A dozen years ago, at the beginning of September 2004, FAA’s newest regulation became “effective” as the agency terms it. That regulation gave birth to Sport Pilot and Light-Sport Aircraft. The former is a new pilot certificate and the latter is a fresh breed of aircraft that gained acceptance in a completely new way. How […]
sport pilot
Remos GXiS: A Mercedes of LSA
Although I’m a longtime regular at Oshkosh, this year I did something I’ve never done. I flew out of KOSH and then returned. If you’ve never flown into Oshkosh during AirVenture, you may not know what an experience such an arrival can be. This is the world’s busiest airport for one week. Airplanes arrive every […]
Invasion of the Titan
The potent Titan X-340 is a shade under $26,000 at present. One advantage over most others is that it is Made in the USA and you deal with a U.S.-based company. Power on!
The value of maintaining a worldwide perspective
Are U.S. sales or registrations of Light-Sport Aircraft near where they were expected to be by now? The short answer is, no, but more finesse is needed to obtain a complete answer. While the numbers entering the U.S. fleet are well below forecasts from 2004, a couple obvious reasons help explain the shortfall. The Sport […]
EAA launches Sport Pilot Academy
EAA AVIATION CENTER, OSHKOSH, Wisconsin — New from the Experimental Aircraft Association is the Sport Pilot Academy. The new three-week academy, slated for Aug. 27 through Sept. 17, eliminates one of the top barriers for the more than 60 percent of those who begin flight training and drop out — schedule conflicts that reduce motivation […]
First flight: REMOS GXiS
The REMOS GXiS made its maiden flight May 26 after ground tests were successfully completed and the required permissions were issued by German aviation authorities. “First we did some taxi tests with increasing speed until the nose wheel came up,” company officials reported in a prepared release. “At 11:20 UTC pilot and engineer Christian Majunke took off […]
LSA registrations remain consistent
My associate in Europe, Jan Fridrich of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association (LAMA) Europe, has been the source for a database search for many years as I seek to report light-sport aircraft (LSA) market share statistics in the USA. He scours the FAA registration information and laboriously assembles the numbers. As he and I work […]
Four extremely affordable aircraft
In the fall of 2015, I wrote about four Light-Sport Aircraft (LSA) you could buy for under $96,000. For many pilots, this price point seemed to strike a melodious chord. Unless you are flying for work purposes, you may prefer to spend only a modest amount to enjoy the view from on high. In this column, I’ll […]
Partnership brings a new ultralight Alaskan Bush Tire to Europe’s LSA market
CHUGIAK, Alaska — Airframes Alaska reports the approval and first production run of the first Ultralight Alaskan Bushwheel. The Alaska-based company worked in collaboration with French wheel-and-brake manufacturer Beringer Aero to develop the new lightweight backcountry airplane tire specifically for European light-sport aircraft (LSA). The Ultralight Bushwheel is designed for off-field operations in France, Italy, and other European […]