Light sport aircraft Posts

Autumn Peace & Aviation Inspiration
Oct. 5, 2011

Autumn Peace & Aviation Inspiration

Photoguy73 over southeastern Minnesota in 2008.Here in Wisconsin the maples are beginning their fall fashion season. Their shimmering coats in shades of reds and yellows blaze in the afternoon’s low, saturated light. It is a quiet refuge o…
AirVenture 2011: Memorable Waypoints
Aug. 2, 2011

AirVenture 2011: Memorable Waypoints

Sitting on the front porch with my battered feet bared to a healing breeze, I celebrated the end of my 34th EAA AirVenture Oshkosh marathon. Delivering my second round of rehydration elixir, my wife joined me. Having made the trek herself, she knows…
Who Knew: 60-Month Student Pilot Ticket?
June 26, 2011

Who Knew: 60-Month Student Pilot Ticket?

Am I the only one who missed the news in July 2010 that the FAA nearly doubled the life of a student pilot certificate (and the third-class medical certificate) for those 40 and younger, from 36 months to 60 months?This discovery came with a questi…
Coming Soon: General Aviation in China
March 14, 2011

Coming Soon: General Aviation in China

Every time I hear someone use the words general aviation and China in the same sentence, I can’t help but think back a few years ago to the early days of the Cessna 162 Skycatcher.Remember the bombshell announcement, when Cessna told the wor…
2010 Updates Pilot Population Highs & Lows
March 9, 2011

2010 Updates Pilot Population Highs & Lows

Using FAA data provided by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association’s annual Statistical Databook, I’ve built a spreadsheet of pilot population data back to 1964. Updating it for 2010 revealed a new highpoint in pilot certification…
Onex Makes 1st Flight; Fits 99% Size Pilots
Feb. 2, 2011

Onex Makes 1st Flight; Fits 99% Size Pilots

Stopping by Sonex Aircraft the morning of  January 28, Mark Schaible greeted me with the news that its single-seater, the Onex, had made its first flight the day before. It passed its FAA inspection just after noon, added Sonex Founder John Monnett,…
Capt. Babbitt: The FAA’s Safety Hotline Needs Attention
Jan. 30, 2011

Capt. Babbitt: The FAA’s Safety Hotline Needs Attention

The FAA Safety Hotline is a no-brainer of a customer-service tool built to offer users and aviation industry employees a chance to spill the beans about issues that affect all areas of flying safety. People can leave a name and phone number or t…
Scary? Only for REAL Pilots
Oct. 24, 2010

Scary? Only for REAL Pilots

That title is what we call a grabber, intended only to make you read the rest of this short post. Without this disclaimer, some might believe that I think landing at any of these airports is a piece of cake … and I surely do not.My thanks to…
FAA Should Serve Training Safety & Reality
Oct. 6, 2010

FAA Should Serve Training Safety & Reality

Not long ago the FAA brought the number of fatal accidents in amateur-built experimental aircraft to the attention of the aviation community. It got more specific about the problem—and its solutions—in its Aviation Safety business plan for fiscal ye…
Individual Effort: Principal Key to New Pilots
Sept. 26, 2010

Individual Effort: Principal Key to New Pilots

Subbing for the middle school gym teacher the other day, I reported for lunch duty at the conjoined cafeteria it shares with Omro High School. There I saw OHS Principal Brett Steffen, who acted on his aviation interest and earned his private pilot c…
LEAP Could Inspire Pilot Population Growth
Sept. 15, 2010

LEAP Could Inspire Pilot Population Growth

Many, including yours truly, have been talking about the challenges facing aviation and the declining pilot population in the 21st century. Among them is the public perception that flying is mundane, as exciting as taking the bus or driving a car. …
Cessna’s Skycatcher … Caught!
Sept. 13, 2010

Cessna’s Skycatcher … Caught!

Cessna’s new 162 Skycatcher has begun rolling out of the assembly hangar at Wichita’s Yingling Aviation across the ramp from Cessna’s mothership factory complex. Cessna expects to deliver about 50 of the Special Light Sport Aircraf…
Flight Training’s Future Needs Unified Plan
Sept. 6, 2010

Flight Training’s Future Needs Unified Plan

When it comes to the future of flight training in America, I have some good news, and some not so good news. The good news is that given the attendance at the panel discussion of this subject, held the Saturday of EAA AirVenture, flight instructors…
Does the Aviation Industry Really Care About Pilot Population Growth?
Aug. 6, 2010

Does the Aviation Industry Really Care About Pilot Population Growth?

Given the underwhelming participation at an 1130  panel discussion about the subject the Saturday of AirVenture Oshkosh, the general answer must be a big, boldfaced NO.For the discussion of  How to Grow the Pilot Population, just seven of the nearl…
Exhibiting Aviation’s State of the Industry
Aug. 3, 2010

Exhibiting Aviation’s State of the Industry

An EAA AirVenture Oshkosh participant every year since 1978, I started spending the week there in 1989, when I began a decade-long tenure as Flight Training magazine’s booth boy.  I spent roughly half that time in the old exhibit buildings, no…
Oshkosh, the Verb
July 30, 2010

Oshkosh, the Verb

Sometimes we bloggers simply talk too much trying to express how we feel about something like AirVenture when simply letting the story tell itself works much better. With that clever insight in mind, may I present for your review, a few photos that…
Does Parochialism Hinder Aviation’s Future
June 23, 2010

Does Parochialism Hinder Aviation’s Future

Last weekend I had the honor of being a guest on Airplane Geeks, thanks to my JetWhine.com co-conspirator Rob Mark, who is one of the quartet of regulars. It was my inaugural podcast (Episode 101), and I greatly enjoyed the wide ranging aviation con…
Learn-to-Fly Day Coming to an Airport near you … I Hope
May 9, 2010

Learn-to-Fly Day Coming to an Airport near you … I Hope

Despite my buddy Scott Spangler’s somewhat guarded endorsement of the international Learn-to-Fly Day scheduled for May 15th, I’m jumping on the bandwagon next Saturday at our local flying club in Chicago. Events are taking place in 147 c…
Adventure and the Future of Flying
April 28, 2010

Adventure and the Future of Flying

Celebrating her birthday at our favorite brewpub, my wife was spending part of the quarter-billion dollar Powerball lottery prize just before the drawing that gave it to a Missouri convenience store worker instead of her and a pool of coworkers. S…
Do Pilots Still Use the E-6B Whiz Wheel?
April 19, 2010

Do Pilots Still Use the E-6B Whiz Wheel?

Recently I received a release from Sporty’s Pilot Shop about its new CD or downloadable training course, Virtual Tips & Tricks for the Manual E6B. Not a week or so later I read that Sporty’s will soon have its iPhone E-6B app ready f…
Hope & Cynicism for EAA’s Learn-to-Fly Day
April 11, 2010

Hope & Cynicism for EAA’s Learn-to-Fly Day

For more than two decades the GA industry and the companies that make a living from it have launched a handful of programs designed to get people who look up to act on their aviation interests. When Flight Training magazine was launched in 1989, it …
Midair: Reverie’s Unexpected Interruption
March 24, 2010

Midair: Reverie’s Unexpected Interruption

Wandering through the Sunday paper a 200-word AP news item, datelined Williston,  caught my eye: 3 Die After Planes Collide Over Florida. Three people died when a Piper and homebuilt airplane met in a clear, sunny Saturday sky over central Flor…
Pilots Aren’t Perfect & Flying is Not Risk Free
March 17, 2010

Pilots Aren’t Perfect & Flying is Not Risk Free

Reaction to the AOPA Air Safety Foundation’s Nall Report on the safety record of amateur-built experimental aircraft, and comments about my recent post on this subject (The Internet & Homebuilt Aircraft Accidents), led to the somber reflec…
Looking Up to Sustain a Future in Aviation
March 8, 2010

Looking Up to Sustain a Future in Aviation

Sunny and 42 degrees, the saturated blue sky is the first crack in the Wisconsin winter. Planted in the driveway like a human heliotrope I turned and opened my eyes in search of honking geese and squawking sandhill cranes, pathfinders for northbound…