Affordable Aviation

I am not alone in thinking Part 103 ultralight aircraft are the ideal platform for initial development of electric powered aircraft. Sure, someday you’ll be able to fly your 2-4 seater for 300-400 miles or more, recharge in the time it takes you to use the facilities, and be on your way again. But today, […]

A gentleman at Oshkosh asked me a question about Sport Pilot Instructors and I’m afraid I gave a misleading answer. Even though I inhabit the SP/LSA space all day long every day, it isn’t hard to get a detail incorrect. My expertise is on the LSA side and less so the SP side, so I […]

More than 20 Top LSA You Can Buy The light-sport aircraft industry hangs in there, although sales numbers, as with general aviation, still struggle to gain safe altitude in the stormy economic skies. Encouraging item: LSA sales in 2009 represented nearly 25% of all GA piston purchases. Another surprise: Most of the 107 models available […]

In the wake of its week long focus on electric-powered flight at the just-concluded Oshkosh AirVenture 2010, EAA just announced a $60,000 prize to “speed development of electric flight technology.” *** As I posted earlier here, during the World Symposium on Electric Aircraft, Erik Lindbergh awarded his LEAP prize to three companies for their contributions […]

Randall Fishman’s ElectraFlyer Trike pumped me up. As a trike enthusiast, my real interest is soaring. A lightweight trike with an electric motor offers real advantages (see my earlier SPLOG). I want to climb high enough to find lift, shut off the power, and hop from thermal to thermal. To me, that’s pure flying! An […]

Oshkosh has been deluged with a record downpour the last few days, which complicated arrivals because of the soggified grass fields…where most of the planes park and campers do their camping thing. *** Many airplanes were turned away over the weekend but nothing deters the Airventure show, which must go on. *** Several things already […]

All-electric airplane fans, this’ll stand your hair on end!  Next month’s 2010 EAA Airventure at Oshkosh, WI – easily the biggest air show in America every year – will feature activities focusing on the most exciting developments in electric flight all week long. *** Visitors to the show will find display booths, daily forums and […]

Green Tech is hot in Silicon Valley. Electric power-augmented and flex-fuel cars are selling well. Why not alternative energy Light-Sport Aircraft? Two companies showed electric airplanes at AirVenture 2007. *** Sonex revealed their own green technologies including a full-electric Waiex with a 200-amp motor that is 90 percent efficient and operates on 270 volts of […]

Back finally from 12 days at Oshkosh and the DC-3 fly-in that preceded it, I’m cranking out images and stories gathered there but couldn’t wait to get this one to you. *** Below is a condensation of my column that will run in the November issue. It involves an airplane that caught everybody’s eye when […]

I’m counting and that’s three times in a row that still-relatively-new FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt has maintained his positive view of Light-Sport Aircraft and the industry which produces them. When he was brand new — just a year ago in Oshkosh — Babbitt complimented the LSA safety record at AirVenture 2009. He repeated these congratulatory […]