Affordable Aviation

Just when you thought the LSA industry was running out of models (109 presently show on our SLSA List)… here comes one of the sharpest examples I’ve seen. NIU Group used the Midwest LSA Expo as the venue to debut an airplane I’ve seen in Europe (more than 100 flying). Previously in the U.S., we […]

Pilots seem to love more power. All other things being equal, a more potent engine is preferred to one with less power. Pilots also like sweet-handling airplanes. So, put 20 more horses in front of the S-19 Venterra and you’ve really got something. *** At the recent Mt. Vernon Midwest LSA Expo, I got to […]

One of the lesser-known S-LSA I caught up with at the Midwest EXPO was the Rainbow Aircraft Cheetah XLS. It’s an ultralight-style LSA — tube and ripstop Trilam fabric envelopes that are pre-sewn, pulled over the airframe components and laced up for tightness — with a rakish look and some rather unique features such as […]

The wonderfully run Midwest LSA Expo is history: Long Live Midwest. The show was well supported by the industry, with many manufacturers and vendors attending to meet the public for the three day event. *** All the industry and media reps I talked to, without fail, were universal in their praise for the enthusiastic, cheerful […]

That title is a bit tongue-in-cheek, since the first day of the Midwest LSA Expo here in Mount Vernon, IL was what you’d call winnnnnndy! *** The big storm front grounded our flight of two Evektor SportStar MAXs two hours east of here Wednesday. That was after our long, headwind-bashing flight from Art Tarola’s Allentown, […]

The second annual Midwest LSA Expo is set to launch. The exhibitor count is up from last year’s inaugural event, according to main organizer Chris Collins. Print and web publisher Roy Beisswenger has organized a slate of forums (click for a PDF list), including yours truly. Aviators Hot Line has a special edition and General […]

Beautiful 80 degree weather held off the looming spectre of fall and winter chills in the Northeast: perfect timing for the 25th Annual Simsbury, CT Fly-In and Car Show. *** Around 10,000 folks wound their way through the low green hills east of Hartford to attend, along with some local notables, including the original Terrafugia […]

Just heard from Mike Zidziunas of Breezer Aircraft USA who gave me a touch of the end-of-summer blues with his chronicle of a trip he just made with two Breezers to those magical isles in the Caribbean. *** “I was probably the most excited person at Airventure this year,” Mike writes, “when I heard the […]

Two aircraft are getting lots of buzz lately for their advancement of aviation technology. *** First up is the electrified Cri-Cri, which looks like a toy but is in fact an important joint electric R&D project of EADS Innovation,  Aero Composites Saintonge and the Green Cri-Cri Association. *** The four-engine Cri-Cri originally debuted as a […]

Lately the subject of flying IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) has occupied my time and more than a few pixels on this website. The debate centered on flight into IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions… or situations with no or low visibility, or simplistically, flight into clouds). Although I spend 100% of every day on the subject of […]