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ISSUE 9 AUGUST 2010
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Fun
Down on The Farm
By
Dan Grunloh, Editor, Light
Plane World |
| We
had a great time at EAA AirVenture
Oshkosh 2010, down on "The
Farm" in the ultralight/light
plane area. You can see in the
picture that I earned my
traditional "cow hat."
This unique trademark symbol can't
be purchased anywhere at
AirVenture. It's available only to
ultralight/light plane area pilots
and volunteers, and the symbol
makes it easy for us to find each
other anywhere across the vast
convention grounds. Look for the
hat.
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| It
was a fun week due to the
excellent flying weather and a
good turnout. My thanks to
everyone who stopped to tell me
how much you liked reading Light
Plane World. The pilots and the
commercial vendors also deserve
thanks for specific reasons, and
one group deserves an apology. Read
more
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LSA
News From AirVenture 2010
By Dan Johnson
 As
always, the big summer celebration
of flight at EAA AirVenture
Oshkosh brought new offerings from
a variety of companies. This was
also true in the light-sport
aircraft (LSA) sector. Light
Aircraft Manufacturers Association
(LAMA) President Dan Johnson
provides a review of some of the
news and innovations seen and
heard at AirVenture. Read
more
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The
Starflight Ultralight Is Back
 Roger
Mills of Tulelake, California,
announced he is now offering
complete kits for the venerable
Starflight ultralight designed by
Dick Turner. The new Starflight
XT100 has a single-surface
cable-braced wing, is powered by a
Hirth F33 engine, and has an empty
weight of 240 pounds. The complete
kit with engine is priced at
$9,500 plus freight. The story of
how Roger, who first learned to
fly at the age of nine in an
Aeronca C-2 above the Arctic
Circle, became an ultralight
manufacturer is an interesting
tale. Read
more |
Demoichelle
Ultralight a Mix of Old and New
 The
Demoichelle ultralight has an
old-time look because it was
inspired by the Santos-Dumont
Demoiselle of 1908. However, its
design, construction, and
performance are in line with
modern ultralights. The
Demoichelle is the latest design
coming from Daniel Dalby at the
Association for Promotion of the
Flying Ladders. The movement began
in Europe as a way to build
ultralights with minimum cost and
building time using conventional
aluminum ladders as structural
components for the fuselage or
even wings. Read
more
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Belite
Aircraft Introduces Float Option
at AirVenture
 Belite
Aircraft introduced a new float
option at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
2010. Any Belite ultralight can
now be converted to a seaplane.
The floats by MukTuk Floats
require 40 hours of construction
time for the pair. Materials are
plywood and fiberglass with
optional kevlar and carbon fiber
reinforcements. The cost is $2,000
for the kit, and the floats weigh
29 pounds each, just under the 30
pounds allowance in FAR 103.
Belite exhibited both a low-cost
version of the Belite Superlite
and a tricycle-geared,
high-performance version called
the Supertrike at AirVenture. Read
more |
Never
Ending Thermal – the Movie
 It’s
rare when you can watch a free
full-length documentary about
sport aviation on the Internet.
The award-winning, 47-minute film Never
Ending Thermal by Canadian
filmmaker Sean White has already
been shown on OutsideTV.
Watch the official movie trailer
here. It depicts the adventures of
two paraglider pilots from
Venezuela who travel around the
world flying at exotic sites. You
can now watch the entire movie
online. Read
more |
Special
Anniversary for Canadian
Ultralights
 Ten
years ago, Canadian ultralight
pilots couldn't fly their aircraft
across the U.S. border. That is,
until Claude Roy had something to
say about it. Roy worked with
Transport Canada and the FAA to
create a program that allowed
Canadian ultralights and their
pilots to fly into the United
States. Roy made the inaugural
flight to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
2000 in his amphibious Challenger
II; this year, the same aircraft
is parked in the ultralight area,
celebrating the 10th anniversary
of that first cross-border
ultralight flight. Read
more |
Maintenance
Tips for Rotax 912/914 Owners
The factory-authorized Rotax engine support website
www.Rotax-Owner.com
has recently issued a notice about revised documents and published reminders about important maintenance issues for the Rotax 912/914 engines. A revised illustrated parts catalogue for the 912 and 914 series aircraft engines is now available and can be downloaded as a PDF file
here. (The first English section starts on page 10.) Rotax warns that owners of new or used engines may not be aware of the correct procedure for purging the lubrication system.
Read
more |
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Wonderful
World of Ultralights
 A
little over 25 years ago, EAA
hosted an ultralight-only fly-in
at Oshkosh with the theme of “The
Wonderful World of Ultralights.”
This year at EAA AirVenture
Oshkosh, the ultralight/light
plane area was reminiscent of
those early days but with the
addition of light-sport aircraft,
powered parachutes, helicopters,
hot-air balloons, and weight shift
trikes that can go 100 mph (the
trikes, not the balloons). There
were more aircraft and vendors on
display than in previous years,
and it was wonderful to see the
ultralight runway busy again. New
single-seat FAR 103 ultralights
were displayed and flown including
a growing number powered by
four-stroke engines. Read
more
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J-3
Kitten to E-LSA
 My
love affair with a J-3 Kitten began
in the summer of 2005. While
attending International Miniature
Aircraft Association "big
bird" remote-control events in
western North Carolina, I met a
flyer who told me of a partially
built Kitten in a warehouse in
Hendersonville. He said that two
brothers started the building
project in the early 1980s, lost
interest, and put it in storage. I
listened with interest as he
continued to tell me of his
involvement with the Grover Company,
where the Kitten and Pup kits were
sold. With no spouse consultation, I
examined the brothers' project,
bought it, converted a 20-foot boat
trailer, and towed it home. Read
more
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A
Light-Sport Aircraft Repair: Come
Behind the Scenes
 Any
aircraft owner will tell you that
owning an aircraft is a wonderful,
exhilarating experience, while
having that aircraft stuck in a
maintenance shop is a miserable one.
In fact, it's often the most
frustrating part of aircraft
ownership. For a special light-sport
aircraft (S-LSA) owner, the
experience can be even more
frustrating since few pilots
understand what is involved. While
pacing in our living rooms, we can't
figure out what in the world is
taking so long. This story starts
with a mandatory service bulletin
(SB) and a Flight Design CTsw. Let's
look behind the scenes at the
process. Read
more
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Aborted Landings
 Every
pilot flying today can clearly
remember his days as a student
pilot. One day, after having finally
mastered coordination of hands on
the yoke or stick and feet on the
rudder pedals, you had made what you
thought was the perfect approach and
were about six feet from the perfect
landing when the instructor yelled,
“Go around!” You couldn’t
believe it. You were in a perfect
landing attitude, full flaps, engine
at idle, and stall warning just
starting to chirp, and this idiot
wanted you to abort a perfectly good
landing. But being the good student
that you were, you dutifully shoved
the throttle to full power and
attempted to comply. 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. I’m
flying with a two-cycle engine
that is fitted with a choke to
help the starting process. If I
add a plunger primer, will it be
easier to start? Answer
Powered
Parachute
Q. Why am I having
problems with my wing oscillating
during the kite-up phase of
takeoff? Answer
Weight
Shift Trikes
Q. How does roll control
work in a trike? Answer
Fixed-Wing
Airplane
Q. What is a ground loop?
Answer
Powered
Paraglider
Q. What size motor do I
need? Answer |
Transitioning
from GA to LSA?
Watch This Webinar!
Brian and Carol Carpenter will
cover what the typical general
aviation pilot needs to know in
order to safely transition to a
light sport aircraft. Brian and
Carol are the owners of Rainbow
Aviation, specializing in Sport
Aviation since 1991.
To
find out more about upcoming EAA
Webinars and to register, visit the webinars
page. |
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 While
at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2010,
ultralight air show commentator
Frank Beagle announced his
retirement after 30 years of
service as an EAA volunteer. His
voice has been heard by thousands
of ultralight enthusiasts for over
a quarter of a century. The story
of Frank's early years in
ultralights is revealed in
"An Easy Riser Returns to
Win" from the November 1986
issue of EAA Light Plane World.
Read
the article
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| Q. How
has the new sport pilot and
light-sport aircraft regulations
affected you?
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