Manufacturers

I’ve been on a couple AirCam outings and I have two points about them: (1) Owners of this unusual airplane are often fairly well-off people and see a golden opportunity when invited by the good planners at Lockwood Aircraft; and, (2) These pilots know how to have fun with their airplanes, flying to some delicious […]

P1NG is not a sound nor golf equipment. The clever name (that’s a “1” not an “i”) is similar to a plane you know as the Paradise P1. Now get ready for the “Next Generation” P1, or simply, P1NG. The P1 you may have already seen was designed around a four-seat model with the aft […]

(This article has been updated in June 2018 to reflect a new manufacturer.) At Aero 2013, I covered one of the most interesting replica airplanes I have ever seen in many years of scouring airshows for light aircraft of interest. My videographer and I did a video story about this exciting project. The airplane was […]

Engine suppliers must love Zenith Aircraft, perhaps as much as their many airframe owners. For 23 years, the kit company based in Mexico, Missouri has supplied about 200 kits per year to buyers all over the country and around the world. That is a selling performance any light airplane company would like to boast. One […]

Much of what we hear and know about airplane populations is centered on America. Yet in the world of sport and recreational aviation, the rest of the world equates to at least a 1:1 relationship, that is, for every American aircraft flying, many experts agree another flies internationally. It may be more significant than that […]

A couple days ago I wrote about the Sling 4-4-40 Challenge. I believe this to be of interest for a couple reasons. One is the fast build at an airshow … much like the intense interest surrounding EAA’s One Week Wonder (video) building of a CH-750 at Oshkosh. The other is my promise to offer […]

Last weekend Zenith Aircraft held another of their open house events. At the Midwest LSA Expo a few weeks beforehand I asked factory pilot guru, Roger Dubbert how many people the company expected. His answer: a rather amazing “700.” According to Zenith president Sebastien Heintz it was indeed another strong event, one they’ve repeated every […]

In the Light-Sport Aircraft industry, many companies are celebrating fairly young birthdays, at least compared to 80-year-old legacy companies in the GA space. One of those is Number 8 ranked Jabiru, with more than 100 airplanes delivered in the USA. That is whole aircraft with that name, but remember, this is one only a very […]

Evidently, a magic number exists to authorities in various civil aviation agencies around the developed world. That magic number — more correctly a range — is 115 to 120 kilograms, or 253 to 264 pounds. FAA led this charge way back in 1982 with the introduction of FAR Part 103 codifying that an airplane, ‘er […]

The sixth annual Midwest LSA Expo just concluded. These LSA-only events offer a more intimate setting where you can speak at length with an aircraft or other product representative. They don’t offer the dense traffic of the big shows but the valued trade off is that nearly everyone who shows is interested. People came from […]