate because they were initially learned from someone with a CFI-S-only credential.
The group goes on to say allowing sport pilots to move smoothly up to higher-level licenses and ratings not only doesn’t compromise safety, but gives Sport Pilots greater incentive to pursue those skills and in fact enhances safety.
Works for me.  What do you think?

Flight Design 4-Seater to Debut at AERO

Although not strictly LSA-centric, here's a cool story: German-based Flight Design, maker of the top-selling CT-line of LSA, is coming out with a new, certified 4-seat aircraft dubbed the C4.
As the name unintentionally implies, Flight Design surely hopes to have an explosive impact on the General Aviation market, and we wish it success.

This is NOT an official Flight Design rendering, just my own fantasful imagining of the C4 based on the CTLS

The first full-size POC (proof of concept) version debuts in April at Europe's big Aero 2011 airshow in Friedrichshafen, Germany.  It's a fabulous show, BTW, especially since lots of electric-powered aircraft will also be on display.  I'll do a wrap up of its coming events in the next couple days.
Back to the C4: An interesting wrinkle is the company's outreach for feedback on the merits of the airplane's design.  They'll poll the show goers at Aero, but also will have an online survey for all of us to weigh in on.  That link won't be hot until March 1st, but make it worth your time: they're giving away a Garmin aera 500 GPS for your trouble...not that serving up opinions is ever a problem for us pilots.
This is apparently a sincere request, not just a marketing strategy: Although in development for years, Flight Design's engineers won't freeze the design until somewhere around Sun 'n Fun 2012, after wading through all the public input.
Also of more than passing interest is the company's plans to type-certify both the CTLS and MC — currently ASTM-approved S-LSA designs here in the States. Flight Design will use a EASA certification system, which makes use of the company's recently granted Design Organization Approval.
You have to admire Flight Design's impressive commitment to all aspects of private flight.  Over 24 years, the company has built more than 1,500 aircraft, flying in 39 countries, has successfully passed quality control audits conducted by LAMA, ISO (International Standards Organization) and TÜV (a vast German technical standards consortium in existence for 130 years, roughly equivalent to ASTM).
It's also developing a hybrid power system and working to expand its global service and support, currently in place in 39 countries.

Voice of the (Pilot) People

Smart Brief picked up on an AOPA poll of its membership (without citing the numbers of poll respondents) that shows an overwhelming majority can see themselves "flying as a sport pilot in the future."
That dovetails into a topic I'm working on in my column for the May issue, which covers the recent LSA Tour of Florida that took place right after Sebring 2011.
John Hurst, head of Sebring Aviation, who flew a Flight Design CTLS on the Tour, told me of his desire to overturn what he perceives as an entrenched belief among younger pilots that LSA flight is primarily viable as an alternative for older pilots faced with the possibility of losing their flight medicals, and therefore their flight privileges.
"I want us to stop preaching to the choir and reach out to younger pilots.  Too many younger pilots think of LSA as a compromise you need to make when you're in danger of losing your medical.  I've heard younger pilots say, too many times, 'I won’t have to do something like that for a lot of years'.  I'm trying to change that perception to show them LSA offers several benefits they can't get with a type certificated aircraft."

The question the poll doesn't answer is, "How far in the future do you see yourself flying as a sport pilot?"

On the face of it though, these are encouraging numbers.  At the very least it shows that sport pilot flying is building a strong positive image for itself.
The poll results:
74.91%: Yes -- I could see myself flying as a sport pilot in the future
11.06%: Yes -- I am flying as a sport pilot now.
(aggregate total: almost 86%!)
14.03%: No -- I would not fly.

Larry Newman, 2011

Larry Newman, 63, one of the seminal manufacturing/marketing dynamos in the early days of hang gliding who made the successful transition to ultralights, has died after a reported 3-year battle with pancreatic cancer.

Larry Newman

Larry was a flamboyant entrepreneur who successfully sold his ElectraFlyer hang gliders.
When people started sticking motors on the foot launched craft, he came out with a new company, American Aerolites, to produce the Eagle ultralight.
I first flew the Eagle with Plane & Pilot Publisher Steve Werner back in 1983.  I remember it vividly: while Steve was up on a test hop, I was taking photos of his flight next to the runway at Coronado Airport, north of Albuquerque, near Larry's factory...and I got stung twice by fire ants.

American Aerolites Eagle

I almost jumped out of my jeans, it hurt so bad.  I thought I'd been shot in the leg.  I could barely see the critters but what a painful wallop they packed. 
After the success of the Eagle, Larry debuted the revolutionary, composite-fuselage, clear mylar-winged Falcon, a wonderful, radical design leap forward that would fit in well with today's S-LSA...and this was 26 years ago!
Today, to qualify as a Light Sport, it would need a fixed nosegear: the production Falcon had a cockpit pull-up retraction system that worked very well at reducing drag.
Always a superb (and shrewd) marketer, Larry managed to get Chuck Yeager and Delco batteries to endorse and use the Falcon in TV commercials, which ran for years and was a big success for Delco.
I had the great pleasure to fly Chuck's Falcon in the Greater Arizona Ultralight Air Race in 1984. 
I must report without intending to brag that I won the race...entirely by accident.

Photo courtesy Aerosoft

I say that because I got completely lost on the course, buzzed around for ten minutes looking for the pylon, then found it and flew the rest of the race firewalled.  The only pilot skill I exhibited was flying a crab course where everybody else seemed not to understand how to compensate for a 15-knot wind.
The winner was to be the pilot who completed the course in the fastest time...without exceeding the FAR Part 103 legal limit of 63 mph, straight and level, full throttle.  Yep, the Sport Pilot Rule that limits LSA to a top level speed of 120 knots had its germinus in the 1980s.
Anyway, my final average time for the 108-mile course was 62.58 mph!  Now you know why I say "accidental" winner.
Clearly the Falcon was capable of much faster than legal flight.  I wonder today how many LSA, especially these sleek composite ships, nudge the 120-knot limit by a few knots.  Maybe FAA will send up some air cops with speed guns.
I remember practicing before the race.  I'd run a few laps around a practice course and was on short final to land when I saw someone on the tarmac, furiously waving a red shirt.
"What an idiot," I mumbled, wondering what the hell he was doing.
As I got within 50 feet of touchdown, the guy was still there.  I suddenly realized it was Larry, and he was trying to wave me off from landing.
"What the...?" I said to myself, then checked the right side of the cockpit.  I'd forgotten to lower the nosegear!
"Dumbass," I mumbled, powered up for a go-around, dropped the gear, and flew the whole pattern that way.
After I landed, he grinned at me with a "You dumb s---" look...then eased my embarrassment by saying, "Don't feel too bad: Chuck landed in it a few weeks ago with the nose gear up."
He meant the great Chuck Yeager.  Larry introduced me to the legendary USAF test pilot a few months later.  Chuck  gave me a quick glance, a perfunctory handshake, then made to move off to join some other people.  I felt slightly invisible but my ego was none the worse for wear: Chuck was a huge hero of mine, as he was for a lot of pilots.
But Larry grabbed his arm and said, "Wait up, Chuck: Jim's the guy who flew your Falcon in the big race and won it!"
Suddenly Chuck's face lit up in a broad grin and he reshook my hand with substantial vigor.  "Well hell, Jim, great to meet you!"
Suddenly we were members of the same club...for a few moments anyway.
I saw Chuck a few years later in the Warbird area at Oshkosh and reintroduced myself.  I remember thinking at the time, "Man, he's getting up there in years."
At first he didn't remember me, not surprising since he'd become a highly visible and sought-after celebrity by then.  I reminded him of flying his Falcon - which had carried the nickname "Glamorous Glennis" after his late wife.  The Bell X-1 rocket plane carried the same famous moniker.  Chuck was the first human to break the sound barrier in level flight in the X-1, in 1947.
As years before, his face lit up briefly in a smile, then his brow wrinkled and he said, only half joking, "Hell, Jim; you got old!"
I laughed.  (I'm 22 years younger.)
I ran into Larry Newman a few years later.  He'd long since drifted away from the hang glider biz and hooked up with Ben Abruzzo and Maxie Anderson to be the first, in 1978, to cross the Atlantic in a balloon -- the Double Eagle II.

Double Eagle II

Later Larry accomplished the same feat in a different balloon with a different crew, this time being the first to cross the Pacific.
Ben crashed and died at 55 taking off in a light twin with five women aboard, at the same Coronado Airport where Steve Werner and I first flew that spidery-framed Eagle ultralight.
Maxie Anderson had died, at 48, two years earlier during a balloon race in Germany.
I'd wondered whether that was hard on Larry: to lose the people he'd made history with, and so much life still ahead of them.
Larry was an excellent and well-rounded pilot.  Before the hang glider and ultralight game, he'd flown for the airlines, and after the hang glider, balloon and ultralight adventures, he returned to the professional cockpit. 
He had a penetrating gaze to go along with a cocky Joker's smile that could easily intimidate you with his abundance of self confidence.
Larry wasn't always the easiest guy to have a casual conversation with either.  Try to BS your way through a topic he was conversant in, or disagree on a cherished belief, and he'd nail you right on the spot...grinning all the time, almost seeming to revel in your discomfort as he dared you to prove him wrong. 
I saw Larry the last time at an event in Washington, D.C. to honor his flight over the Atlantic.  We talked briefly; I could tell life had mellowed him considerably.  He'd had his share of triumphs and setbacks, as do we all, and life had etched his face and soul accordingly.
His big smile and bright eagle's penetrating stare were still there, but there was a resignation, and an acquaintance with humility and gentility too, and that's how I'll best remember him.
Fly high, fly long, Larry Newman.

Sebring Wrap Up...and Beyond

I'd call this Day 4 but rush-deadline work for the mag intervened after the last day at Sebring so just getting to it now.
The Sebring experience gets better every year, I believe precisely because Bob Woods keeps it consistently valuable without tricking it up with a lot of extraneous booths selling things like Miracle Kitchen Knife or iPhone WonderMuffin Pocket Baker and the like: it's an LSA show, pure and simple, and a great opportunity for folks to crawl out from wherever winter is tap-dancing on their heads and let them see, compare, fly and even buy aircraft and peripheral stuff.

ALTO 100

Many airframe makers reported sales at the show, or expected deals to close afterward.  Exhibitors hope for sales of course, but realize folks often need to go home, reflect on what they've seen, then push the button or think more on it.
I'd say from everybody I talked to, optimism was rekindled that 2011 will be better than the last -- a real toughie.
Let's wrap up my highlights, then look at the 2011 Florida LSA Tour that launched right after Sebring.
ALTO 100:  Last year, Ron Corbi and Dan Coffey vowed to bring an Americanized, more affordable S-LSA to our shores and did just that with this retooled Czech design, newly S-LSA certified.  Their "pre-emptive maintenance" approach looks to eliminate those features that most tend to wear out in LSA.  American-made Matco wheels and brakes, bucked rivets instead of pop rivets in high-stress areas and so on.  The Alto features a Vertical Power electronic electrical system, Approach Hub avionics wiring and a Dynon SkyView glass panel, all for under $100,000, should attract attention.  It's a cute airplane too.

KITFOX SUPER SPORT

KITFOX SUPER SPORT:   Owner John McBean and Paul Leadabrand, owner of a top taildragger school in Idaho called Stick and Rudder Aviation, brought Paul's Kitfox to the show.  I had the pleasure of flying it with John the day after the show.  What a refined and highly evolved sport plane this much-copied design has become in the 19 years since I built the first iteration of it.  Smooth, responsive, great visibility, available as a kit too: and most important, really fun to fly.  Big baggage compartment (or optional airframe 'chute-ready).  Base price: $83,495.

FK9 ELA

FK9 ELA: Finally got to fly this handsome, comfortable cruiser from Poland’s FK Lightplane, a refined fifth generation version of the European-popular carbon fiber airplane repped in the U.S. by Hansen Air Group.  New is the redesigned engine cowl (reminiscent of the LoPresti speed mod on Piper Aircraft some years back) for the Rotax 912 ULS, which reduces drag yet improves cooling.: nice!  New winglets reduce fuel burn and improve stall handling for U.S. LSA requirements.  Folding wings, wing or fuselage fuel tanks.
HARDWARE DEPT: A couple more cool gadgets to talk about:

Watching the excellent wing-mounted video at Sebring

Light Sport Group's Contour A/V-ATOR HD GPS Camcorder has really caught on with flight schools and others looking to document their flights on High Def video.  Now the light-weight, 1080P cam has GPS tracking ability: speed, altitude and position data encode along with the video and audio. Software included lets users play back, edit and share videos online.  Data ports over easily to apps such as Google Earth.  Under $600.

DYNON'S Robt. Hamilton and 1 lb. Transponder unit

And Dynon's SkyView big, multi-talented glass panel keeps evolving.  Marketing veep Robert Hamilton updated me on two new features: autopilot and transponder.   For example, just tap VFR in transponder mode for the 1200 squawk code.  Manual code input is a snap too.  The Dynon transponder sending unit weighs just a pound: easy to put anywhere.  Dynon will also soon release a new worldwide Jeppesen -- sourced navigation database soon.
The 2011 Florida LSA Tour:  Take five top manufacturers to six Florida cities and you've got the gist of this clever and, we can hope, effective marketing effort.  Cooked up by Bill Canino of Sport Air USA and American Legend Cub’s Dave Graham, (formerly with Gobosh), the idea targets one of America’s busiest aviation states.  On the tours: Legend’s Cub, Flight Design’s CTLS, Sportair's Sting S3 and Sirius, the Rans S-19, and Jabiru’s J-230 joined the tour’s itinerary to Naples, Miami, Orlando, Spruce Creek, Leeward Air Ranch and Tallahassee.
If successful, tours like this could fill the gap until the LSA infrastructure reaches more fully across the country. 

Dave Graham (lt.) Bill Canino (ctr.) and friends

I caught up with the gang at Orlando's Executive Airport.  Air Orlando hosted an outdoor barbecue, much appreciated.  Attendance was decent, and made up of serious potential customers, which is the whole point.
Telling anecdote: I spoke with a Cirrus SR-22 owner who was looking at every LSA there.
"I'm really impressed," said the mid-40s software engineer, "with the quality of these LSA.  Once my teens are out of school, I'll probably buy one for my wife and I to take trips in.  I didn't realize how well-built these airplanes are."
Sebring is done: Long live Sebring!
And thanks again to Bob Woods and his terrific group of volunteers.

Sebring Day 3: Busy Blustery Bouncy Fun

An FPNA A22 Valor, soon to be represented by a new distributor...who will also, according to conflicting reports at least, also be repping the Paradise P1.  More on that as the story fleshes out.

 The day dawned foggy and solid overcast...then cleared almost instantaneously...then snap overcast again.

Tom Guttman Jr. makes a low pass for my camera.

The wind grew...and grew...the temperature dropped, and by the end of it, everyone agreed it was an unseasonally chilly day, more like San Francisco in winter than Sebring, FL.

But people flew, and flew.  Folks came out in good numbers and, according to all the exhibitors I spoke with, and that was a lot, there was focused interest and orders, or solid prospects, were recorded.

My flying fortunes started bright and early with a morning flight in the new Flight Design CTLS, thanks to Tulsa, OK Airtime Aviation dealers Tom Guttman and his son...Tom Guttman.  Makes "Hi Tom!" less of a chore, you only have to say it once.

Tom soldiers on downwind through the building chop.

These enterprising lads have finalized the fitting and testing of their Clamar floats, designed and built by famed float maker Clair Sceli, and they're beautiful to see and fun to fly on.  

We did several landings and takeoffs on nearby, wind-whipped, whitecap-popping Lake Jackson.  Solid, balanced, well-performing.  And all that extra drag only costs about 18 knots...we were showing 102 kts. indicated straight and level, full power coming back to the field. 

Tom Peghiny, Prez of Flight Design, also had a gorgeous, futuristic panel on proud display: two Dynon Skyview EFIS displays and a Garmin 696.  Gorgeous!  See for yourself... 

I'll fly the Criquet Aviation Stolp Storch 75% replica tomorrow morning.  

Some tantalizing specs in the meantime:

Span: 34.7 feet

Wing Chord: 5 feet

Aspect Ratio: 7 

Cockpit width (tandem): 28"

Baggage: 3 cu. ft./25 lbs.

Fuel capacity: 30 gal

Engine: Rotax 912 ULS 100 hp

Engine: Continental Lightweight 0-200 available soon

Photo courtesy U-Fly-It

Prop: 6 ft. Tennessee wood

Takeoff distance: 168 ft.

Rate of climb: 850 fpm

Cruise: 80 mph

VNE: 117 mph

Stall (clean): 36 mph (that's not knots, that's mph folks)

Stall (40 degrees flaps): 30 mph!!!

Landing distance: 173 ft.

And here's the nifty EFIS-1831 from Levil Aviation...yep, it's a touch screen.  Does anybody doubt, with the paradigm shift brought about by Apples iPhone and iPad, that touch screen cockpit displays are the future?

This 10.4 inch Touch Screen Computer ties in all EFIS engine and navigation monitoring functions into one MFD.

Very cool, read all about it here, I'm going to bed.

 

Sebring Day 2: Quick Takes on Cool Stuff

Here's a glancing blow at some products you might want to check out in depth:

A cute new LSA named Viper SD-4 showed up, beautifully built (in Slovakia) and should be very attractive to anyone who likes the conventional approach of an all-metal airframe done in the traditional way -- with a modern technological boost.
The parent company, Tomark Aero, uses CAD design and CNC precision cutting methods.
US distribution will be through Tomark Aero USA, located in Frisco, TX.

Some specifications:

WINGSPAN: 27' 10 1/2 "
MAX WEIGHT: 1320 lbs.
CRUISE: 108 knots
MAX SPEED: 120 knots
STALL: 40 knots
RATE OF CLIMB: 1280 fpm
TAKE OFF RUN: 525  ft.
LANDING RUN: 722 ft.

 

===============================================================

Wild and Crazy in a Flying Boat: that's what I'd title a short movie I'd make of my fun ride with Kerry Richter, designer of the SeaRey amphib, took me for a way-too-fun ride over, around, onto and off of a nearby lake.  We chased the shouting windspray along, so to speak, and I was completely jazzed on how much fun, and how easy, that 19 year old airplane is.
More than 550 have been built as an Experimental Category kit.  By Oshkosh, Kerry hopes to have finished ASTM certification for the SeaRey LSX, which will be an S-LSA.

Boating around on near-glass smooth water, chasing other seaplanes around, not to mention a duck or two (no birds were injured in the filming of this fantasy movie), and making several landings myself, were so doggone much fun and frankly so easy, and so bullet-proof, that I felt like I'd been flying the bird since I was hatched.
Really, this has to be the easiest and most goof-proof airplane I've ever had the pleasure to fly...and that includes hang gliders, which in spite of all the media hysteria are as easy to master as a bicycle.
I'll go into detail in my pilot report for the magazine, but here's a teaser:
"Wanna see an accelerated stall?" Kerry asked.
"Sure," I replied, silly me.
He snap-rolled the airplane into a 60 degree bank (if not more), then racked the stick back all the way to the seats.  Holy moley!  I thought we'd do an accelerated stall and drop into the water not far below like a cormorant gone fishing.
No way.  The SeaRey held on as if we were on a roller coaster car on rails.
Then Kerry got my attention by demonstrating a departure stall in the same Ramboesque manner.
He pushed the throttle to full power then yanked the stick back hard, you guessed it, all the way to the seat again.  We snapped up to at least a 70 degree angle, my stomach landed somewhere back by the (retracted) tailwheel...and the airplane just hung on, and hung on, and hung on...and never broke into a stall.
"It may not be idiot proof, but it is pretty much goof proof," he said laconically.
I just grinned like a fool.
"Just out of curiosity, what's the load factor?"
"Six g's positive, four negative."
Landings are so easy.  Takeoffs?  We actually did one without touching the stick!  Using rudder alone to keep things straight, we accelerated to about 60 mph and she popped off on her own.
Add the SeaRey to the growing list of airplanes I'd buy tomorrow, if only I'd had an inheritance or a winning Lotto ticket.

Sebring Day 2: Able To Fly

Charles Stites has to sleep really well at least some nights. 

Heidi Schultz

The Able Flight organization he founded believes in something big: giving people a second chance at life, specifically by awarding them with scholarships to learn to fly.

Sean O'Donnell

Two scholarship winners, Heather Schultz and Sean O'Donnell, are partially paralyzed young people who not only refused to give up on life after their injuries, they decided to take action in a bold way: by using their Able Flight scholarships to earn their Sport Pilot licenses.

They didn't stop there.

Pairing up to pay forward the opportunity Able Flight gave them, they've staged their own 1,000 mile fund raising flight, dubbed Freedom Flight 2011, to earn enough money to award at least two similar scholarships to wounded veterans and show others who have a desire to push through even the most daunting of challenges.

I met them both here at Sebring, just after they arrived at in Sean's specially modified Sky Arrow 600 tandem LSA, after event stops in Philadelphia, PA, Frederick, MD, Richmond, VA and Atlanta, GA.Both are inspiring, upbeat people.

I spent several minutes with Sean who described how the specially modified controls allow him and Heather to fly the airplane using only their arms.

The Freedom Flight 2011 odyssey has already raised enough money for more than one scholarship and is closing in on the second one.

If you'd like to help, surf on over to the official donation site here...there's another 1,000 miles still to fly back home.  Here's a chance for all of us to chip in, even if it's just a penny a mile, to help a wounded veteran get wings.

I just donated and I expect to sleep just a bit better myself tonight, knowing there are people like these two intrepid pilots, and Charles Stites, the Hansen Brothers from Hansen Air Group who've supported Able Flight all along, and industry leaders like Bob Stangarone of Cessna, a member of Able Flight's Advisory Board.

A toast to you, one and all.

Sebring Day 1: Cessna's Skycatcher Update

Cessna's Skycatcher program is really gaining traction.  I had a fun chat with Julie Filucci, Mgr of Cessna Pilot Centers (an excellent formation stick too - she flew for my Cessna shoot a year ago).
Matt Tutton, an Orlando Cessna dealer, and Bob Stangarone, Cessna's VP of Corp. Communications also weighed in the haps in Wichita.
By the end of 2010, 30 Skycatchers had been delivered, mostly to flight schools across the U.S.
"We expect to deliver 150 more by the end of this year," says Bob, "and more than that in 2012, although we don't have an exact number yet."
Cessna's working tirelessly working away at that backlog that initially climbed to 1000 orders when the scratch-built LSA was first announced a few years back.
Both Julie and Matt Tutton had recent long XC trips with the Skycatcher.  Julie's reached out to Oshkosh from Wichita, while Matt's went southeast from Wichita to Orlando.
"I did some low and slow flying," says Matt, "and it trims up so nicely; with half flaps I was loping along at 45 to 50 knots, going around and taking pictures.  The visibility in the Skycatcher is incredible.  Just keep a micro fiber cloth with you to keep the window clean for photos and most of the time reflections aren't a problem."  I'd imagine that high wing helps a lot too.
"With the Garmin G300 on board," Julie said as she demonstrated a really cool feature of the proprietary EFIS (based on Garmin's terrific 696, 7" display), "you've got everything you need: Airport Information Manuals, weight and balance automatic calculator and a lot more."
Weight and balance can be tricky with LSA due to the upper weight limit of the category.
"With the G300's calculator, feature" says Julie, "two heavy passengers can automatically dial in the numbers and instantly see whether they're in the box (see photos below)."
Since useful load on the Skycatcher is listed at 490 lbs. and can be less than that with options such as wheelpants, a second MFD etc., keeping track of weight is important.
"Most training operations are an hour to an hour and a half though," said Bob, "so even with two heavy pilots, they can carry enough fuel for at least a couple hours plus reserve."
Perhaps the biggest weight factor in Skycatcher orders has been the optional airframe parachute.
"No one's ordered one yet," Bob said.  "It adds 38 lbs.  As a former flight instructor, I prefer students not have that ease of getting out of a tough situation;  sometimes you need to sweat your way out of it.  That’s the logic I think why there have been no takers so far."

He adds that the system can add extra peace of mind, especially for spouses.  My argument in favor of 'chutes continues to be that there is likely to be no pilot skill-centric option after a bird strike, pilot incapacitation or mid-air collision.

Which makes the upper weight limit of the LSA category problematical.  I wish there was a weight allowance for parachutes, just as there is for water operation equipment (raises the limit from 1320 lbs. to 1430 lbs.)  Surely FAA and ASTM aren't saying water operations are more important than survival after a major mishap.

Julie also filled me in on the soon-to-be-released Sport Pilot training course, currently available through Cessna Pilot Centers and translating to an online course.  The new course, due to be finalized within the next couple months, has tons of video shot by the King School.

"John and Martha King show students exactly what procedures look like from the cockpit point of view.  They had the airplane for three months for filming.  The program, based on the FITS training principles, gives you a feel for what you’ll do before you even go out to airport." 
I'll go through the program once it's released and do a story on it.

Garmin G300 display has this page that lets you do instant weight and balance calculations.  Just input the values in the top of the screen, and the little dot tells you whether you're good to go...or not (see below)

The Garmin G300 easily lets you input pilot and passenger weights and fuel quantity.  If you're in the weight and balance limits, you instantly see the green dot, left.  Too much weight in any category gives you a clear warning.

SEBRING 2011: A GREAT START

The U.S. Sport Aviation Expo is alive and well and in its seventh year.

Indus Thorpedo, Mkg. Dir. Scott Severen's personal plane...lucky dude

The day dawned bright and clear, temps in the 70s, and as Event Chairman Bob Woods told me early on, "It's our best opening day yet."
Visitors were indeed evident all over the expansive tarmac of Sebring Airport, right next to the famed (and sometimes very noisy) Sebring Raceway, home of the 24-hour race.
More than 140 exhibitors are here, and although rainy/gloomy weather moves in for Friday, it's expected to clear out in time to return cooler-but-sunny skies for the weekend.
If you're anywhere in the area and hope to see many of the top LSA, new kids on the block and lots of ancillary display booths for the latest avionics, sport flight accessories live-on airparks and lots more, it's just getting started so come on down!

Lots of folks in the display hangars

First, a few photo picks from Day 1, then individual posts of some highlights from my first day...lots to talk about so let's get to it.

Juli Filucci, Mgr Cessna Pilot Centers

A gorgeous S-LSA replica of the WWII German recon plane, Criquet's Stolp Storch.  More to come on this bizarre bird.

Former Gobosh mover and shaker Dave Graham (center) in his new post with American Legend .
Dave's cooked up an LSA Florida tour for right after the show.  More in a separate blog.

Watching Light Sport Group's Aviator HD camera in action

Michael Steele of Virtual HUD and the Wingman portable EFIS (left), which links to GPS includes Highway in the Sky display potential

A Day In The Office

"...through footless halls of air..."

Nothing like getting some air.
Thanks to Jim Lee of Phoenix Air USA, I finally had my desire: Jim and I flew the fabulous new Phoenix LSA motorglider, with both wingtips (max span: 49 feet!) out of his home base at Melbourne International Airport, Florida, and I have to say simply this: it cured my winter blues.

Hard at work: Jim Lee, left, and me

Or to paraphrase Renée Zellwegger, "Shut up.  Just shut up.  You had me at liftoff."
To say the Phoenix lives up to its advance billing is understatement, plain and simple: it's a wonderful airplane for anybody who desires to have friendly Light Sport handling (2 second roll rate, 45° to 45°), wonderful engine-off soaring performance (200 fpm, 32:1 glide ratio), excellent and comfortable XC cruise (100 knots at 75%), comfortable, semi-reclined seats, great visibility with the sleek bubble canopy and forward rake of the cowl, beautiful lines, wonderful engine package...need I go on?

Ready for sky: Phoenix with the long wing extensions.

I'll let the pix do the talking for now.  Expect my flight report in Plane & Pilot soon.

Tomorrow...Sebring 2011 Light Sport Expo!

Climb over 1000 fpm at 57 knots

Stay tuned  for my daily reports.  The rumors be flyin' about lots of exciting new developments in what we all hope is a move-up year for the economy, and the aviation industry.

A beautiful Rotax 912 ULS (100hp) installation

Wonderful aerodynamic lines and just plain beautiful.