Affordable Aviation

It’s cold up north. So, time for a winter boat show? What’s that got to do with seaplanes? Why don’t organizers present the Minneapolis Boat Show in spring or summer? Fact: Minnesota owns 30% more boats per capita than any other American state. Wisconsin is in third while South Carolina is second. Florida leads the […]

A winning airshow attraction over the last few years has been STOL competitions. STOL stands for Short Takeoff and Landing. Believe me, these pilots totally obsess over “short.” You truly need to see these performances to believe what determined pilots in suitable aircraft can do. I encourage all to come on down to sunny Florida for Sun […]

Darkest before dawn? I hear growing concern about FAA’s new Mosaic regulation and what it will or won’t do. An increasing number of comments I hear are variations of these words — “FAA is never going to get this done, and if they do, it will be a crappy rule.” Why so glum? Maybe pilots are […]

Brrrr, it’s mighty cold in northern places like Oshkosh, Wisconsin, headquarters for EAA. However, those seasoned veterans of winter’s chill know how to warm things up. After Covid, so many things changed for so long that, today, it’s getting hard to remember how it was. EAA hosted (in-person) Ultralight Days for some years, with a […]

Zenith’s headline read: “All-electric Zenith ‘Sky Jeep’ completes first flight, with plans to transport doctors and medical supplies in remote areas of the world.” Several aviation publishers jumped on the news* from light kit-built market leader, Zenith Aircraft. I’m curious what you think of (1) electric propulsion on any aircraft and (2) electric power for […]

When the Sebring U.S. Sport Aviation Expo launched back in 2004 — the same year the SP/LSA regulation was released — the central Florida location began serving a then-new aviation segment. For 15 years this show grew and prospered …until it ended in 2019. (Sebring’s timing now appears foresightful because the next year, 2020, started the […]

When Light-Sport Aircraft arrived on the scene almost 20 years ago, one early model that caught my attention was Kappa KP-5. This was one of the first of several brands unknown to Americans then. Others went on to become fixtures in the LSA space: Flight Design, Tecnam, Evektor, and Aeroprakt, among others. Over some years, […]

The year started with hope. As 2022 arrived, America and most countries (China excepted) were emerging from two years of difficult lockdowns and Covid. The good news was that a flood of money from the U.S. government had buoyed the stock market and I’ve long observed that in a rising equities market, LSA and SP […]

These new-millennia flying machines have inspired multiple names. While an eventual winner is determined, a common handle seems to be the rather awkward “eVTOL” — for electric vertical takeoff and landing. A range of abbreviations are also used: UAV, UAM, UAS, autonomous aircraft, and several others. I like multicopter — because all of them involved […]

Some might say Icon Aircraft has experienced a rather turbulent flight. The company came off the starting line boldly with splashy marketing including an immense, fancy tent right at the entrance to AirVenture. Each year at Oshkosh, the company hosted an annual party with special features and free drinks. It became a must-attend event for […]