Splog

Recognize that tail? You’ve seen it twice before on designs that earned Special Light-Sport Aircraft approval: Interplane’s Skyboy and FlyItalia’s Sport Rider. Designer Jaro Dostal’s signature is the shark fin vertical stabilizer. Skyboy is sold in the U.S. by LSA America. SportRider (MD-3 Rider in Europe) is not presently available in the USA. *** Now […]

Market leader Flight Design seems hot as a pistol and appears to be validating their plan to substantially increase production. South Central U.S. distributor Airtime Aviation delivered N200BL to Brian Longwill, their new dealer operating under the name Longwill AirCraft. And talk about beautiful timing, this also happened to be CT delivery number 50 for […]

Many other airplane categories have tried round the world flights, but it’s now been done by a Light-Sport Aircraft. Flying a Flight Design CT, Indian Air Force Wing Commanders Rahul Monga and Anil Kumar will claim a new record by successfully flying around the world in 79 days. Part of a celebration of the Indian […]

One actually got approved last year, I’m told, but a new 2008 model Urban Air Lambada UFM 13 more recently received its airworthiness as our newest, and 57th, Special Light-Sport Aircraft (SLSA). This is the second aircraft to use the ASTM standards for Glider (see 8/6/07 SPLOG) but is the first motorglider. TST-14 is more […]

In the month of July 2007 the LSA industry registered 71 more aircraft bringing the total to 904 fixed wing airplanes. That represents a spurt of 11% in one month and an even 60% growth in registered LSA since January 1st 2007. *** In all categories, Americans are flying 1,134 SLSA. Weight Shift aircraft registered […]

Premise: In light sport aviation you never ignore RANS owner and designer Randy Schlitter. With his newly minted S-19, he’s again proven the rule. A flying prototype from the Kansas builder was beautifully finished…a RANS airshow tradition. Compared to the G-700S SPLOGged earlier, S-19 is 70 pounds lighter thanks to “great care in keeping things […]

Whew! After ten days in the hot sun, I’m glad Oshkosh is over…but what an event for Light-Sport Aviation. The whole story includes a last few days of whirlwind development climaxing in many new introductions. Folks from Gobosh* brought the all-metal low wing G-700S, an Americanized revision of the AT-3 from Poland. Aero Ltd’s AT-3 […]

EAA AirVenture is full of surprises. We all knew about Cessna’s confirmed LSA entry (though we had to travel to Oshkosh to see its new Skycatcher). Plenty of other surprises are expected. But one that caught almost everybody unawares was the Cirrus Design entry to aviation’s newest segment. *** They’ll import — and modify, or […]

This time of year, excitement starts to hit fever pitch. Web visits to ByDanJohnson.com reflect that, growing substantially as the season’s biggest airshow approaches its opening date. Attendees will see new jets, new engines, new avionics, and all manner of aviation gear…and the world of Light-Sport Aircraft is also a player. *** Some, like the […]

Some observers think it looks like a Challenger (ultralight). But it’s made very differently and now it has another distinction. Producer Higher Class Aviation won their SLSA airworthiness certificate on July 18, one of the first of the so-called “ultralight class” to do so. Welcome to No. 54 in the SLSA sweepstakes and congratulations to […]