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ISSUE 6, MAY 2010
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Louis
Blériot is My Hero
By
Dan Grunloh, Editor, Light
Plane World |
| If
you've seen any film documentaries
about the early history of
aviation, you might recall the
figure of Louis Blériot posing
briefly on crutches before
hobbling over to his plane to
become the first man to fly a
heavier-than-air craft across the
English Channel in 1909. He had
burned his foot when a failed fuel
line caused a crash during earlier
trials, but it didn't stop him
from making history.
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| Louis
is my hero, because while he made
it those 22 miles to the coast of
England, I didn't make it to the
Sun 'n Fun Fly-In at Lakeland,
Florida, due to a minor injury
which put me on crutches for a
time. I should be back in service
in about a month. Whenever my foot
hurts, I think of that look of
determination on the face of
Louis. I missed seeing all my
friends at Sun 'n Fun who
reportedly had a great time. I
missed the warm weather, the
Spanish moss on the trees, and
maybe even the fire ants a little.
It's all part of the experience. Read
more
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What
Is It With the Ultralight
Industry?
By Scott Severen
 Here's
what I've heard: The state of the
ultralight industry is reflected
in the poor turnout of vendors at
the major shows such as the recent
Sun 'n Fun Fly-In at Lakeland,
Florida. We know the problem is a
poor economy and poor sales. It's
hard for companies to make ends
meet. Veteran participants and
vendors are depressed by the
decline we've seen. Read
more
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Woopy
Can Fly
 One
of the top ten most interesting
new aircraft seen at the Aero 2010
International Exhibition for
General Aviation in
Friedrichshafen, Germany, was the
Woopy-Fly as reported in a recent
edition of e-Hotline.
The Swiss inventor Laurent de
Kalbermatten has conceived a new
inflatable wing design that
bridges the functional gap between
paragliders and hang gliders. The
Woopy first appeared in a version
called the Woopy-Jump and is used
as a jump extender on ski slopes. Read
more |
Hydrogen-Powered
Ultralight Wins E-Flight Award
 Scientists
predict that someday we might use
hydrogen as a fuel for our
transportation needs. It's clean
burning and manufactured from
electricity, so the supply of
hydrogen will never be dependent
on a single energy source. That
distant future can be seen flying
today in Frenchman Gérard
Thevenot's hydrogen fuel
cell-powered trike, which won the
E-Flight Award at the Aero 2010
International Exhibition for
General Aviation. Read
more
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Boris
Popov Wins Sperry Award
 In
April 1982, Boris Popov introduced
the ballistic activated emergency
parachute to the ultralight
community in Glider Rider
Magazine. He couldn't have
realized that 28 years later his
name would be added to a
prestigious list of inventors and
engineers including Donald Douglas
and Igor Sikorsky. Now Boris is
being recognized - by the people
who keep airplanes upright - for
his system that helps others when
things get upside-down. Read
more |
Runaway
Trike Spurs NTSB Recommendations
Sadly, runaway aircraft
accidents occur in all types of
aircraft. Weight-shift trikes are
also vulnerable due to their
unique controls as shown in the
following NTSB report. Apparently
the passenger inadvertently
applied the foot throttle instead
of the brake during the
pre-takeoff check. With both a
foot throttle and a hand throttle
trikes have twice as many chances
for something to go wrong. Read
more |
Gyro
Splashdown
Pilot undeterred by take-off
accident
 Norman
Surplus encountered a major
setback last week (May 1) in his
bid to circle the globe in an
autogyro when he was forced to
ditch his heavily laden aircraft
in a lake after attempting a
takeoff from Nongprue, Thailand in
cross-winds and high temperatures.
Norman, who departed Northern
Ireland in late March and planned
to be on the journey for four
months, has vowed to make repairs
and complete his mission. Read
more |
Combs'
50 State Tour Stops in Oshkosh -
EAA Buys Lunch
 Michael
Combs and his wife, Michelle,
stopped in Oshkosh this week (May
6) as they continued on their goal
of visiting all 50 states to
communicate the spirit of flight.
Combs' past medical problems
almost derailed his dreams, but
the Sport Pilot Rule made things
possible again and he is
determined to motivate others to
fly. Read
more |
ILTFD
Events Surpass 400!
Look for free EAA
membership offer in May Sport
Aviation
The number of events scheduled
throughout the nation for next
Saturday, May 15’s first
International Learn To Fly Day has
soared past 400! On that day
aviation enthusiasts will help
others “live the dream” of
learning to fly at 406 different
events, many of which were
organized through
PilotJourney.com, a strong
supporter of the ILTFD effort.
Pilot Journey has already provided
more than 10,000 free tickets to
the hundreds of learn-to-fly
events scheduled. Read
more |
Getting
the Lead Out of Aviation Fuels
 Help
is on the way with the problem of
lead in aviation fuel, and it's
coming from the federal
government, private enterprise,
and pond scum. It's just in time,
because the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has formally
begun the regulatory process
required by the Clean Air Act that
may ultimately result in mandating
the transition to unleaded
aviation gasoline. Read
more |
Sun
'n Fun Ultralight and Light Sport
Judging Awards
 Volunteer
judges chosen for their experience
and expertise inspected light
sport and ultralight aircraft at
the Sun 'n Fun Fly-In at Lakeland,
Florida, from Tuesday morning to
Friday afternoon when judging
closed. They used a standard
judging form with categories such
as quality of workmanship, safety
items, innovation, ease of
preflight, fit and finish, and a
difficulty factor. View
the winners |
Webinar
Offers Tips to Improve Your
Chapter
EAA's line-up of Webinars
(web-based seminars) continues to
gain popularity. The hour-long
presentations feature expert
presenters on a variety of
aviation topics. Registration is
now open and free of charge for
EAA members:
More
Webinars are added frequently. To
view a complete and up-to-date
list of all EAA Webinars, visit
the webinars
page. |
EAA
Radio 'The Voice of EAA"
Seeks Reporters
 For
over a decade EAA Radio has been
"The Voice of
AirVenture." Last July, EAA
Radio began its usual live
broadcast during AirVenture and
just never stopped, streaming past
interviews and programs since the
on-air light first illuminated in
1996. Last fall, EAA Radio became
"The Voice of EAA" as
its merry band of volunteers
continued to cover aviation events
as they happened. We need your
help! Read
more |
Volunteer
Videographers Sought for
AirVenture
EAA Publications is seeking
volunteer videographers.
Volunteers will create content for
future issues of Light Plane
World and the nine other
monthly e-newsletters EAA
publishes year-round. Other
projects, such as the daily
AirVenture edition of e-Hotline,
may be available. If you enjoy
creating videos, we are seeking
your discerning eye to communicate
the excitement, uniqueness, and
variety of aircraft and
experiences that can be found at
AirVenture.
Volunteers,
depending on their interest, will
work with EAA Publications staff
and newsletter editors on specific
assignments. Some video editing
skills are helpful but not
required, and volunteers must
bring their own camera. General
submissions are welcome. Please
contact Fareed Guyot at fguyot@eaa.org
or call 920-426-6555. |
Light
Plane World has Facebook Page
Light Plane World wants to
be your friend and invites you to
visit our page on Facebook.
Connect with fellow flyers and the
writers of Light Plane World
and tell us what and where you
have been flying. You will also
find links to EAA’s other
division Facebook pages and to our
online community Oshkosh 365.
Click on the Facebook icon at the
bottom of this newsletter and
become a friend of LPW today! |
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The
Eyes of a Pilot
 I
waited at the end of the narrow
grass strip that was lined on
either side by rows of baby
Christmas trees, barely three feet
tall. I had my favorite old, gray
helmet on, the one with the yellow
stripe that I used for riding
motorcycles. It had served me well
in the past, but I hoped it
wouldn't be necessary on this
sunny, July afternoon. I was
nervous - it was an excited kind
of nervous - but the feeling was
strong enough to cast some doubt
in my mind as to whether or not I
should be doing this. Read
more
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Finding
Ultralight Instruction
 There
can be little argument that the
biggest obstacle for newcomers to
ultralight aviation today is the
shortage of opportunities for
appropriate dual instruction.
There's no doubt that people still
want to fly ultralights for the same
reasons they initially became
popular. Those reasons are low cost,
simplicity, and freedom. We were
lucky for 20 years because we could
teach for hire in just about
anything that you could make fly
with two people on board. But that
is no more. With the withdrawal of
the ultralight training exemption
and the implementation of the sport
pilot regulations, the picture has
changed dramatically. The
long-running debate about how we got
here is of little help to the
newcomer. Read
more
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Fly
by the Horizon - It is Your Friend
 Most
flight students and many pilots
getting a flight review have heard
their instructors say on more than
one occasion, "Get your head
out of the cockpit," or,
"Don't forget your scan"
or other instructions designed to
refocus attention from the panel to
the surrounding environment. The
primary concern is safety and the
avoidance of other aircraft. Read
more
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Preflight
As I reached down to pick up my
helmet, the phrase, "preflight,
preflight," rang over and over
in my head. It was a warm summer
day, and the conditions were just
right for a quick flight around the
rolling country side of
mid-Michigan's Napoleon Airport
(3NP). Read
more
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From
the EAA Light Plane Community and
Facebook
The message forums at
Oshkosh365 are alive with
activity. Here are the latest
discussions!
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Engines
Q. How does carburetor
ice affect my engine? Answer
Powered
Parachute
Q. Someone told me to
watch out for a line-over. What
does that mean? Answer
Weight
Shift Trikes
Q. What are washout
struts? Answer
Fixed-Wing
Airplane
Q. I'm having trouble
with the roundout prior to
landing. What can I do? Answer
Powered
Paraglider
Q. Prior to flying with
the motor, should I learn to
paraglide without the motor first?
Answer |
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 Boris
Popov - Ultralight Pioneer March
2001 Experimenter
The
catastrophic failure of a hang
glider wing 35 years ago led to a
fall from 400 feet, which wasn't
fatal but inspired the creation of
the Ballistic Recovery Systems (BRS)
emergency parachutes. Read
the article
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| Q.
Should public roads be used for
emergency landings? Yes or no?
Once
you have voted, continue the
discussion already in progress on Oshkosh365.
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Dick
Van Grunsven, founder of Van's
Aircraft and designer of the Van's
RV line of homebuilts, was in
Oshkosh this week as part of a
forum convened by EAA
Chairman/President Tom Poberezny
on the aviation industry. He also
gave an EAA Webinar presentation
Wednesday evening about the RV-12
light-sport aircraft kit plane -
which drew 501 attendees! Van
talked with EAA Radio's Fareed
Guyot about the aviation industry,
the RV-12, and another project he
hasn't quite finished. 