Manufacturers

Continuing the tour of floatplanes (yes, I remember it’s winter up north even while I tour the tropical south, but what a good time to think about warmer days to come)…we paid a visit to the home field of Sport Aircraft Works. SAW is the U.S. marketing arm for Czech Aircraft Works (CZAW) and their […]

For years BRS Parachutes sold emergency systems to ultralight pilots. Then along came Cirrus Design, who installed the CAPS (Cirrus Airframe Parachute System) on their SR-20 and SR-22 models as standard equipment. It was a bold and unproven tactic, but today, the SR-22 is the best selling general aviation aircraft in the world. Did the […]

My wife, Randee, and I are finding lots of good reasons to winter in Florida (while our home state of Minnesota gets buried in snow). Here’s three of those good reasons: SeaMax, Mermaid, and Drifter on Lotus floats. Float flying in winter is different…and fun! *** I have now flown the SeaMax three times. Yesterday […]

How to extract more performance from a 60-year-old design? How about a nose job? Pilots understand a smoother shape lends more speed to a design, but you may not sense the total gain possible without adding horsepower or burning more fuel. General aviation companies like Mooney, Cessna, and Piper hired LoPresti Speed Merchants to help […]

Much attention on LSA seems to focus on U.S.-built aircraft or those from Czech Republic. Of course we have many other countries contributing to the growing U.S. fleet including Germany, Italy, and Australia. While Poland also contributes fabrication to the German-designed FK Lightplane series, the country isn’t widely known to Americans as an LSA provider. […]

Maybe you’ve heard about Able Flight, an organization formed to assist people with disabilities to fly. This worthy effort recently awarded its first two scholarships with more to come. Sponsors are lining up and this summer will see a special presentation at AirVenture Oshkosh. The aircraft of Able Flight’s focus is the Sky Arrow which […]

Sun ‘n Fun 2005 started off with a bang when Flightstar Sportplanes’ Tom Peghiny heard the Flight Design CT he imports was one of the first Special Light-Sport Aircraft to be given its airworthiness certificate. (S-LSAs are fully built and can be used for training or rental.) CT regional dealer Tom Gutmann of Airtime Aviation, […]

When I first met Phil Lockwood, he was selling Drifters. That was more than 20 years ago. In that time the venerable Drifter ultralight went through several owners and many changes. A Drifter model even hailed from Australia for a time. But in a combined deal including the Air Cam — which Phil designed — […]

Of recent SLSA approvals Breezer is the newest offering from one of Germany’s largest microlight producers. Comco-Ikarus is also the C42 builder and found a big success with German flight schools. Just as AirVenture Oshkosh 2005 started, Breezer won its SLSA certificate. On an exceptionally beautiful day as AirVenture started, I flew this German designed […]

OK, this may sound complicated. Savannah is an Italian design which bears some resemblance to the CH-701 (though with numerous differences). It is being assembled by Skykits, a Canadian company with a U.S. location from parts fabricated throughout Europe. Got that? OK, let’s add more. Savannah is one fuselage with three diffferent wing variations. While […]