Light Sport Aircraft By DanJohnson.com
Flight School "Classic" from U.S. Sport Aircraft
In the year following Piper's departure from the LSA market, you may have expected a big slow-down for importer U.S. Sport Aircraft (USSA). Many believed the removal of the Piper brand would cause a loss of loyalty and that sales would flat line.
Those people may have forgotten how well the SportCruiser did before Piper got involved. The dark forecast turned out to be wrong thanks to hard work by USSA boss Don Ayers, Donato Martino, and their staff. SportCruiser models have logged 20 registrations in nine months of 2011, a performance that keeps them high on our Market Share Chart even as Cessna has zoomed upward. Now, the Florida company has a new model and a new man to help promote it.
USSA President Don Ayres announced a new model of the Czech Sport Aircraft SportCruiser positioned as an affordable training aircraft. "The majority of our customers have transitioned from Cessna and Piper aircraft not because it fits in the Sport Pilot category but because the SportCruiser offers a more exciting experience at significantly lower hourly operating cost when compared with traditional aircraft." Flight schools value lower costs, too.
The SportCruiser Classic features the good performance and handling of the regular SportCruiser and is equipped with a traditional 6-Pack of analog gauges — attitude indicator, heading, altimeter, airspeed, rate of climb, and turn and bank — plus analog engine gauges. Avionics on the Classic include a Garmin SL40, Garmin Aera 500 GPS, Garmin GTX 327 Transponder and a PS Engineering PM 3000 Intercom. Adjustable rudder pedals with toe brakes, electric pitch and aileron trim and an Ameri-King AK-451 ELT are standard equipment on the Classic.
USSA set an introductory price of $119,500, which includes transportation and document charges, FOB Ft. Pierce, Florida or Dallas, Texas. The importer operates multiple locations to better serve customers. USSA plans to bring their new SportCruiser Classic and a new Dynon SkyView equipped SportCruiser SVA to Sebring. "We have several planes, including a few PiperSports in stock and available for immediate delivery," stated Ayres.
Like LSA Seaplanes? You Have Beautiful Choices!
Life is good if you like LSA seaplanes. I'll review five LSA seaplanes, either on the market or in development.
Today SeaRey reins as far and away the most successful and proven design with nearly 600 flying. While SeaRey has been an Experimental Amateur Built (EAB) model, they've been working diligently on SLSA approval and will eventually sell SLSA, ELSA, and EAB versions. Priced around $70,000 as a kit, SeaRey is the most affordable seaplane. Owners are intensely loyal to the brand (Progressive Aerodyne) and the model. SeaRey is having a workshop right before Sebring.
SeaMax is the next most proven and accepted seaplane. Manufactured in Brazil, about 100 are flying including a handful in the USA. SeaMax America is the new importer for the handsome LSA seaplane from prolific Brazilian designer Miguel Rosario. From Great Neck, New York Richard Rofe said, "We have added many new features and have moved to a much larger production facility. We plan to reintroduce ... the only SLSA [amphibious seaplane] that you can actually buy and fly!"
Now come three designs aimed directly at the LSA market; indeed, all have emerged since and as a consequence of FAA's new rule and each is quite outstanding in its design appeal.
Capturing the most attention is the Icon A5, which has garnered more than 700 delivery slot orders since its introduction at AirVenture 2008. The stunning A5 benefited from top-notch design and engineering staff hired from Scaled Composites, famous for building SpaceShipOne and other creations. Icon is also the funding leader, professionally pursuing deep pocket investors. Using its Silicon Valley roots and a Hollywood presentation, Icon generated a summer 2011 round of financing valued at $25 million. No one else is close. However, others are following.
Newly announced was the EQP2, which stands for Equator P2 Excursion a design of Norway. Equator Aircraft is in the news as the company reports earning 4.2 million Norwegian krones or roughly $750,000 of government development funding. The company says, "The EQP2 Excursion is a carbon composite, hybrid/electric amphibian aircraft." They plan an Experimental version first but plan to pursue the LSA market and more. EQP2 will be powered by the 125-hp (85 kW) Emrax engine. Check their website for some eye-popping art of this pretty entry.
Also gaining increasing media attention is the equally distinctive Lisa from French designers Erick Herzberger and Luc Bernole. Though pricing is rather stratospheric (€300,000), the design standard and feature list are long including folding wings and their patented Seafoils, "a kind of hydrofoils located under the aircraft fuselage." The project is flying and, as with Icon and Equator, Lisa Airplanes has a very slick website with many quality images. I'll be writing more on Lisa.
Questions & Attitudes Erupt Over EAA/AOPA Plan
"I'm of mixed feelings over this," express many Light-Sport Aircraft industry participants who have caused my phone to ring regularly since late September * [SEE NOTE]. That's when EAA and AOPA came together to address requests from some members for a driver's license "medical," which would allow aviators with certificates beyond Sport Pilot to fly GA aircraft with clearly defined limitations without the need for an FAA medical.
In the weeks that followed the announcement, numerous LSA professionals have expressed dismay with the initiative. A dozen cancelled sales have been reported and that is not likely to represent the whole picture. A common complaint is the industry was unaware of the plan announcement until just before it was made; no discussion occurred between the member organizations and the LSA industry.
For the record... work to formulate a written proposal to FAA is underway; a date for presentation to the agency has not been announced. Many Light-Sport business people appear concerned that the initiative challenges head-on the most compelling sales tool for LSA sellers, specifically, the lack of requirement for an FAA medical. While Light-Sport Aircraft have many other positive qualities that will aid sales — lower prices, lower fuel use, less noise, roomier cockpits, modern technology, etc. — nonetheless losing the #1 selling reason has caused considerable angst among those who have invested years of their time and substantial amounts of money to build the LSA industry. While many are conflicted, others are just confused.
One intriguing question that just arose regards a new Sport Pilot who may wish to fly a four-seat GA aircraft (with no more than two persons on board, among other limitations). Does the Sport Pilot presently in training have to get a medical (part of the Private Pilot application process) to be able to solo a Cessna 172 or equivalent? Also, the Private certificate demands night and instrument training even though neither kind of flying can be done under the EAA/AOPA proposed initiative. Must a Sport Pilot pay for training to acquire those skills even though they cannot use them (without a medical)?
These questions and more might be asked of EAA president Rod Hightower, who agreed to speak to LSA professionals at the Fifth Annual LAMA Dinner at the Sebring U.S. Sport Aviation Expo.
[NOTE] The mixed feeling comes as many LSA pros generally believe FAA ought to relax the medical requirement (as do EAA and AOPA members, according to the associations). Most agree that having to obtain a medical adds another barrier to student starts without substantially helping safety. Yet after businesspeople invested significantly in creating an LSA industry, a successful EAA/AOPA plan could install a major obstacle to LSA sales. Neither organization is guaranteeing success with their initiative, though they have addressed reasons that caused it to fail on several earlier attempts.