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Oskosh Airventure
2008 success in good weather
--Overall
attendance is estimated at 540,000, which is a slight drop from
last year. Exhibitors reported "good to record-setting sales."
. More than 10,000 aircrafts arrived , total number showplanes:
2,516, including 972 homebuilts, 114 ultralights, and 33 whirlybirds.
More than 37,000 campers. The number of beer cans: astronomic.
More info at.airventure.org/2008/news/
--During the Airventure it was announced that Italian light
aircraft manufacturer Costruzioni Aeronautiche Tecnam will try
Gemini 100, two-stroke, six-cylinder, 100hp diesel engine and
install it in P92 Eaglet LSA for evaluation. After initial flight
test period Technam will decide which of its LSAs and ultralight
aircrafts will be offered with Gemini diesel engines. Diesel engines
are known to be more reliable, the fuel do not ignite so easy and
the consumption is lover. Good news exept that the initial cost
is higher.
--There were three accidents reported : On
Sunday, a piper Tri-Pacer crashed while landing It’s three occupants
suffered with minor injuries. The same day a pilot was transported
to a hospital away after his RANS S-6ES flipped over at the ultralight
field. On Thursday morning two people died when a homebuilt
Lancair Legacy II crashed while attempting to land. The plane may
have stalled on final approach.
20080807
Autogyro accident
A
PILOT from Gloucester, UK and his passenger have been killed in
an air crash in Spain in the Mediterranean island of Majorca. The
pilot was experienced with a different types of aircraft. An eyenvitness
said that the autogyro was turning when it suddenly dived. Then
it hit a tree and exploded into flames. Initial reports suggest
it was not due to mechanical failure. More at thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/
20080806
Recent crash news
from UK
Microlight plummeted
from 1200ft after the tail of the aircraft fell off.. Read the story
at northumberlandgazette
Microlight crashed into a field in Hampshire: thisishampshire.net/
2008-04-15
Sun and Fun Fly
In, 8th-13th April
This
34th annual meeting at Lakeland, Florida is held this week-end.
There will be over 500 commercial exhibits, airshow, 450 educational
forums and various hands on workshops. The Sun and Fun has own
camp ground for visitors who want to overnight in tent, RV, trailer
or aircraft. More info at http://www.sun-n-fun.org/content/
2008-04-11
New two seat amphibian
from Sweden! 
In
February 2008 the new amphibian airplane LN-3 Seagull made
it's first flight without any problems in Sundsvall, Southern Sweden.
The company CEO and first test pilot, Lage Norberg, announced great
handling of the airplane, both in the air and on the ground, and
he is convinced that it will be a very competent competitor
on the market. Some great features, on top of the fact it
is an amphibian, are the splendid visibility in combination
with a roomy cockpit and that it is designed to meet the requirements
of FAR 23 aerobatic category.
The Swedish
company, Svenska Flygfabriken AB, started to build on the prototype
in mid 2003 and will now proceed with the flight testing that of
course also involves take off and landing on water.
LN-3
Seagull is an all composite high winged tandem two seater designed
to meet the requirements of FAR 23 aerobatic category. At
a start LN-3 Seagull will be offered as a kit and later on
also as ready airplane in the UL/ML and LSA categories.
A preliminary price for the kit will be EUR 39,000.00 excl. VAT. The
kit includes everything except an engine, instruments and paint.For
more information please visit the manufacturers homepage, www.flygfabriken.com
20080308
The SparrowHawk
III Gyroplane
is now
added to FAA list of ELIGIBLE AMATEUR-BUILT AIRCRAFT KITS.
The
SparrowHawk III quick build kit reduces the build time down to
approximately 300 hours.The SparrowHawk III is side by side two
seat, aluminum frame gyroplane with a wide fiberglass cabin.. The
kit cost $45,500 FOB factory and comes with everything you need to fly, daytime
VFR, except for fuel. With the Subaru EJ25-165 hp engine this whirly
hawk cruises 75 mph. More info at manufacturers web page www.americanautogyro.com/
20080304
The Kappa Rapid
is now SKYLEADER
One
of the most advanced Ultralights and Special-Light Sport Aircrafts
in the market, the Kappa Rapid made in Chech Republic is now SKYLEADER : SL 150
UL, SL 200 UL and SL 500 LSA. SKYLEADER is a two-seater, all-metal,
low-wing construction with a direct wing and they come with retractable
tricycle landing gear. Another outstanding detail of the SKYLEADER
UL configuration is that it comes with Fowler lift flaps and can
go down to 48 km/h, that is enormous advance in forced landing
or landing in turbulent conditions or when the strip is short.
The plane is available as ready to fly or fast build kit. Starting
price is 64.800 EUR ( 98.300 USD). More info at the manufacturers
web page: www.skyleader.aero
2008-03-01
Taurus
ELECTRO shows the way
Taurus Electro, the World's first ever two seat self launching glider
with electric engine is noise free, emissions free, totally ecologic
and yet delivering the same performance as its older sister Taurus
503. Taurus is side-by-side ultralight powered glider with retractable
engine and double retractable main landing gear. The manufacturers
website: http://www.pipistrel.si/intro
20080118
Dynamic is now the
fastest ultralight aircraft in UK.
100 horsepower dynamic recieves type approval from the UK CAA
- The Slovakian Yeoman Light Aircraft Company has secured Type
Approval from the CAA for the 100HP Rotax 912-ULS powered
Dynamic microlight. Now Dynamic is the fastest UK production microlight.
Flyer magazines test of Dynamic can be found at manufactures web-page
http://ylac.bluecube.cz
2007-12-27
US Sport Aviation
Expo 2008 jan 17-20,2008 at Sebring, Florida
The Expo is the place to see, try, buy and learn about LSA and is
totally focused on LSA and Sport Pilot! Sebring is located in southern
Florida. sport-aviation-expo.com/
2007-12-27
New Experimental
kit aircraft 
Light
Sport Compliant Lightning kit from Arionaircraft
Shelbyville, USA is now
available. The sleek Lightning aircraft is made of fiberglass and
gains 150 mph with its Jabiru 3300 120 hp engine. The Lightning
Basic Kit excluding engine, propeller, interior, and instruments
sells for $33,900.00.
20071205
New S-LSA compliant
all plane recovery systems.
Bostik
Industries, LLC in Florida has released five new S-LSA compliant
all plane recovery systems. Weighing from 10,5 kg (23,1
lbs) , and fitting in 420x275x160mm (16.5x10.8x6.3 inch)
pagage it should be easy to fit one in the fuselage. The cost of
this insurance goes from $2395. More info and videos at magnumparachutes.com
20071202
Four planes under 30 K USD 
Popular Mechanics has published an inspiring article about four
aircrafts three of those comes with floats as well. One of them
is the Canadian Mosquito XE
helicopter that has an all fiberglass airframe. The XEL model
in the picture has floats - a nice touch if one happens to like
fishing. MosquitoXE Empty Weight is only 312 lb and lugs 240 pounds.
It is registered as ultra light in the USA where no pilots license or certificate
of airworthiness is required. With its 60 hp
engine it hits 75 mph.
Another interesting overseas made aircraft
tested was the sleek single/two seat Hawk Arrow . Cross-country
Air Craft . Amphibious and standard Float Systems are available.
Hawk Arrows assembly Time For first time builder is only 250 hrs.
http://www.cgsaviation.com/twoplacearrow.htm
The third tested plane with floats was Quicksilver’s two-seater Sprint II.
See the tests and video at http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4219509.html
web site.
20071115
Flying motorcycle/gyroplane
in production.
The
first 30 Super Sky Cycle kits are in production . The machine is
a tricycle-geared gyro plane with a folding rotor powered by Rotax
engine. To reduce the take off distance down to few feet the Super
Sky Cycle employs an engine-driven prerotator while the wheels are
still on ground. In USA the machine needs to be registered for flying
as an experimental amateur-built aircraft, and for the road riding
as a home built motorcycle but if this will be legal to drive in
Europe is unknown. The price of the SSC kit is under 38000 USD including the Rotax engine
- far less than regular gyrocopters sell. The manufacturer
Butterfly
LLC claims maximum highway
speed 90 km/h (55 MPH) and 180 km/h (100 MPH) on air. In the future the Super
Sky Cycle can be build with fully enclosed body. There is
a couple of videos of Super Sky Cyckel at youtube.
20071030
New British ultralight
from Reality Aircraft
The
Escapade
from Reality Aircraft was
originally a side by side two seat three axis microlight aircraft.
Now there is a VLA version with an increased MTOW of 499kg. The
microlight version has useful load of 195kg, folding wings
giving width of 7ft 11 ½" , dual controls (individual
sticks), can be either a tailwheel or tri gear configuration (swaps
from one to other in about 1 hour), short field takeoff and landing
(approx 100 metres @ 450kg)
20070930
Tragic paragliding
accident in Switzerland
Paragliding
may be the safest branch of flying sport but when the limits are
pushed the risks become real.While attempting to make a vertical
loop with a tandem paraglider the pilot lost control of the glider
and the glider collapsed. The accident was filmed by a fellow
paraglider and the video can be seen here
(livevideo.com) .
20070922
Metal fatigue did
cause the propeller to fly off a microlight aicraft
After
the Kolb Twinstar microlight engine stopped whilst cruising
at 2500 ft the pilot made a successful forced landing. When leaving
the aircraft, the pilot and passenger were surprised to find that
the propeller was missing. The Air Accident Investigation Branch
report blames metal fatigue for the loss of the propeller which
was recovered 11 days after the incident. More details in Lancashire
Evening Post
20070921
About The World
Microlight Championship
Richard
Rawes a member of the British Microlight Team won gold and The remaining
British Team pilots also achieved remarkable results taking a further
two individual Gold medals, an individual Silver medal and an individual
Bronze medal . A detailed story here
.
20070921
Black week-end:
two killed in ultralight accident in UK
On
Sunday night at 8.30pm the pilot and passanger of a flexwing microlight
aircraft died when they crashed into a field at Rushden. More info
at BBC.
20070902
Red Bull X-Alps
start in Austria July 23
Each
competitor travels only on foot and by paraglider , which
they have to carry with them at all times as well as an emergency
parachute, a helmet, a GPS system and three flares for emergency
situations. Every second day the slowest competitor will be pulled
from the race. Up to 20 days and about 850 km later the race will
finish when the first pilot lands in Monaco Harbour. More info at
extreme.com.
On the official website www.redbullxalps.com
visitors can see video and follow each of the athletes online.
2007-07-22
The Super Sport
autogyro 
made
by the manufacturer of Vortex and Lightnig, , features a full enclosed
cabin which is equipped with forced air ventilation and cabin heat,
powerful prerotator for short take-off, 190 HP Subaru 2.5 liter
liquid cooled engine and a few other improvements. The Super Sport
will cruise over 100 mph acording the manufacturer Sportcopter Inc.
More info here.
2007-07-21
Ultralight aicraft
crashed with jet
In eastern
France a Mirage 2000 jet collided with a microlight killing the
microlight pilot. More at Herald
Tribune
2007-07-15
Paramotor pilot
killed in crash
A 24-year-old
man from Bristol was killed in a paramotoring accident in Gloucestershire
while he was taking part in the UK Paramotor National Championships.
More details here
2007-06-17
Accident in Northumberland
When the light aircraft engine cut out the pilot made forced
landing in a field. The aircraft flipped over and finished with
its nose on the ground. The pilot escaped from the wreckage
with just a few bruises . More details here.
2007-06-10
Autogyro from Lithuania
Stanislav
Zelenkov from Lithuania is offering three types autogyro:
Open
two seat M -1 : Airframe kit with plastic nose and Tail
fin ,rotor set , wheel and brake set , 4-blades propeller
set , pre-rotation system and standard instruments for ( assembled
airframe without engine).. 25.410,-EUR . The price for kit
without ROTOR or Engine is 12.900,-EUR.
The M-2 cofig
is with closed cabin and also two seats.
The M-3 is tandem configuration
with empty weight only 260 kg. More info here.
2007-06-02
The SLA100 Executive
from UK
The British designed
and built 3-axis microlight will soon commence production at Medway
Microlights. The aircraft is available with a Rotax 912 or 912S
engine.The plane will be available as factory built aircraft and
as a staged kit. More info at ravenmad.co.uk
2007-05-12
Dynamic microlight
recieves UK certification
and
is the first high performance UK microlight certified since 5 years
skycontrol.net/
2007-05-04
ULM exhibition in
France,
Valence LFLU, May
19-20, 2007
More information
in French at http://www.printemps-ulm.com/
2007-05-04
Five
microlight crashes in UK
The
fine spring weather has lured many microlight aircrafts out of the
hangars. Regretfully there has been dramatic increase in crashes
too. At least five serious accidents have occurred in less than
a month in UK.
-A Cheshire
pilot of a microlight aircraft died after his aircraft crash-landed
in a cornfield near to Worleston after taking off from Lymm. Read
the article at thisischeshire.co.uk
-Two
men were seriously injured when a microlight crashed into a field
in Lancashire. news.bbc.co.uk/
-The
microlight pilot suffered serious injuries after he crash landed
on farmland at Copsters Farm, Mellor. The passenger sustained
serious leg injuries. thisislancashire.co.uk/
-The
pilot of a microlight aircraft was killed after he crashed into
a hedgerow near an airfield in Shifnal. shropshirestar.co.uk/
-The pilot died as he crahed while attempting to land on an
airstrip in Chiswell Green.A female passengers condition is critical
watfordobserver
2007-04-23
New Zenair for Europe 
The
Zodiac CH 601 XL ULM version is developed for the European
market.Final assembly and finishing of the factory-built Zodiac
XL is performed by Dyn'Aéro Iberica in Portugal.
The standard ZODIAC XL ULM kits are manufactured in USA
and distributed across Europe from Zenair Europe (Belgium/France)
and Zenair dealers. With the standard 100-hp
Rotax 912S engine a basic European Zodiac XL ULM weighs 265 kg. (585 lbs.). The complete airframe
kit price starts at about 12,929.00 Euros. The factory ready to
fly XL ULM starts at 49,900.00 Euros. For more information please
see zenithair.com/
or zenair.be/
2007-04-21
Aero 07 at Friedrichshafen Germany April 19-22, 2007
International
trade exhibition at Friedrichshafen is a major event for ultralight
and general aviation enthusiasts.The latest products in
ultralights, general aviation and accessories will be shown. Friedrichshafen
is in Southern Germany near Swiss border. More information at aero-friedrichshafen.com
2007-03-11
Kitfox is back in production
Kitfox has been out after the
previous company, Sky Star Aircraft, went bankrupt in 2005. The
assets of Skystar were acquired by Kitfox
Aircraft LLC . The
production has moved to the new facility in Homedale, Idaho. Kitfox
has Convertible
Gear Tri-Gear or Tail Wheel option. Kitfox has 150 pound cargo capacity and STOL
performance. The Super Sport Base Price of kit $17,984
2007-02-24
The first jet-powered
flying man in the history
Swiss
Yves Rossy achieved Leonardo Da Vinci's fantasy and can fly like
Superman through the air with foldable 3m wide carbon wings and
4 model-jet engines under his wings over 200km/hr. During the
flight, Yves's flies using various light body movements equal to
those that birds use to fly. When he activates the acceleration
button he disappears at an incredible speed through the blue skies.Yves
plans to take-off from ground, do aerobatics, vertical climbs etc.
in the near future. The jet engines are made of model jet engine
Company, “Jet-Cat”, based in Germany. To see the video please look
at jet-man.com
2007-02-08
CarterGyro presents
Vertical Take-offs
Wichita
Falls, Texas. During flight-testing Carter
Aviation Technologies reports
that their test pilot, executed several vertical take-offs 150
feet straight up into the air. The take-offs were the result of
a new rotor system that Carter developed for the gyro CGD/T. Also
the test pilot did a near vertical landing approach. The aircraft
can literally drop-in vertically from any altitude safely. The company
has developed a new type landing gear and hollow-blade, composite
prop that has a 21% increase in efficiency for the same hp as the
standard kit prop.Carter presiden Jay Carter Jr. said:" We
now have a vehicle that can safely take-off from your driveway,
fly 200 miles, and then safely land and take-off from a truck stop
to refuel, or a restaurant to eat, or a hotel where you can spend
the night. The CGD/T is a mini-Personal Air Vehicle (PAV). It is
a glimpse of what our fully enclosed, 2+2, PAV prototype will be
capable of when it is introduced later this year." More details,
pictures and videos can be found at cartercopters.com
2007-02-03
Five new World Paragliding
Records in 2006
Dutch
Leroy Westerkamp reached a maximum altitude of 7.685 meters with
a skywalk POISON and altitude gain record 4.785 meters for paragliders
during his K2 Expedition in Himalaya. You can read a fine description
and wath the video of this ultimate adventue at http://www.skywalk.info/News/article/283/
In South Africa the 7th of December in the Northern Cape three
of the paragliding world records were broken :The longest individual
open distance 426 km, the longest declared goal at 368 km and the
distance on a tandem was set at 356km(FAI confirmation pending**).
2007-01-01
Is it an aircraft
or a car that can fly?
Carl Dietrich in Massashuhet is building
a flying car called the Transition. It is a two-seater plane with
fold-up wings that you may drive or fly. When it's not airborne,
the Transition folds up its wings to cruise on the road. Dietrich
estimates a potential market of 178,000 customers and is looking
for investors. More info here.
There is a list with pictures of over 50 "flying
cars" in roadabletimes.com
2006-12-30
Silence is back
in production 
The
German single seat Silence
aircraft is a tail dragger,
build of composite materials weighing only 550 lb:s with VnE of
300 km/h and a cruising speed of 250 km/h It climbs 8,5 m/sec.
Among other remarkable features there is a safety cockpit concept,
ballistic recovery system and a passive security system.Silence
Aircraft fly with the Jabiru 2200, the Wankel-Rotary engine and
the Daimler Chrysler Smart conversions.The diesel/jet-fuel
version, the Ecofly-Smart A 660 that is available now consumes
5 litres of Diesel or Jet-fuel per hour at a cruising speed of 180
km/h.Silence is equipped with VProp, an electronic controlled constant
speed propeller. The propeller automatically chooses the most efficient
angle depending on the Speed of the plane and the RPM of the engine. The
Silence can be rigged or de-rigged within a few minutes and transported
in a trailer that fits in a normal garage. The most obvious characteristic
is the lack of noise when it flies by. The modification for the
American Light Sports Aircraft Class is on its way -says the manufacturer.
2006-12-28
Merry
Christmas and happy New Year 2008
Sustainable
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