Affordable Aviation

Maybe you’ve heard about Able Flight, an organization formed to assist people with disabilities to fly. This worthy effort recently awarded its first two scholarships with more to come. Sponsors are lining up and this summer will see a special presentation at AirVenture Oshkosh. The aircraft of Able Flight’s focus is the Sky Arrow which […]

Sun ‘n Fun 2005 started off with a bang when Flightstar Sportplanes’ Tom Peghiny heard the Flight Design CT he imports was one of the first Special Light-Sport Aircraft to be given its airworthiness certificate. (S-LSAs are fully built and can be used for training or rental.) CT regional dealer Tom Gutmann of Airtime Aviation, […]

When I first met Phil Lockwood, he was selling Drifters. That was more than 20 years ago. In that time the venerable Drifter ultralight went through several owners and many changes. A Drifter model even hailed from Australia for a time. But in a combined deal including the Air Cam — which Phil designed — […]

Of recent SLSA approvals Breezer is the newest offering from one of Germany’s largest microlight producers. Comco-Ikarus is also the C42 builder and found a big success with German flight schools. Just as AirVenture Oshkosh 2005 started, Breezer won its SLSA certificate. On an exceptionally beautiful day as AirVenture started, I flew this German designed […]

OK, this may sound complicated. Savannah is an Italian design which bears some resemblance to the CH-701 (though with numerous differences). It is being assembled by Skykits, a Canadian company with a U.S. location from parts fabricated throughout Europe. Got that? OK, let’s add more. Savannah is one fuselage with three diffferent wing variations. While […]

Perhaps it’s a little ironic that Freedom wins its freedom. When I spoke with importer Don Langford at the Sebring LSA Expo he sounded somewhat unsure about the future for his Spanish amphibian. He’d submitted information for an exemption but had no reply. Yet shortly after Expo ended FAA granted LSA Aero‘s request for the […]

At the Sebring LSA Expo, visitors saw two airplanes they’d seen before, but these were actually revised models that are now ready for waiting pilots. The Mermaid charmed the LSA world when it was first introduced, since collecting more than 200 order deposits. The boat hull LSA also earned the first of two exemptions regarding […]

LSA America is a newly formed company separate from but associated with Fantasy Air USA, importer of the very successful Allegro*. The new company displayed their Mystique from Flying Machines, which won SLSA #46 just before the Sebring LSA Expo. This lovely bird has smooth flowing lines all the way to a squared off vertical […]

December is a quiet period for many businesses, unless they are involved with consumer retail. It was the first month in 18 that reported no new SLSA. But the Sebring Expo evidently proved to be a motivator as we had no less than four announcements at the show. *** Infinity Power Parachutes of Sturgis, Michigan […]

Evektor America requested their Czech supplier, Evektor Aerotechnik to perform an engineering study of the design. The result? By slightly raising the stall speed to ASTM standards (45 knots), the company was able to add 55 pounds of useful load. The newly capable model will be called the Sportstar Plus. *** On a visit to […]