Affordable Aviation

As the end of the year approaches and as excitement builds for 2024, I have some news items of interest to the light aircraft community. Right before Christmas, read about the maiden flight of Junkers side-by-side A60, a year-end recap provided by Icon Aircraft, and year highlights from leading engine producer Rotax Aircraft Engines. Let’s […]

A longtime pilot joke goes, “What makes an airplane fly?” The punch line: “Money!” Forget all that fancy talk about Bernoulli’s Principle. While it’s true recreational aviation is not the cheapest activity you could enjoy, neither is flying only for folks with thick wallets. If you keep an open mind, some aircraft are likely to […]

Aeromarine LSA’s Chip Erwin is one but certainly not the only busy fellow in the modern Part 103 aircraft space. AVI’s Radu Berceanu is another a man on the move. Chip works in metal. Radu works in composite. You know Chip better (he’s adept at PR) but you probably know Radu’s designs. Readers have responded […]

You know Mt. Vernon, or you should. For 15 years, I’ve reported from, recorded videos at, and given talks at the Midwest LSA Expo, which is held at the Mt. Vernon, Illinois municipal airport, about an hour’s drive east of St. Louis. Normally at Mt. Vernon, “It’s all about the airplanes!” It will again be […]

When Wilbur and Orville set out to fly their first airplane 120 years ago, aeronautical knowledge was rare and precious. Pioneers like Lilienthal preceded the Wright Brothers but the Ohio bike shop owners still had to figure out almost everything. They did so without funding, university degrees, or government help. Today, nearly every aviator celebrates […]

As I recently wrote about Aerial Work for Mosaic LSA, perhaps it’s fitting to write about Part 103 vehicles doing commercial work. But isn’t flying for hire prohibited in Part 103? Yes, it is. However, “public use” aircraft do not have to meet FAA aircraft certification regulations nor operating limitations. “Public use” can include activities […]

One of the brightest stars in the Mosaic regulatory constellation is allowing LSA to do “aerial work.” In today’s LSA, the only compensated activities Americans can perform are flight instruction and limited towing operations. Any more is prohibited by SP/LSA regulations. Why is this important? Since 2014, LAMA has explained that light aircraft could be […]

When I wrote about TrueLite a little over one year ago, readers loved the concept pushing the article to one of my best-read pieces of the year. That story had lots of detail, different from what follows. Now the story is the start of production and preparation of import to the US for final assembly. […]

Last summer, when EAA AirVenture Oshkosh exploded with news that FAA released Mosaic, nearly all the attention was on increased weight and speed, and capabilities like retractable gear, controllable props, even multiengine or turbine aircraft. Christmas in July, I called it, so plentiful were FAA’s gifts to pilots and industry. While all these items will […]

Continuing our tour of the Top 50 videos from Videoman Dave’s popular YouTube channel, we come to Earthstar Aircraft’s Thundergull. My interview with Mark about his electric project garnered 236,000 views and ranks at #11 among the Top 50 of Dave’s more than 1,500 videos. This remarkable small aircraft, a single seater until their Odyssey […]