Affordable Aviation

Several readers have asked and we are finally delivering. Jan Fridrich and I present the LSA Market Share Report for the first half of 2011. Figures show a mimicking of 2010 output and that was not a strong year. However, the numbers are not down from 2010 so you could see stability if not growth. […]

FAA’s European doppelganger is EASA ( European Aviation Safety Agency), a governmental body which has wrestled with how to “regulate the new kid” for some time. *** And EASA has at last come out with its much-anticipated CS-LSA, or Certification Specification for Light-Sport Aircraft. *** American makers have eagerly awaited the announcement so they could […]

Okay, so no way this is ever going to be a Light Sport aircraft, but this is just too much fun and I had to pass it along. *** Famed aircraft designer Burt Rutan has been at it again, this time with his eclectic take on a flying car that began life as an electric-powered […]

A crack team of aeronautical whizbrains in the Institute of Aircraft Design at the University of Stuttgart, Germany has just passed its second important milestone in less than two months: its electric aircraft eGenius just flew more than two hours at more than 100 mph. *** Not by coincidence, that’s exactly the kind of performance […]

 I’ve written about the topic of high-hour pilots and the need for transitioning them into LSA a fair amount now.  *** I’ve also heard about it from and talked to a lot of people about it.  Avemco Insurance, before they took a hiatus from writing new LSA policies a couple months back, wrote a minimum […]

LSA America now produces the Allegro in Littleton, North Carolina and anticipates their first U.S.-produced LSA approval before Oshkosh 2011. Despite Czech-based Fantasy Air’s ceasing manufacturing several years ago, Allegro did well enough in the first couple years to still retain the #14 rank. *** Exciting as this now-Made-in-the-USA story may be, this article has […]

Evektor will always be First… that is, the Czech company gained the very first Special Light-Sport Aircraft approval back in April 2005 and no one can ever take that first-in-class title away from them. Now they are also the newest approval, before AirVenture 2011 anyway. Congratulations to Evektor Aerotechnik and their U.S. representatives including Steve […]

Try not to yawn. This is important. To see why, read “What does this mean…” below. *** EASA, roughly the equivalent of FAA for the European Union, finally released its CS-LSA, or Certification Specification for Light-Sport Aircraft. While not exactly what the industry hoped for, it at least represents acceptance of the ASTM certification standards. […]

After a prolonged absence, mogas is returning to airports thanks to steady efforts by a consortium lead by Dean Billing and Kent Misegades. The numbers appear small today, even if they function to help you find cheaper and cleaner mogas as an alternative to 100LL. About 3% of airports presently offer mogas. But these numbers […]

I am only aware of one company* in the USA that offers you a choice of a conventional three-axis fixed wing or a weight-shift control (WSC) flexwing. Why do this? Simple. Not all pilots want the same kind of aircraft and some of us like both kinds of flying. It happens that the boys from […]