Hot Air, Wings, and Flying Things
EAA Chapter 106 Finally Hosts Northeast Light Sport Aircraft Expo
After two weather delays postponing the event for at least 2-3 months (including one cancellation for a hurricane heading for New England), EAA Chapter 106 at Lawrence, MA finally had good weather for their Northeast Light Sport Aircraft Expo on Saturday, September 17. In addition to the LSA Expo, the busy EAA chapter was also holding a Young Eagles event just down the flightline from the LSA Expo area. The Lawrence Municipal Airport was busy, but between the tower controllers and EAA 106 volunteers, there were no problems or aircraft conflicts.
Light Sport Aircraft were of course the big draw for the event. There were not as many as their flyer and their signs promised (12 or more), but there were a good sampling of seven Light Sport Aircraft on hand. I flew into the event with Mitch Locke, Vans Aircraft East Coast Rep, in an RV-12 after he picked me up at MinuteMan Airport for a demo/review flight on his way up from his home base in Maryland. (Look for an RV-12 review in a future issue.) Not surprisingly at an event hosted by an EAA chapter with active homebuilders, the RV-12 drew a lot of interest. Locke spent quite a bit of time with interested pilots standing by the wing of the plane looking over and discussing a large RV-12 construction manual.
Other LSAs included a Gobosh G700 brought down from Southern Maine Aviation’s Sanford, Maine flightline. (Southern Maine did not bring their promised A22 Cape Town on amphibious floats.) Near the Gobosh was a beautiful new Legend Cub on amphibious floats. It was owned by a pilot who was not a dealer, but who brought the plane to the Expo as a favor to Legend Cub. The Legend Cub was a very much updated version of the classic old Piper, with a three inch wider fuselage and glass panel instrumentation in the front cockpit. Next to the Legend Cub was a Flight Design CT LS.
Across the Expo ramp were three sleek low wing LSAs. There was a Piper Sport (now once again known as the Sport Cruiser) brought in by Sport Flying USA from Lancaster, PA. There were two Evektors brought in by AB Flight from Allentown, PA, a SportStar and a Harmony. The very sleek new Harmony made the SportStar look almost dowdy. (Look for a Evektor Harmony review in a future issue.)
One thing surprising about the LSAs was that five of the seven planes on display were constructed using riveted aluminum construction. And one of the others, the Legend Cub, still used steel tube and fabric construction. Only the CT LS was made using the smooth and very sleek composite construction.
The promised Terrafugia roadable aircraft (“flying car”) was not there. Terrafugia Vice President Dick Gersh explained to me that the only version available is the prototype being built at the factory, and it was decided that it would impact ongoing engineering work too much if they had brought it. He said that Terrafugia has made a decision to no longer show the original version that flew straight line flights at Plattsburgh as it is not representative of the production prototype under construction.
EAA 106 volunteers worked on preparing a pancake, sausage, and hash browns breakfast and a sirloin burger lunch, both available for a reasonable price. (The pancakes and sausage were excellent.)
There was also a series of ongoing briefings and presentations throughout the morning and early afternoon. The first pair of presentations were on Sport Pilot rules and Light Sport Aircraft Rules and Safety. The Sport Pilot discussion was presented by Cliff Allen and focused on what a pilot can and can’t do as a Sport Pilot, as well as differences in Sport Pilot training. The Light Sport Aircraft discussion, presented by Michael Butts, addressed what aircraft qualify as LSA, the difference between E-LSA and S-LSA, and safety.
The second presentation was on “Your Flight Medical-Common Medical Issues and What’s Disqualifying”. (It seemed a little odd to me to have a discussion of the FAA Medical at an Expo dedicated to aircraft which have a key advantage of not requiring the pilot to have a current FAA medical to fly.) It was presented by Dr. Richard Warnock, an AME whose office is just down the road from the Lawrence Municipal Airport. Warnock is an excellent AME (who I go to for my FAA medicals) who does everything he can do within reason and regulations to keep pilots flying.
Finally, there were two presentations, one in late morning and one in the early afternoon, on the Terrafugia roadable aircraft presented by Terrafugia co-founder and CEO Carl Dietrich. The briefings discussed all aspects of the Terrrafugia, including its current and near-future status.
One interesting distraction was watching a Czech-built L-39 Albatros jet trainer crank up on a nearby ramp, taxi out, and take off.
The event was finally blessed with beautiful weather and was well attended. Another outstanding job by EAA Chapter 106.
By Jim Ellis