Everyone in the industry — from FAA officials to flight instructors to manufacturers — has been busy gearing up for the new rules. LSAs just began getting approval a few months ago and it seems that every day we hear of another aircraft winning approval. In this issue of General Aviation News, we focus on […]
News
Certified Light Sport Aircraft (as of June 10, 2005)
Certified Light Sport Aircraft as of June 10, 2005 Manufacturer/Importer: Evektor-Aerotechnik/Sport Aircraft International Aircraft: Evektor SportStar Contact: SportAircraftInternational.com Manufacturer/Importer: Flight Design/Flight Design USA Aircraft: Flight Design CT Contact: Fly-Flightstar.com Manufacturer/Importer: Fantasy Air/Fantasy Air USA Aircraft: Allegro 2000 Contact: FantasyAirUSA.com Manufacturer/Importer: Tecnam Costruzioni Aeronautiche/Hansen Air Group Aircraft: Tecnam Sierra, Super Echo Contact: HansenAirGroup.com Manufacturer/Importer: TL Ultalights/Sportair […]
The race for sapce — in a Learjet?
What do you do with an old Learjet? If you’re George French and David Urie, you send it into orbit. French, who is president and CEO of Rocketplane Ltd., Inc. and Urie, the company’s vice president and program manager, are modifying Learjet 25 airframes as platforms for re-usable spacecraft, capable – they say – of […]
CarterCopter sets elusive record, but later crashes
During a flight test on June 17, the innovative CarterCopter unofficially broke the Mu-1 barrier — a goal that eluded rotary wing builders until that day. Mu is the ratio of the aircraft’s forward speed to its rotor tip speed. As forward speed increases, the effective airspeed over the retreating blade decreases. At Mu-1, the […]
German company unveils its light jet
Germany’s Grob Aerospace has added yet another bird to the burgeoning flock of light jets on the market. Long a builder of notably innovative airplanes, Grob caught the aviation world by surprise at the Paris Air Show in June when it sprung the brand new light twin jet on its competitors. It doesn’t have a […]
Old but good: The classics are worth considering
There are new Light Sport Aircraft and then there are classic Light Sport Aircraft. The classics aren’t truly Light Sport Aircraft, but they qualify to be flown under the companion Sport Pilot rules, while remaining certified. Once a Marine, always a Marine; once certified, always certified. (The word is, in fact, certified, not certificated, which […]
The race for space, Part 2
The race for space has trickled down to — of all things — a trailer park in the Mojave Desert. Kayo’s Trailer Park, right next to Mojave Airport — the scene of SpaceShipOne’s successful flights into space — has a new name: Spaceport RV Park. Originally built in the 1940s to tap into the new […]
Elusive HondaJet to debut at Oshkosh
The experimental, and long-elusive, HondaJet will make its public debut at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis. It is an “advanced, lightweight, compact business jet featuring better fuel efficiency, a larger cabin, and higher cruise speed than conventional aircraft in its class,” according to Honda, which denied the airplane’s existence until its roll-out in December 2003. […]
It’s 2,000 for Cirrus
Cirrus Design Corp. recently rolled its 2,000th airplane out of its Duluth, Minn., plant. “The Cirrus SR22 is now the best-selling airplane in the world,” claimed company co-founder and Executive Vice-President Dale Klapmeier as a crowd of about 700 employees encircled — what else? — N2000M, for the 2,000 Milestone. “Now it’s on to number […]