Manufacturers

“This was my best birthday present. All went well with no surprises,” reported an excited Anssi Rekual, sales manager and front man for the Finland-based builder of the LSA seaplane called Atol. An airline pilot today, Anssi added, “I have only one year to go with Finnair and then I can focus fully on Atol.” […]

We are heading into a weekend with a couple wonderful airshows immediately ahead. The dry spell since Sebring is over and Aero Friedrichshafen in Germany starts next week — preceded by meetings of the ASTM committee that writes the LSA standards. A couple days after Aero ends, Sun ‘n Fun starts. Whew! This is a […]

What an amazing day! I heard of — count ’em — no less than three first flights. I don’t ever recall getting that kind of news in such a batch, but hooray! More airplanes to report on and more for customers to consider for their flying enjoyment. First up is the Glasair Merlin. I looked […]

With Aero mere days away now, excitement is growing for the electric aircraft event-within-the-event. Visitors can tour around the entry foyer hall where the e-flight-expo will be located. This year offers a few highlights, provided to me from my publisher friend Willi Tacke in Germany. One aircraft not many Europeans and even fewer Americans have […]

Tecnam has become widely known for its extensive fleet of Light-Sport Aircraft designs (meeting ASTM standards) and for their popular twin-Rotax 912 Twin model (using traditional certification). At Sun ‘n Fun 2015, visitors can expect to lay eyes on the P2010 or as Tecnam usually calls it, “P Twenty Ten.” I have told you that […]

Be honest with yourself. You always wanted to fly a jet, didn’t you? Having your very own jet to rocket around the sky would be so cool, right? C’mon … who wouldn’t love that? The trouble is affording one of the darn things and then paying through the nose to fuel and maintain it. Well, […]

In the first decade of Light-Sport Aircraft we saw a new model emerge nearly every month; some months brought more than one model. SLSA approvals reached 136 aircraft, most of them land-based aircraft (our SLSA list describes each type). To general aviation pilots used to a genuinely new aircraft model once a decade or so, […]

Tecnam had a strong year last year with reasonable sales of Light-Sport Aircraft plus larger, certified airplanes into the U.S. market. Around the world, according to the report released by GAMA and confirmed personally by Managing Director Paolo Pascale, Tecnam shipped nearly 200 airplanes in 2014. While ByDanJohnson.com readers are focused on recreational aircraft primarily […]

This article was updated on March 24, 2015 after communication with the company. World Aircraft Company is an international collaboration between a former Canadian, Eric Giles and Colombia-based designer Max Tedesco. The two teamed up following Eric’s successful run with Skykits. Eric relocated to impressive new facilities in Paris, Tennessee (complete with a mockup of […]

As spring approaches and with major airshows like Aero Friedrichshafen in Germany and Sun ‘n Fun in Florida about to trigger a new season of recreational flying, it is time for an annual update of Light-Sport Aircraft market shares. Our well-known “fleet” chart appears nearby; this table refers to all Special LSA registered with FAA […]