One of the drawbacks of Light Sport Aircraft is that, by design and regulation, they can only hold two people. The lion’s share of the LSA market is held by Flight Design, with its family of Composite Technology (CT) aircraft. The family just got a little bigger — in many ways — as Flight Design […]
Little ‘Mr. Mulligan’
Hal Wighton’s Luscombe pays homage to the famous racer When pilots dream, they often dream about airplanes and missions they’d like to fly. One of the most popular daydreams is to imagine yourself an air racer of the 1930s, flying a famous machine like the Howard DGA-6 “Mr. Mulligan.” Hal Wighton of Bloomer, Wis., decided […]
A coupe by any other name
Ercoupe or Aircoupe? Which is correct? The answer is…depends on who manufactured it. The original name was derived from the name of the first manufacturer, ERCO, which stood for Engineering and Research Corp. The airplane is a low-wing design with a distinctive twin boom tail, which makes the two-place plane look a little like a […]
The vibrant Viper
“An LSA with headroom and plenty of room for two full-sized adults!” That’s how Jan Pjatak, president of Tomark Aero, describes the Viper SD-4. The brightly painted Viper made its first appearance at the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Fla., in January. The low-wing metal airplane is manufactured in Slovakia and brought to the […]
Explorer Kitfox destroyed
Among the aircraft to be damaged by the twister that tore through the SUN ’n FUN grounds Thursday afternoon was the Kitfox III built by Explorer Post 491 of Birmingham, Ala. Yesterday we told you about the Kitfox, which was built by the teens to raffle off to raise money for the Explorer Post. The […]
MySky-1: Reno racer looks on an LSA budget
What do you get when you create an aircraft that is inspired by the Reno Air Races and the P-51 Mustang and wrap it up in a package that fits neatly in the Light Sport Aircraft category? You get the MySky-1, a tandem, low-wing built by MySky Aircraft in Spruce Creek, Fla. The MS-1 debuted […]
Great Bend, Kansas: The center of the aviation universe
If a coast to coast flight is in your future, chances are good that you’ll make a stop at Great Bend Municipal Airport (GBD) in Great Bend, Kansas. “If you look at a map of the United States you will notice that Great Bend, Kansas, is just about in the dead center of the country. […]
That’s one way to find a hangar…
In this time of high-tech electronic advertising in the form of banner ads and email, it’s refreshing when someone takes a low-tech approach to getting the message out, like walking around a trade show with a hand-made sign. Spirit Olivier from Seattle Stair and Design spent the weekend of Feb. 26-27 walking around the Northwest […]
LSAs spawn new business in Pacific Northwest
Rotax engines and Light Sport Aircraft will always be linked. Because the aircraft, by regulation, are limited to a gross weight of 1,320 lbs., most aircraft manufacturers opt for the Rotax as it is light engine. When the LSA category was created in 2004, many flight schools, FBOs and even pilots resisted buying the Rotax-equipped […]