According to a French dealer for Cessna, 80 Skycatcher orders have been cancelled, but Cessna officials in the U.S. say the Wichita giant has just temporarily suspended taking orders for the LSA in Europe. For many months, my Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association (LAMA) Europe colleague Jan Fridrich and others have tried to convince EASA to […]
Light Sport Aircraft
EASA awards first restricted Type Certificates
On Day 1 of Aero 2012, Dave Unwin reported hearing many comments about EASA’s halting move toward acceptance of the concept of Sport Pilot/Light-Sport Aircraft, which was invented in the USA. The European Union, with an equally proud heritage of aviation, is showing familiar reluctance to embrace what another country has achieved, even when aircraft […]
LSA news from Sun ’n Fun continues
Splogger (Sport Pilot Blogger) Dan Johnson continues his recap of Sun ’n Fun, with this installment reporting some news from the show: The 10-year-old committee (F37) that worked with ASTM to write LSA certification standards had its first-ever meetings at Sun ’n Fun. I was unable to attend due to other duties, but the volunteer […]
More LSA news from Sun ’n Fun
Splogger (Sport Pilot Blogger) Dan Johnson continues his recap of what he found interesting at this year’s Sun ’n Fun. Today: Cool fly-in stuff: I visited with Mark Ausman of Vertical Power. I never fully grokked their product line of electronic circuit breakers, but I’ve got it now and understand the enthusiasm airframe makers and […]
More LSA news from Sun ’n Fun
Splogger (Sport Pilot Blogger) Dan Johnson continues his recap of what he found interesting at this year’s Sun ’n Fun. Today: Ultralights: North Wing showed its new composite body Solairus Part 103 trike. I flew it with the 20-hp Bailey single cylinder four stroke electric starting engine from the UK. What a hoot! Watch for […]
More LSA news from Sun ’n Fun
Splogger (Sport Pilot Blogger) Dan Johnson continues his recap of what he found interesting at this year’s Sun ’n Fun. Today: Engines and powerplants: Lycoming is coming on stronger in the LSA field, with installations on Falcon, Comet, and Tecnam, with hints of more to follow. The O-233 removed 40 pounds from the O-235 model […]
Flight Design reports a successful Sun ’n Fun
Flight Design officials are pretty happy after Sun ’n Fun, reporting several sales, including a trend that could suggest anew avenue of growth for Light-Sport Aircraft. John Gilmore, national sales manager for Flight Design USA, reports that the company’s newest model, the CTLSi, which features the new Rotax 912Si engine, was a hit with distributors, […]
LSA news from Sun ’n Fun
Whew! It’s over. Sun ’n Fun can be the busiest six days of one’s life — until the next one. I wanted to skim the very top of what I found interesting at the recently concluded show. Today I’ll cover airframe manufacturers and follow up this week with more. Dave Loveman, my video collaborator, will […]
Tecnam jumps on 912 iS bandwagon
For aircraft delivered after July 2012, Tecnam will offer Rotax’s new 912 iS for all “Advanced Ultralights and Light Sport Aircraft” in its product line. Officials reported the engine will be available in non-certified (iS) and certified (iSc) variants at a SUN ‘n FUN fly-in press conference. Rotax expects EASA certification in June or July 2012. […]