Midwest Expo Wraps Up

The wonderfully run Midwest LSA Expo is history: Long Live Midwest.  The show was well supported by the industry, with many manufacturers and vendors attending to meet the public for the three day event.
All the industry and media reps I talked to, without fail, were universal in their praise for the enthusiastic, cheerful and unwavering commitment of the Midwest crew who bent over backwards to provide any and every service asked of them. 

Yet when the previous two days challenging weather (wind on Thursday, 95 degree heat and 25 mph + winds on Friday) finally gave way to a beautiful mid-70s, blue-sky day with light winds on Saturday, I'm sorry to report that the expected crowds failed to materialize.
All of the LSA dealers agreed that most of the folks who did turn out were more motivated and focused on LSA -- there were few nosewheel kickers in this crowd.
But hardworking Chris Collins, the point man in making this wonderful event happen, and the rest of us were disappointed in the turnout.
The consensus continues to support the belief that the aviation buying public just isn't ready to lay down the Grover Clevelands just yet, with the economy continuing to give mixed messages on the recovery.

That said, Chris is undaunted and plans to put this most excellent event on again next year.  He told me he'll recommend to the Mount Vernon Airport board of directors that the event run Friday through Sunday instead of Thurs-Sat as it did this year.
The airport is a fabulous venue.  The restaurant in the terminal served hearty buffet style breakfasts and lunches for $5 and $8.  More airshow-common fare such as bratwursts, burgers and corn dogs were for sale on the ramp.  The runways are long, in excellent shape, and there's ample smooth grass areas for taildragger operations.
iCub dealer Bill Canino, Prez of Sportair USA most agreeably gave me lots of grass time by treating me to landing practice for my upcoming pilot report on the lively bush critter with the Apple iPad on the panel.
Flying around the green and gold farm plains of southern Illinois is a treat in itself.  There are no shortage of emergency landing fields, so you can play around low or high and have a ball trying on the various designs.

More than 50 LSA were on display.  I had the pleasure to fly several of them, including the 3X Trim Navigator 600, an S-LSA I didn't know.  The unusual name is pronounced "three ex-treem" to denote the lovely, lively 3-axis handling.  I didn't know the Polish entry and was interested to learn it's a sister ship of sorts to the Remos GX, since the same designer created both original airplanes.  In handling, the two birds are certainly similar: light, responsive, harmonious, balanced.  The Navigator 600 was a real joy to fly.  Subjectively I find it less graceful in design than the Remos.  But inside it feels roomier, especially in headroom, and it occupies a much lower price bracket ($100K to $125K depending on equipment).  Those on a budget should give this all-composite fun flyer a close look -- as Dan Johnson noted, "it's a bit of a sleeper" that offers real value.

Another flivver I got some time in was the Rainbow Aircraft Cheetah, which at $53K is the lowest priced S-LSA I know of.  Report coming soon on that one too.
And I just head by email from Plane & Pilot Publisher Mike McMann, who is originally from the southern Illinois area.  He opined that there's just not enough population base around Mount Vernon.  Perhaps the organizers will find an airport next year closer to Chicago or St. Louis to draw from those huge population bases. 
Because in the end, like every other business, it always comes down to the numbers: the more you have to work with, the better your prospects.

Full-Blown Midwest Expo

That title is a bit tongue-in-cheek, since the first day of the Midwest LSA Expo here in Mount Vernon, IL was what you'd pretty much call a blowout...as in winnnnnndy!
The big storm front grounded our flight of two Evektor SportStar MAXs two hours east of here Wednesday.  That was after our long, headwind-bashing flight from Art Tarola's Allentown, PA AB Flight center that added two extra hours to the journey (glad it was a MAX - super comfortable airplane to fly and spend time in).

The heat and humidity (95 degrees) at least had 25 knot winds to help keep it bearable all day, but there was no flying to speak of until the last hour of the day when the wind died down.
I took the opportunity to jump up and shoot a few landings with Bill Canino in his iCub, which was a hoot.  Super tight, fun ship which I'll be writing up for an issue of P&P soon.
Some cogent highlights from the day's events:
David Kruger reprised his worthy Aircraft Partnership Assoc. crusade with a thorough overview of all the ins and outs of buying an aircraft with other people.  I did a column on his exhaustive work last year, and his website, which includes free membership, deserves a look if you're thinking of buying an LSA but can't pony up the full cash Monty on your own.
Several other seminars going on too, including edifying talks by industry gurus like Roy Beisswenger, Jim Sweeney and Dan Johnson.
On the flight line, dozens of top notch LSA are here, including the Falcon LS, two Evektors (full IFR package on the one I flew out on), Darin Hart and his Legend Cub, Rob Rollison's Aerotrek A220 and A240, at least two beautiful Rans S-19 Venterras, Jon Hansen's stable of lovely airplanes including an FK9 Mk IV and Mike Zidziunias with two Breezers flown up from Plant City, FL.

The photos show Mike with his two pretty blue and white Breezers and Jon with his FK models.  Jon also brought an Italian Sky Arrow, which he's reacquired for distribution in the States, and he's also talking about the FK-12 Comet aerobatic biplane LSA which he'll import from Europe to join his Hansen Air Group operation by mid-next year.
Jon filled me in on some tantalizing details:

"The Comet will be a 'Limited Edition', with larger tailfeathers than the Euro version, a longer nose, and it will handle more like a Decathlon or J3 Cub...but it's a fully acrobatic airplane."
Powerplant will be a new fuel injected Lycoming 233 with electronic ignition or a non-acrobatic-rated Rotax powered version.  Jon thinks it'll price out between $110,000 and $120,000 depending on which engine.
Both Jon and Mike Z talked about their current LSA training and rental operations.
"Rentals are helping us get through the economic crunch big time," says Mike.  "We're renting the Breezers out for about five hours per week.
Jon Hansen cites similar numbers.
Whatever it takes, right?
Here's hoping the expected good weather for the Midwest shows on the last day, Saturday, and brings out the crowds.

SIMSBURY FLY-IN

Beautiful 80 degree weather held off the looming spectre of fall and winter chills in the Northeast: perfect timing for the 25th Annual Simsbury, CT Fly-In and Car Show.
Around 10,000 folks wound their way through the low green hills east of Hartford to attend, along with some local notables, including the original Terrafugia Transition flying car prototype (the flight test version with the canard, removed for v.2), Evektor's SportStar Max, a Cessna SkyCatcher, EA-100 Eagle and dozens of GA airplanes and homebuilts.

I flew a J3 Cub over the day before, then caught a hop for the show on Sunday with friends from Great Barrington Airport (GBR) in nearby Massahoosetts.

One of the owners of GBR's Berkshire Aviation Services, Rick Solan, (that's his future pilot son Joe in the EA-100 Eagle, right) put snow skis on the Cub.  Check out the cotton-ball "snow" in the pic above!
Rick's a veteran American Airlines pilot who learned to fly - in a Cub - at Great Barrington back in the '70s!  He's offering ski flying training in the Cub this winter.  I just got my taildragger transition checkoff from Rick in one of the school's Cubs so you know I'll be there, learning to skip in and out of the myriad snowbound farmer's fields this winter, because I've had it with not flying when the snow falls!
Simsbury is a fun show, with airshow food stalls and vendors hawking everything from aviation-themed clothing to flight sim programs, local church groups, a rock band playing 60s surf and car culture music of all things (did a good job too) and even the local Congressman who gave a brief speech to the crowd in the runup to the Nov. elections.
And I saw more Shelby Cobras there -- one of the great production cars ever built -- than I've ever seen in one place.   
Art Tarola, head honcho of Allentown, PA's Abflight Sport Aviation training operation, the Evektor dealer for the Northeast, and an avid car enthusiast, remarked on all the '60s and '70s "muscle cars" that showed up on display: all told, I'd guess more than 300 cars showed up, from 1912 antiques to new Ferraris.

By the way, the Cessna Skycatcher on display was the same one Alan Horowitch of Yuma, AZ won in Sporty's Pilot Shop 2010 Sweepstakes.
The new bird already has an interesting life, mere months after it was built (number 5 off the production line). 
As The Sun, a Yuma newspaper, reported, Horowitch didn't even know he'd been entered in the contest -- when you buy anything from Sporty's, you're automatically entered.
He flew up to Cincinnati to take possession but it had an alternator problem so he returned home without the airplane.
Soon after, he got a call from a New York doctor who offered to buy it.  They made the deal and there it was at Simsbury, on display as part of a local flight training operation.  Wonder where that rolling stone airplane will be in 20 years.
Simsbury also boasted several aviation-themed talks by New England notable Lou Mancuso, who's Mid Island Air Service on nearby Long Island, NY has two flight training operations (and several LSA).
Doug Stewart, 2004's CFI of the year and Terrafugia's Richard Gersh also gave presentations.
Lou is deeply committed to Sport Pilot training. His topic was Light Sport flying and buying tips.  He's also taking delivery soon on a beautiful amphib SeaMax, which I'm hoping to do a flight report on after trying for 18 months! 
For all you gal pilot wannabes in the region, Mid Island Air is also hosting a Females in Aviation day Oct. 2 for 8th to 10th grade girls interested in a variety of aviation careers.  For information, call 631 399-0785.  Women interested in presenting at the event can contact: gail@midislandair.com

Breezin' the Bahamas

Just heard from Mike Zidziunas of Breezer Aircraft USA who gave me a touch of the end-of-summer blues with his chronicle of a trip he just made with two Breezers to those magical isles in the Caribbean.

"I was probably the most excited person at Airventure this year," Mike writes, "when I heard the government of the Bahamas would allow sport pilots to fly there from the States using a driver's license instead of a medical."
Mike knows the Sport Pilot turf well: he was one of the first to get the ticket and has been a Sport Pilot CFI since 2005.  His flight school is strictly Sport Aviation and he's flown LSA on hundreds of hours of cross country trips all over the US.
"And now I can fly to my favorite place on earth!"
Before the trek, there was of course the paperwork, including securing radio station licenses for the planes, radio telephone operators licenses for the pilots, customs user decals, and registration with eAPIS for customs manifest filing.
Then both airplanes were rigorously inspected -- "We were flying a long way over water."
Along with copilot Chris Parker of the Caribbean Weather Service and his pals Roger Sherrod and wife Chady in a second Breezer, the four Bahama-Bound Breezerfolk made the initial 55nm hop to Bimini, then continued on down to what Mike calls "the prettiest place on earth, the Exumas."
Mike reports: "The government of the Bahamas works with gateway FBOs to help pilots navigate the formalities at both ends of the trip. We used Banyan Air at Ft Lauderdale Executive (KFXE) which was very helpful making sure we had our paperwork right and answering last minute questions. We traveled as a flight of two and used flight following. Nassau Approach separated us for traffic separation."
Once they touched down at Nassau, the controllers showed a lot of interest in the LSA, "which happened everywhere we went."
The final leg to Staniel Cay, Exuma delivered them to three days of snorkling, kayaking, bike riding, and some aerial sightseeing.  "We captured amazing pictures and video."
The entire trip from Florida took 6 1/2 hours from Mike's home base, Plant City (KPCM), including fuel stops and customs.
Fuel burn was less than 25 gallons per Breezer.  "I love LSA," says Mike.  "And our trip home featured a nice tailwind and took even less time and fuel."
He cites some initial frustration with eAPIS.  "But once you're set up, oh boy does it speed up clearing back into the US!  The US customs and Imigration folks were really nice."

Though he's taken his boat to the Bahamas many times over the years, Mike calls this his favorite trip ever.   "The out islands of the Bahamas are some of the most beautiful places, inhabited by the friendliest people in the world, but they're difficult to reach by commercial transportation.  
"Now with my LSA and a little pre-planning, they've never been so close."
There's an LSA fly-in down there on the 10th of December.  "I hope it will be well attended, because flying to the Bahamas is now a Breeze(r)".
Thanks for the great report, Mike!
   ---image courtesy Breezer Aircraft USA

Envelope Pushers

Two aircraft are getting lots of buzz lately for their advancement of aviation technology.
First up is the electrified Cri-Cri, which looks like a toy but is in fact an important joint electric R&D project of EADS Innovation,  Aero Composites Saintonge and the Green Cri-Cri Association.

The four-engine Cri-Cri originally debuted as a gas-engine powered, homebuilt acrobatic stunt plane many years ago.  EADS modified the Hobbit-sized twin to serve as testbed project for developing electrical propulsion systems on helicopters, drones and other aviation platforms for the future.
The original stunt plane had two piston mills, maxing out around 30 total horsepower.  The all-electric Cri-Cri replaces those with four brushless electric motors.  
The "go-gas" comes from LiPo, or Lithium polymer, batteries, all the rage in RC modeling circles for years for their comparatively high energy density.

Brushless motors boast 80% or better efficiency, compared to the 20% or less of average internal combustion engines.  The technology challenge for electric flight lies in getting the "fuel" -- batteries in this case -- to deliver even close to what gasoline produces per equivalent weight.  Once that Holy Grail is developed, electric transportation will transform all our lives.
Back to the Cri-Cri, which just posted its maiden flight in France.  Current endurance is 20 to 30 minutes -- a little putt-putt of an airplane with a 16-foot span can only carry so much in battery weight -- but the ultimate goal is to develop hybrid propulsion applications anyway, not find electric-only solutions.  Still, there will be positive fallout for all electric flight projects worldwide.

The other consistent newsmaker is Terrafugia's Transition LSA.  The Massachusetts company is gearing up for low-volume production of the car/bird, to start no sooner than late 2011 in a new 19,000 sq. ft. factory in Woburn.
The big changes from the original flying prototype, which made a total of 28 short test hops and demonstrated the need for major mods, include:
<>  single stabilator at the rear rather than the canard, which reportedly did not provide adequate pitch authority
<>  larger, 3-blade pusher prop between the tail booms
<> 100hp Rotax 912S engine is now linked to rear wheels rather than the fronts.
Two prototypes are under construction: one for drive testing, the other for ASTM flight certification.
The price, which has steadily crept up during the R&D phase, is now projected at $200K to $250K. 

Big View Flying

The folks at a popular CT owners forum (there are two I know of, here's the other one which describes itself as the "Official" CT forum) kick off their 4th Annual CT Fly-in this coming Oct. 14-17 and it sounds like a blast...unless the sight of the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Lake Powell, Bryce Canyon and Zion Canyon aren't enough eye candy to get your mojo working.

Rooms are available at a $49 rate and around 40 aircraft have already signed up so don't delay, scenic flight fans.  

My understanding is any LSA is welcome, but mostly Flight Design CTLS and CTSW owners will be there since it's a CT forum.

There will also be ground excursions to various places like Hoover Dam and Antelope Canyon, cookouts and such: should be a lot of fun.

If you go, bring your own tie-downs just in case, and call now to get lodging and let them know you're coming.
Page Airport - KPGA - is the jumping off place.
It would be cool to have a shot of 40 CTs on the ground at one time...then again, think of all those LSA in the air!

Turbo Evektor MAX

One of Czech Republic's leading LSA makers, Evektor-Aerotechnic, has upped the ante with its Turbo-powered SportStar MAX, a lovely LSA that I flew with the standard powerplant recently and will have a report in Plane & Pilot coming up soon.
The new muscle comes courtesy a turbocharged Rotax 914 UL, which takes the MAX way higher than sport pilots can legally fly: all the way up to 28,850 ft.!  Can you say pressure suit?  Climb rate, already pretty peppy, jumps to 1,320 ft/min, and of course it jumps off the ground a lot quicker too.
Thinking about mountain flying in the U.S.: you could legally fly this wee beastie at 16,000 feet over the Rockies.  Now there's a thought.
The first Turbo MAX went to a Canadian customer.  I'll hope to get an update hop at the Midwest Expo in 3 weeks.
In a side note for our pilot friends of the Euro persuasion, the MAX just earned its EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) Permit to Fly, which gives Europilots the right to fly the MAX with a PPL licence, at 600 kg MTOW and with non-commercial pilot training.

iCub, Meet Smart Cub

Those hard-working stalwarts at Legend, the number one US producer of LSA, keep finding interesting things for folks like me to write about. 
<> Trish Jackson is an Ohio native who flies Airbus freight carriers all over Europe.  She learned flying from her mother at age 13 and still remembers a memorable quote mom made on a flight:   "Look at these rivers. It's like God carved them out with his finger.”

Trish owned a vintage Cub at one point in her career, but a couple years ago felt the urge to own one again - a brand new one.  She kicked some tires and lit some fires for a year or two, then took a Legend Cub demo flight.
Last April she joined the annual Legend rite of spring gaggle -- a trip I had the distinct pleasure of making in 2008 -- to fly  formation with a bunch of Legend Cubs from Sulphur Springs, TX to Lakeland, FL for the annual Sun 'n Fun spring flyin.
That sold her.
“It was the attention to detail," she says of her decision, "and its open cockpit flying."
Imagine climbing out of a heavy and into a Cub on the same day...what could keep you sharper than that?
<> Sass and class: the Legend Cub can be ordered with Garmin G3X displays, a telling meld of classic flying and ultra-modern digital situational awareness that extols the marvelous opportunities we have in LSA flight.
All those functions -- real-time weather, terrain, METARs, NOTAMs, PIREPs, traffic and more -- can come in real handy whether you're tooling around in open class G airspace country or joining the pattern at a major commercial airport.
The Garmin G3X glass cockpit packs a ton of info into its displays, including attitude/directional guidance, electronic engine monitoring, moving-map GPS, airport diagrams, synthetic vision and more.
<> Looking ahead to the 75th anniversary of the Piper Cub J3 in 2012, what a hoot it would be to fly a Legend Classic J3 into Oshkosh or any other airshow.
Legend's new Classic is an updated-but-faithful version of the J3, at a $94K price.
Updates include sliding left window, electric start, disc brakes (careful with those!) and other modernizings to enhance safety while staying true to the original, immortal J3.
Must. Save. More. Money and get my own...I say that a lot about new LSA I get to fly, but since I'm building some skills in a 1946 J3 these days at my local airfield, I'm currently all swooney over the wonderful Cub...all density-altitude-struggling 65 horsepower of her.
Next time you're at an airshow, stop by and say hello to owners Darin Hart and Kurt Sehnert and stalwart crewfolk like Pat Bowers: they're part of what makes covering the LSA scene such a pleasure.

DYNON AUTOPILOT UPGRADE

Powerhouse digital instrument maker Dynon Avionics just came out with software version 5.4 for its EFIS-D10A, EFIS-D100 and FlightDEK-D180 units which are in widespread use in LSA and homebuilts.
The upgrade addresses refined pitch control, including some new user-adjustable parameters that optimize autopilot performance for each individual aircraft.

(image: rt to lft is the EFIS-D100, AP74 Autopilot control module and a typical servo used to link into flight control system)
The idea, sez Dynon, is to improve passenger comfort by custom-tuning the response to turbulence. 
Support is expanded to a wider range of airframes too.
Ian Jordan, Chief Systems Engineer for Dynon, had this to say about the upgrade: “The autopilot now flies just as an experienced pilot would, with crisp, appropriate inputs that really seem to understand the airplane.”
        ---image courtesy Dynon Avionics

Is IFR legal in LSA...or NOT?

We've all seen the ads:  "Full IFR-Equipped LSA!"
A few top-line models offer such instrument packages, such as Flight Design CTLS, Evektor MAX, Tecnam's P2008.
But is an LSA legal to fly IFR?
Quick tell: Yes -- when flown by an appropriately rated pilot.
We already know that a Sport Pilot license holder can only fly in day VFR up to 10,000 feet.  This discussion is about the airplane.
As pal Dan Johnson, who just took up this issue on his own blog, notes, ASTM's F37 committee has worked hard to create an IFR standard, but unsuccessfully so far. The committee did add a line to the latest Design and Performance (D&P) Standard (yet to be adopted) that prohibits S-LSA flight into Instrument meteorological conditions (IMC).
This does not however prevent a rated IFR pilot with a current medical from flying a currently registered SLSA into IMC, and of course let's also assume the airplane is rigged with the appropriate Full Monty: IFR instrumentation, lighting and powerplant.
That last item gives LSA watchers some pause, since most Rotax and Jabiru engine models, which power the vast majority of S-LSA, are not certified for IFR flight.  Only an FAA-certified powerplant is legal.
(Note: Rotax does indeed have certified versions such as the 912F and 912S, certified to Part 33 and used on Diamond aircraft, which are IFR legal.)
The same criteria hold for night flight: it's legal, as long as the pilot is rated and the airplane is properly equipped such as with landing lights.
Just to say it one more time: a Sport Pilot-only licensee cannot legally fly at night or into IMC.
As Dan notes, once FAA accepts the latest D&P Standard, LSA makers will be able to outfit LSA with instruments as specified in FAA regs that will allow qualified pilots to file and fly IFR...but only into VMC (Visual Meteorological Conditions). 
Ironically, many (if not all) FAA folks, sez Dan, are supporters of allowing LSA for IFR training including into IMC, which is currently verboten. 
But to sum up, the bottom line remains: all currently registered S-LSA and those that are registered before the new D&P Standard is finally approved by FAA can legally operate in IMC flight - but only if they have the proper equipment and a suitably rated pilot at the controls.
And here's yet another distinction: IFR training on LSA is also legal in the IFR airspace system - but only into VMC. Only an aircraft type-rated for IFR training in IMC can legally do so.
Head buzzing yet?  Mine is. 
This topic surfaces consistently on various pilot forums online. 
One poster recently suggested that potential IFR-equipped LSA buyers make sure they talk it all over thoroughly with the manufacturer/dealer first, to ensure everything stays kosher.
Of course, since we pilots, especially when we post on the internet, are deliberative beasts who love to parse a topic until its magnetos fry, the idea has been put forth that pitot heat should be required on any hypothetical IFR LSA, and composite versions shout have a metal mesh impregnated into the airframe to handle lightning strikes, such as on a Columbia 350.  Others, of course, disagree.
And at this point, my brain cries "Enuf!" and defers this fine topic for another day, in the interests of preserving what little cognitive power I have left for my J3 flight later this afternoon (before dark, natch).

NET SURFIN'

Knocking around the net looking for signs that Light Sport is alive and well...
<>Michael Combs is nearing the end of his 19,000 mile odyssey - what a vision.  Latest word from PR dude Dave Gustafson is that the Flight for the Human Spirit in a Remos GX has made it to my old west coast stompin' grounds.  Five jewels of the left coast - San Diego, Burbank, San Luis Obispo, Monterey and San Jose - were on the itinerary for one magical flight day over one of the most beautiful stretches of coastal landscape in the world.  God speed Michael, 18,000 miles and 45 states and you're nearly done.
Imagine the human experience he's having, flying all summer, meeting all the great people he's met. I'm jealous, I admit it.
BTW, pilots are encouraged to fly along for any portion of Michael's Flight.  

<> Slow recovery?  Double-dip recession?  Not as far as Skyraider Aviation is concerned.  This hustling sport pilot flying club and training center is plenty active at Denver's busy Centennial Airport as well as at it's Erie Municipal location nearby.  A new PiperSport just joined the training and rental fleet - that's bound to perk anybody up - to share duties with two Gobosh 700s, an Evektor SportStar and a Remos G-3.
The outfit has operated for four years and claims to be the first in Colorado to offer specific Sport Pilot training.
<> Loosely Connected To Light Sport Dept., Another of those weird and wonderful experimental alternative-powered aircraft just made its maiden flight.
AeroVironment, the braintrust company begun by the late Dr. Paul MacCready, who gave us the Gossamer Albatross, first successful human-powered aircraft, back in the '70s, has begun flight test on Global Observer,an unmanned hybrid-electric surveillance prototype that will eventually be powered by a liquid hydrogen fuel system.
It launched from California's famed Edwards Air Force Base and flew for an hour at 4,000, controlled from a ground LRE (Launch and Recovery Element, officialese for a flight sim-like control booth) with a retired Air Force light colonel at the controls.  Can you say "X-Box"?

Here's an in interesting image phrase the company uses: "The future is unmanned".  Indeed, it's pioneering all kinds of hand-launched small electric-powered surveillance aircraft for the military (can mini flying grenades  be far behind?)
Global Observer will ultimately fly between 55,000 and 65,000 feet for up to a week at a time for disaster relief, reconnaissance and surveillance.  Expect some sophisticated tech fallout that will in time trickle down to general aviation from projects like this.
<> Not to be outdone by the West, a local news organ in the Greenville, South Carolina area reports that Spartanburg's downtown aircraft have discovered Light Sport aircraft and anticipate it will "fuel growth" at the airport.  The report compares the initial purchase price and operating costs between LSA and GA aircraft.
Although it was a bit wide-eyed in its example of an LSA that will fly at 120 knots for 9 hours straight, the story clearly gets the advantage the public is beginning to perceive from our piece of the personal flight pie, and that's a good thing.

<> Finishing up back on the west coast comes a news story, this time from Yakima, WA, that profiles a retired LSA pilot who flies his Challenger II from nearby Prosser Airport.  The article accurately chronicles the inception of the Sport Pilot rule and claims Light Sport training is the biggest student draw at the airport -- a "miniature boom in activity" - an increase of 50% in operations since 2007.
In this economy, it's good to see the word is getting out and people remember that instead of moping around,  there are still plenty of affordable ways to get out and enjoy life - like flying an LSA!
     --- photos courtesy  Skyraider Aviation, AeroVironment and Quad City Challenger

Big Fall Show Looms

Oshkosh is over but wait!  There's more!

One of the surprise hits last year was Chris Collins's Midwest LSA Expo.  Held at Mount Vernon Outland Airport (MVN) in Illinois, the new show attracted 42 airplanes and 30 exhibitors and what was reported far and wide as a focused and motivated LSA crowd.
Many sales were closed in the months following the 2009 gathering.  One main factor was the psychological continuity Midwest provided after Sebring (Jan.), Sun 'n Fun (Apr.) and Oshkosh (July/Aug).  By postponing the "end of summer" flying mindset into early Fall, normally an aviation wind-down time for pilots who live in the less temperate parts of the country, potential customers got one more opportunity to refine their buying decision process.
The Midwest LSA Expo will run a week earlier this year: from Sept. 23-25. Mark your digital calendars!
Attendance should be strong: there's a huge population base in the midwestern market that stretches from Chicago to New Orleans, Denver to Charlotte.
Chris Collins hopes to grow the event and does everything to make it as enjoyable an experience as possible, including shuttles to local restaurants and lodging from the airport.
So far, more than 35 vendors are scheduled to show up and they're bringing many of the most popular LSA.
Scroll down on the home page for the current list and you'll see that quite a few of the biggest players and several others you've wanted to see up close will be there.
I'll be there too to get in some flying and flight reporting that proved to be impossible in the crush of Oshkosh.
If you're flying in, here are some particulars:
<> 6500’ x 150’ main runway
<> five precision approaches including ILS
<> 9.25  acres of concrete ramp space

<> Class “E” airspace
<> ARFF (Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting) Index A for those of you familiar with this safety index.
<> Aircraft exhibitor spaces will be right out on the main ramp to make lots of demo flights easy...that's important when you're out there kicking tires.

SAFE!

Watch this video.  Open your mind.  Put yourself in this cockpit.  Imagine it happening to you.  Think of the people you love and who love you.
Dan Johnson posted this yesterday on his blog (my writing home away from home) with some tasty comments based on his years at BRS parachutes, so I'll direct you there for his in-depth overview.
My purpose in posting here is more personal.  I want you to fly safely your entire, long life.
But any pilot -- and you know who you are -- who has so far convinced him/herself that an airframe parachute shouldn't be an essential component of any aircraft, please watch this video.
Then try to make a rational argument afterwards against recreational aircraft carrying onboard chutes.
Yes, the pilot is engaging in high-stress aerobatics, which the vast majority of us will never do.  And yes, you can make an argument that carrying a chute increases your likelihood of taking more chances in the air because you feel you always have a backup.
But do you drive more recklessly because you buckle up in your car?  Most of us don't.  I think this is not a strong argument against having one when you might need one...because if you don't have one, you'll never need one again.  That much we can say with certainty, as would the young pilot in this video.
Finally, who can say with certainty that nothing catastrophic will ever happen to us in flight?  Nobody.  Absolutely nobody.
I bet you know somebody who would be alive today if they'd had an airframe chute on board.  I can think of several over the years...friends and colleagues I miss, some a great deal.  I think sometimes about how their families must miss them still.  We never forget the people we love.

BRS Aerospace keeps stats on their saves.  The tally is now 253 people who are still alive because of this technology, including the young man here who walked away unhurt after losing an entire wing just 700 feet above ground.
If you want to cut to the chase, fast forward 1:50 into the video to see the breakup itself, and watch the rest for a slow-motion replay.
Here's what's remarkable to me:
<> How fast the pilot deployed the chute...and still the main lanyard connected to the chute seems to have wrapped around the fuselage at least once, which is why I think it descended -- very slowly as you'll notice -- in a nose-down attitude.
<> How quickly the chute deployed even with the high-speed rotation around the roll axis
<> How the pilot was completely unscathed, though as Dan reports the airplane caught fire after "landing" and burned up (more pix on his site).
I'm going to beat this drum until the drum breaks, then I'll get another one, because airplanes are mechanical devices.  Something, in time, will fail.  You can count on that.  We don't need to fly in fear, but we shouldn't kid ourselves either.  Why not be as safe as we possibly can?
The other day I pulled into a rest stop on the interstate, opened the door, and watched as a tide of oil ran out of my engine onto the asphalt.  I called it Mini-Gulf of Mexico because five quarts makes quite a flood.
Four hours of cleanup and an auto tow later, the mechanic told me the engine drain plug had unscrewed, although it took 2,000 miles since the last oil change -- at the VW dealer -- to do so!
Again, my point: an airplane is a mechanical device.  Something can and will fail in time, and you might not catch it in a preflight.
Or you might hit a bird or an airplane and be disabled and unable to land safely.
In the news, a high time pilot had a midair the other day and was killed.  It happens, and piloting skill or lack of it had nothing to do with his death.
With 35 lbs. of parachute on board, you've got a hole card against the unknown.
Why wouldn't you want that?  Why wouldn't your friends and loved ones want that for you?
The young pilot in this video was 5 seconds from losing his life after that wing let go.  Instead, because he was smart enough to install an airframe parachute, he's got one hell of a story to tell for the rest of his life, and a family and friends who will welcome him home for all the years ahead.
That's an incredible exchange for a few thousand bucks and 35 lbs. of weight, wouldn't you say?

ICON A5 Update

In mid-water taxi toward its anticipated production date sometime next year, ICON Aircraft was at Oshkosh again with an impressive display booth/tent/hangar, and every time I walked by, whether early morning or late at night, there were always people oggling that beautiful airplane.

The company has made two major design changes over the last few months which are interesting and worthy of attention.
1. The wing flaps are gone, ostensibly to "simplify" pilot operations
Company spokesfolk say they weren't getting sufficient benefit from the flaps to justify their weight and complexity.
2.  A desire to work in more spin resistance has led to airframe tweaks, including wing cuffs to lower the stall speed of the composite carbon fiber S-LSA.
I and others had wondered, after our first looks at that streamlined profile when the A5 debuted a couple years back, how ICON was ever going to get stall speed below the 45-knot minimum, even with flaps.
Icon already has an AOA (Angle of Attack indicator) on board so pilots will be able to monitor actual wing performance in reference to incipient stall, but the more docility the better in the Light Sport category, eh what?
Meanwhile, ICON says Liberty Aerospace of Florida, which makes the composite Liberty XL2 monoplane, and Flytech Kft. of Hungary will be the prime structural composite makers for the A5.
Stated reason for the "outsourcing" is to hasten the arrival of delivery day for the hundreds of buyers who've already plunked down deposits.
As many other U.S. LSA companies already do with foreign-produced components, ICON will assemble the entire airplane, install systems and perform all flight testing and finishing, at its Southern California plant.
The online techzine Gizmag just posted an interesting quote from ICON: the company claims fully one-third of its customers are not yet pilots!  That tells me how well ICON has penetrated the non-pilot market in its attempt to link the A5 with broadly popular recreational water sports such as jetskiing and power boating.
Current price quote to order a standard A5 is $139,000, for delivery in 2012.

New EAA ELECTRIC FLIGHT Prize

In the wake of its week long focus on electric-powered flight at the just-concluded Oshkosh AirVenture 2010, EAA just announced a $60,000 prize to "speed development of electric flight technology."

As I posted earlier here, during the World Symposium on Electric Aircraft, Erik Lindbergh awarded his LEAP prize to three companies for their contributions to the burgeoning technology: Yuneec International's E430, Alex Lange's in-production Antares 20E motorglider, and John Monett's E-flight Initiative.

Prize money will go to the individual or corporation that demonstrates the most promising level of achievement in electric-powered flight at AirVenture 2011.  "Most promising" will be more fully detailed once EAA completes its "assessment of the status of electric flight", according to the official release.

EAA President Tom Poberezny, at left with representatives of the four companies that will make equal contributions to the $60,000 prize money:AeroLEDs, Aircraft Spruce & Specialty, Dynon Avionics, and Wicks Aircraft Supply, had this to say:
“They, like EAA, recognize that much of the innovation in the aviation world has come out of homebuilders’ workshops and the creative environment that is part of AirVenture Oshkosh."
The E-Flight Prize is one of a to-be-disclosed series of programs EAA will establish over the next decade to stimulate R&D in electric flight.
Poberezny encouraged other leaders in the EAA community to augment the prize over the next year.
Entry forms and competition criteria will be posted on EAA's website or by writing EAA E-Flight Prize, P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3806.

The Lazarus Machine

Back finally from 12 days at Oshkosh and the DC-3 fly-in that preceded it, I'm cranking out images and stories gathered there but couldn't wait to get this one to you.

Below is a condensation of my column that will run in the November issue.  It involves an airplane that caught everybody's eye when it debuted a few years back, but languished from lack of development and promotion and seemed on its way to obscurity.
It was called the Phantom then, when T&T Aviation brought it to America from its native Hungary.

Cruising into the big Lycoming display at Oshkosh in search of the new 115 hp, IO-233-LSA, I was once again gobsmacked by the low-riding, beautiful Falcon LS -- the name T&T certified it under back in 2008 -- as number 82 on the current list of 109.
In the interim, Renegade Light Sport and its principal go-to guy Chris “Doc” Bailey have just bought out T&T’s interest in the LSA.  For various reasons T&T decided they couldn't fully run with the project.
Meanwhile, Doc has some big, big plans. 
Here are the highlights:
<> The supersexy Falcon LS resembles a Red Bull race plane for a good reason: its makers, Corvus Aircraft of Hungary, also build the Racer 540 that crack pilot Peter Bensenyei flies in Red Bull Air Races.
<> 15,000 hour professional pilot Doc Bailey has already ordered the first 100 Lycoming IO-233 engines and plans to put them in Falcons...and sell the first 100 for $115,000!
<> Why is that news? Every one of those Falcons will be delivered with Grand Rapids synthetic vision EFIS...with built in GPS...and built-in autopilot.  That makes the price considerably more attractive.  Can you say “loss leader?”
<> Doc plans to build the airplane entirely in Kansas City, making it an all-American product.
<> The airplane is all-composite construction, with kevlar, carbon fiber and e-glass components.
<>“We hope to give a boost to the market,” Doc says with infectious enthusiasm.  If he can pull this off, it sure won’t hurt!
<> He plans to have that first 100 Falcons out and flying “within two years – and every airplane will have the IO-233 - with fuel injection.”

<> New owners will be given checkout transition training for free...as much as they need and want.
Stay tuned...once they’ve flown off the hours, I hope to fly the airplane at the Midwest LSA Expo next month.
Meanwhile, it’s great to see the Falcon LS back in the news...it is an exciting, gorgeous LSA with a conventional American powerplant that should push a lot of LSA buyers who’ve been waiting right off the fence and into LSA ownership...because that terrific price won’t hold forever.

Oshkosh Day 5

<> The Sleeping Giant Wakes Dept.:  Big news from China: IndUS Aviation threw a big lunch bash today at Oshkosh to break word of its exciting new program to shift production of all its Thorpedo LSA to China, as part of a unique collaboration with the country's government and private industry to begin to grow Chinese General Aviation.
The program will launch this fall at the new LuYangHU General Aviation Development Zone in Weinan, China.  There is currently no GA permitted in the country.  This will be the first - carefully studied and controlled, to be sure - attempt to bring private aviation to Chinese citizens: a fascinating period in history, and one that, with this partnership, aims to open the country wide to sales of light sport aircraft from all over the world.
Indus will build LSA for its domestic market as well as worldwide - including Chinese citizens.
Boeing, Diamond, Cessna and Airbus have also established manufacturing sites at Weinan, but Indus is the first LSA company to be invited to build a "primary entry level aircraft in large numbers to meet the expected demand for such aircraft in India and China," said Dr. Ram Pattisapu, IndUS CEO.
The "prototype" airspace will be 100 square kilometers in size, with a legal ceiling up to 3000 meters, and will be the only place for now where private Chinese aviators will be allowed to fly.
Congratulations to all involved.

<> Had a good talk with Tecnam's Ray Swanson, VP of Distribution and Avionics, about the company's new iPad (or computer)-based Sport Pilot Course which was introduced here and will be offered to TFC (Tecnam Flight Center) members across the country.
Through TFC, flight schools can gain access to software flight training programs, such as the Tecnam Sport Pilot Course Dan demoed for me and P&P Publisher Mike McMann.  I'll be going through it in a few weeks as I refresh for my biennial flight review in Nov.
The programs were developed in collab with MS Aviation and Hilton Software, LLC to maximize student pilot training.
Students can carry the iPad with them everywhere, drop it into the center panel slot on their Tecnam trainer for geo-referencing sectionals, airport info and much more.  Tecnam North America Prez Tommy Grimes, above, presents an iPad loaded with the Sport Pilot course to the first student to go through the program.
Course materials are constantly refined and uploaded wirelessly to students...very cool, I'll have more on it down the road.

<> Today I spent the day dreaming of electric sheep...or airplanes, listening to an all-day symposium with the likes of legendary aeronautical designer Burt Rutan, FAA's head Randy Babbitt, Bertrand Piccard who spearheads the Solar Impulse project, Erik Lindbergh, visionary grandson of Lucky Lindy himself, Craig Willan, emcee, research engineer and I gather the person who brought these luminaries and several others under one roof for the EAA Electric Aircraft World Symposium 2010.
It was fascinating, and I'll have more to say about it when I put the article on electric flight together for Plane & Pilot but here's a few highlights:
Rutan: "I want to watch the young designers, I want to inspire you to do the new stuff even if it doesn't work right the first time.  I want to see an electric manned aerobatic airplane here at Oshkosh."
Chris van Buiten (Sikorsky's Firefly electric helicopter): "Electric airplanes are hard; electric choppers are very hard."
Piccard: "The bottleneck in manned electric flight isn't energy capture, but energy storage.  The Solar Impulse project (which flew all night recently on battery-stored solar power) is not only an airplane project but an energy project.  We proved we can fly all day and all night and have energy left over."
Eric Lindbergh presented the 2010 LEAP awards - and $25,000 in cash prizes (which recipients donated right back to LEAP!) - to:
<> Yuneec for its e430 (Best practical electric aircraft)

<> Sonex (Best electrical aircraft subsystems)
<> and the Antares 20E electric motorglider (first certified production electric aircraft.)
I watched the Antares fly yesterday (see photos).  Two words:  most impressive.
General Electric, Tesla Motors and Ford Motor Company all had excellent presentations on electric-powered cars and discussed applications and implications for electric flight.
As I've said before (and Erik Lindbergh among others echoed today), these are the Wright Brothers days of electric flight.  So what if flight times are "only 1 or 2 hours" so far?  Remember how long the Wright's first flight was?
Of course, many technical challenges are ahead...but the first flights are happening, history is being made, and interest is surging, as this well-attended seminar in the vast EAA Museum Eagles Hangar proved today.

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.

Jon also told me that Lycoming has given word that it's LSA-destined 233-LSA engine will begin deliveries at the end of the year after a period of R&D. The company is now taking orders, and it's reportedly less expensive than the 100hp Rotax 912.  Although 30 lbs. heavier than the Rotax, it delivers 115hp and has an alternator that pumps out 60 amps to power everything in the cockpit including the smoothie blender. 
What?  You don't have an ASTM-certified smoothie blender in your airplane?  It's what's happening...I call mine the iSmoothie. 
More on the Lycoming tomorrow.

Also spent time with Powrachute's Voyager ElectraChute which as you can guess is electric-powered on 128 volts of li-po batteries.  These guys are a happening company with several gas-powered LSA models but the electric model is in a class by itself, if powered parachutes are your bag, so to speak.  More on this tomorrow too, gotta get to the field.

Oshkosh Day 3

<> Jan Fridrich , head of Europe's LAMA, just sent me some intriguing stats from his comprehensive data crunching of S-LSA (or overseas equivalents) official registrations up to now.
Europe continues to lead overall numbers with just under 1850 total.  The U.S. tally is now over 1200.
Sales have been light for the majority of the 70+ suppliers but there has been some shifting of position in the ranks.  The top ten U.S. sellers to date are:

Flight Design (CTLS, MC) 316
American Legend (Piper Cub models) 156
CubCrafters  (Piper Cub models) 136
Tecnam (P2008, several others) 133
Czech Sport Aircraft (SportCruiser) 126
Remos (Remos GX) 121
Jabiru (J-230, -250 etc.) 96
Evektor (SportStar Max) 91
TL Ultralight (Sting S4, Sirius) 73
AMD (Zodiac models) 72
You may be interested in how the numbers fall for country of origin of all 3-axis S-LSA registered aircraft: The U.S. and Czech Republic each represent 26% of the total, with Germany right there at 25%.  Australia and Italy make up another 18%.
Again this is registration data, not actual numbers produced, but is a good medium term data point for tracking the health of the industry.
Noteworthy in these stats is CubCrafter's climb to the third slot on the wings of a strong spring sales showing.
Also moving up a notch ahead of Remos is Czech Sport Aircraft whose SportCruiser is now the PiperSport.  
Also, kit airplanes as noted yesterday are doing relatively better than S-LSA on the short term at least with companies like Legend and Rans, which continues to steadily gain market share and is now 14th overall in registrations.
Remos has been inexplicably quiet for awhile, more on that usually high-profile maker later.
Finally, TL Ultralight also passed AMD (which has had airframe failure and redesign challenges).
Beneath the radar as I said yesterday are the actual sales numbers.  FAA registrations which is the data Jan is massaging here will naturally lag behind.

For example, I talked with Piper's Chief Pilot Bart Jones who's now involved with the PiperSport as well, and he confirmed Piper has sold "around 40" airplanes since January.  In this economy, that's robust.  
Sidenote: Piper's dynamic CEO Kevin J. Gould resigned from his leadership of the company, part of a shuffle of the front office personnel.  No word on why he rode out of town.  I wish him well, I thought he was a strong and positive presence for the company but Imprimus, Piper's controlling interest, apparently felt otherwise.

To repeat from yesterday's blog, an American LSA distributor told me he visited the Czech Sport Aircraft factory where PiperSports are built and saw 24 or more in various stages of assembly.
Likewise Cessna, the other sleeping giant, is just ramping up delivery on its huge backorder log, which at one time was listed at more than 1,000.  No official word in the intervening three years from the Skycatcher's test setbacks to first deliveries on how many of those orders may have been cancelled but no horror stories are flying about, so we should see strong registrations from both companies in the next six months, which will if nothing else boost industry morale.

Of course nothing boosts the feel-goods more than seeing airplanes going out your own door, and that's something that not many dealers can say just yet.  The prevailing mood seems to be wait-and-see among the buying public.
Grateful thanks to Jan Fridrich for his inciteful latest report on the industry.