Manufacturers

61-year-old Italian aircraft manufacturer Tecnam has a whole fleet of LSA and general category aircraft at the show, serving notice they’re here to stay. *** At a reception tonight, U.S. Distributor Heart of Virginia and the Tecnam executive team, lead by CEO Phil Solomon, made a bold prediction: they intend the company to be the […]

Piper Aircraft’s Prez/CEO Kevin J. Gould made it official today at Sebring: the company has entered into a new, worldwide-exclusive distributor licensing agreement with Czech Sport Aircraft that will bring the SportCruiser to market – by April! – under the new name PiperSport. *** As I reported yesterday, Piper did not buy into the company […]

I was lucky enough to get Matthias Betsch, Flight Design’s CEO, all to myself for a few minutes and here’s what he had to say: *** General update: “A hard year but better than we expected. In the last two to three months, we’ve had quite a pickup. Here in the States dealers sold their […]

Breezer dealer Mike Zidziunas had a double-good day. *** First, a potential buyer he’d been working with whipped out a blank check and said, “How much do I fill it in for?” *** Congratulations Mike! *** He also announced the German company has named him sole U.S. Distributor for the Breezer II, which he’ll take […]

What a way to start the year. Piper called a press conference at Sebring and like no other I’ve seen after attending all six Expo events, the media turned out in droves. On opening day the legacy brand unveiled their LSA entry at Sebring 2010 (it was also their first exhibitor appearance). Camera clicked constantly, […]

Lots of other aviation news organizations embraced multimedia before ByDanJohnson.com did. We figured online was already quite lively with hyperlinks and true interactivity as represented by our exclusive PlaneFinder 2.0 feature. *** About a year ago, of UltralightNews approached me with an idea to do brief reviews of LSA. I accepted his invitation and today […]

Much has been written about Cessna’s Skycatcher incidents, those spin investigations that caused the loss of one airplane and a parachute deployment from another. Of course, the giant producer knows well the design of light aircraft so it was only a matter of time before all problems were solved. In doing these spin tests, Cessna […]

Yes, Cessna’s Light-Sport Aircraft entry helps to validate the concept of industry consensus standards in lieu of government certification. They’ll populate airports with their C-162 Skycatcher as shipments ramp up in 2010. Yes, other big companies are looking at LSA — as most LSA enthusiasts know Cirrus offered an entry though work has stalled, and […]

[UPDATE: 1/13/09 at 1 PM Eastern — Following reports by AOPA Online, Flight International’s Flight Global, and Jim Lawrence below… Piper stated that — contrary to reports in Czech newspapers and radio — they have not signed an agreement with Czech Sport Aircraft. Thus reports about the amount allegedly invested much less forecasts of building […]

Ramping up to the big day when that jolly red-flightsuited Sport Pilot in his original LSA -a two-place, roof-landing, 8 RP (reindeer power) flivver – will fly all those XC legs to good little pilot’s chimneys, herewith some stocking stuffer newsies and tidbits to help wind down 2009. *** Kennedy Aircraft Service & Repair serves […]