AVI Aircraft

Aeromarine LSA’s Chip Erwin is one but certainly not the only busy fellow in the modern Part 103 aircraft space. AVI’s Radu Berceanu is another a man on the move. Chip works in metal. Radu works in composite. You know Chip better (he’s adept at PR) but you probably know Radu’s designs. Readers have responded […]

I found much to discover at Aero Friedrichshafen 2023 but in one exhibit space I found two wonderful surprises. Both are from AVI Aircraft. One was easy to pick out as new. The other initially fooled me. In the Aero event I missed last year due to Covid (and the prior two years that were […]

While I have been familiar with AVI’s Swan for several years, having earlier seen it at the German Aero show, this was a first appearance for Swan in the United States. What’s brand new is the Swan 103 model made specifically for FAR Part 103. The new model made its American debut at the Midwest […]

Sun ‘n Fun started the recreational flying season as it always does, taking place this year in the beginning of April. Aero Friedrichshafen ended the month at the end of April. These two shows make April the strongest month of the year for airshows, certainly for the affordable aviation crowd. Aviation journalist and LAMA board director […]

In the early days of Light-Sport Aircraft, a veritable tsunami of flying machines crossed the Atlantic or Pacific to land on American shores. In the earliest days imported aircraft comprised more than two-thirds of all entries on the market and that situation persisted for a few years. Later, American companies — which had been relegated […]

We live in an age of sophisticated two seaters, a large flock of wonderful aircraft of every description. Such two-place flying machines lead in sales and perhaps that’s to be expected. Around 80% of light aircraft buyers prefer three-axis fixed-wing aircraft. This is hardly surprising as that’s what nearly all pilots have used for primary […]

For three years at Aero Friedrichshafen, the wonderful April show in the south of Germany, I have admired one genuine ultralight called Swan. Yes, “ultralight!” Swan may not look like a U.S. “ultralight vehicle” as Part 103 rule writers deliberately named the type. Yet I use the term with care. So does the Swan producer. The […]

In my views of Swan at previous Aero Friedrichshafen shows, the design caught my eye as it was (a) a single seater, (b) light enough to qualify as a Part 103 ultralight or its European equivalents, and (c) as it was an all-composite, nicely designed aircraft. Commonly, Part 103-capable designs are much more basic to […]