Affordable Aviation

Take one step. Stop for one full minute. Rest and breathe. Take another step. Stop and breathe for 60 seconds. Repeat for hours. Am I describing exercise at a retirement home or hospital? No, actually the actions of young, healthy, well-conditioned men. The difference is that these individuals are nearing the top of the world. […]

One innovative designer offers an alternative to foot-controlled powered parachute flight. For those of you that don’t know, most powered parachutes are steered around the sky using your legs. Pushing with your right leg exerts downward force on a steering line routed to the right trailing edge of the canopy/wing, producing drag on that side […]

The Wrightness of one man’s dream On December 17, 2003, Tom Ivicevich’s Wright Flyer won’t represent the only attempt to recreate the brothers’ famous accomplishment. Nor will he be the only Wright pilot flying cross-country to arrive at the sand dune shrine in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. But Ivicevich will do it all without major […]

In late 2005 I began visiting general aviation flight schools around the country on behalf of EAA and industry. I found a few schools already embracing FAA’s newest class of pilots and aircraft. One is Falcon Executive Aviation in Mesa, Arizona. When I visited this school at the occasion of the Phoenix Sport Pilot Tour, […]

Recently at least four companies have announced their expansion plans and more have certainly been working similarly but not made their plans public. I’m only guessing here (while we wait for federal N-number registrations to catch up to reality)…but I’d say deliveries of SLSA may have numbered 500 aircraft in 2005. While that’s a healthy […]

Snowbirds like Arizona in the winter and for good reason. Beautiful skies, pleasantly warm temperatures, and lots of smiling faces. Phoenix and neighboring city, Mesa (just a bit east) are also havens for aviation. Falcon Field is home to a huge variety of aircraft and proved friendly to Light-Sport Aircraft as no less than 18 […]

Dan Johnson Celebrates Career Milestone, Retires Two Columns – Announces New Focus ST. PAUL, MINN. – Light recreational aircraft expert Dan Johnson celebrated 30 years of writing flight reports with the publication of his February 2006 articles. Johnson, a leading reviewer of ultralights and light-sport aircraft, has flown and evaluated more than 300 different models […]

Air Creation’s magnificent Tanarg 912 and their popular GTE 912 were presented with the first two weight shift control Special Light-Sport Aircraft certificates on January 20th in Arizona at Kemmeries Aviation flight center where Air Creation USA is based. Not only are these the first two certificates ever issued for weight shift control LSA, the […]

I find it ironic that our first new SLSA certification of 2006 is one of the oldest. Welcome to the Taylorcraft Sport as Number 24 in our parade of newly FAA-approved Special Light-Sport Aircraft. A bright red Taylorcraft Sport showed at the Sebring U.S. Sport Aviation Expo last week after winning its approval on January […]

The second running of Sebring is a success by any measure. Days one and two enjoyed warm weather with good conditions for a large number of demo fllights. One fascinating development was the arrival of some top Cessna officials who evidently came to check out the LSA scene although their presence was relatively low key […]