Manufacturers

Naturally, sharp-eyed ByDanJohnson.com readers already know about Chip’s big idea. See this article; scroll down. What you didn’t know is that this idea was unique enough to win a patent. That’s uncommon in recreational aviation, though, of course, an idea like this may go far beyond sport flying. Chip Erwin is one of those restless […]

A dozen years ago, fixed wing pilots thought very little about “gyrocopters” — as some people called them. Actually that word is a model name established by Igor Bensen, widely thought of as the father of this activity along with Juan de la Cierva of Spain, known for his pioneering autogyro work. The preferred term […]

If you listen to perpetually-excited media, air taxis will soon be shuttling people hither and yon in all the big cities of the globe. Executives and shoppers will be whisked around downtown skyscrapers silently, quietly, swiftly, and the cost will be modest. Do you buy all that? I’m not holding my breath. Oh, these air […]

When this series started, Icon’s shapely A5 LSA seaplane topped the list. Handsome as it is and like most seaplanes, A5 is not particularly fast. The subject of this second in the series of 50 aircraft is Porto Aviation’s Risen. You might say it is on the other end of the speed spectrum Risen rips! […]

At Aero Friedrichshafen 2023, visitors saw numerous aircraft that could qualify as Mosaic Light-Sport Aircraft or mLSA. In nearly every aisle of the several large halls of Aero, visitors and journalists could see entry after entry apparently made-for-Mosaic. Indeed, so many entries potentially qualify for this coming new segment that I ran out of time […]

From dawn to dusk, we hear how electric propulsion is going to save the Earth. Whatever your belief about the hazards of fossil fuel, electric propulsion is coming. When is another matter. Air taxi ventures based on multicopter designs are drinking up funds by the tens or hundreds millions of dollars, probably billions by now. […]

It was one of those fortuitous incidents. For my next subject aircraft, I chose the Altus motorglider because this particular aircraft was personally intriguing to me. I enjoy soaring, gliders, and therefore motorgliders. However, it’s not an ego thing. Motorgliders have a very special niche in American aviation. I’ll get to that below. What made […]

LAMA, the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, hosted a gathering of European manufacturers during last month’s Aero Friedrichshafen show. Van’s Aircraft President and Chief Engineer Rian Johnson accepted LAMA’s invitation and presented an update on Mosaic. As the leader of the ASTM committee working on LSA standards, he covered expected changes to help manufacturers prepare. How […]

If the bright green didn’t catch your eye, the unusual placement of the propeller probably did. Or maybe it was one of a dozen other fetching attributes to this handsome rotary-winged aircraft. What you could not easily see was the engine selection. As up-to-date as they can be, Niki is offering either a 141-horsepower Rotax […]

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 […]