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ISSUE 5, APRIL 2010
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Recharge
Your Batteries Now
By
Dan Grunloh, Editor, Light
Plane World |
| April
is here, and the air show and
fly-in season has begun. It’s
time to get out of the clubhouse
or hangar, go to a fly-in, and get
excited about another year of
aviation. Talking about flying,
reading about flying, and watching
videos all winter aren’t enough
to inspire you to get out and find
your own adventures.
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need to hear the real sound of
propellers biting the air and see
the flash of colors as the planes
go by. According to the
International Council of Air
Shows, about 12 million people
attend 350 air shows in North
America each year. In spite of a
slow economy, or perhaps because
of it, attendance has been rising
about 15 percent per year at most
air shows in recent years. As the
cost of vacation trips, amusement
parks, and sporting events
increase, the air show becomes a
bargain. A similar pattern was
witnessed during the 1980-1982 and
1990-1991 recessions. Read
more
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Sun
'n Fun 1982 Memories
I expected Sun ’n Fun Fly-In
1982 to be an action-packed week
as I debuted the CGS Hawk, but
little did I know just how much
action and controversy were in
store for us. We were going to
introduce the CGS Hawk for the
first time to the public, foot
launching was rapidly disappearing
from all ultralight models, and
Part 103 was just around the
corner. Read
more
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It's
Never Too Late - Flight for the
Human Spirit
 On
April 5, Michael Combs took off
for an ambitious cross-country
tour of all 50 states in a Remos
GX light-sport aircraft (LSA) he
has named Hope One. The flight
plan has 136 legs which he hopes
to complete in 40 flying days,
setting a number of records in the
process. The total distance flown
will be 19,400 miles. The Remos
will be shipped to the island of
Hawaii and put on a trailer for
the trip to Alaska. The attempt is
even more impressive because he's
a newly minted sport pilot with
about four months flying time
since passing his flight test.
What could possibly motivate
someone to take on such a task? It
was his discovery that a lifelong
dream of flying would finally come
true, thanks to the Sport Pilot
category. Read
more |
InterPlane
Assets for Sale
 InterPlane
was formed in 1992 with the
two-seat, Czech-built trainer
known as the Skyboy as its first
product. All assets including the
rights for the Skyboy aircraft,
drawings, calculations, tools,
molds, and an inventory of spare
parts for Skyboy (located in North
Carolina) are to be sold.
InterPlane hasn't produced
aircraft since mid-2008. It's
estimated that there are 75 to 100
Skyboys flying throughout the
world. Read
more
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Surviving
the Wires Environment
 Helicopter
Association International (HAI)
has announced the release of a
25-minute online aviation
wire-strike safety awareness
video, "Surviving the Wires
Environment." It's aimed
squarely at the helicopter
community but would be very
helpful for all pilots. Read
more |
Getting
Started in Ultralighting Webinar
Coming in May
Join us Tuesday, May 8, 2010,
for our next EAA Webinar with EAA
staff member Timm Bogenhagen who
will introduce you to the
wonderful world of ultralights.
Tim will discuss what every
prospective pilot should know
before flying or buying and
ultralight. Sign
up now
Since
EAA began its Webinar series,
viewers have been treated to a
wide range of topics that cover
the diverse interests of EAA
members. Presentations on the
B-17, diabetes, your medical
certificate, the newest design
from Sonex, and improvements to
the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh site
have been quite popular. Visit the
EAA
Webinar page at Oshkosh365.org
for more upcoming presentations. |
Around-the-World
Gyrocopter Reaches Pyramids of
Giza
 Norman
Surplus, an autogyro pilot from
Larne, Northern Ireland, has
landed in Giza, Egypt, 12 days
into his trip around the world. He
flew along the English coast
in-formation with four other
gyrocopters before crossing the
English Channel. He made fast work
of the European continent before
crossing the Mediterranean Sea via
the island of Crete. His next
destination is Saudi Arabia across
the Mediterranean Sea. The plan is
to cover at least 300 miles per
day and to be back home in Ireland
by mid-July. Read
more |
CAFE
Electric Aircraft Symposium This
Month
The future of electric
aviation will be discussed,
revealed, and conceived at the 4th
Annual Comparative Aircraft Flight
Efficiency (CAFE) Electric
Aircraft Symposium to be held
April 23-24 in the Sonoma region
of California. Designers,
inventors, engineers, and anyone
interested will have the
opportunity to attend lectures
presented by an international
faculty of experts on topics
related to electric, hybrid, and
bio-fuel aircraft. Read
more |
Second
Chantz is Back!
 John
Dunham of Second Chantz Aerial
Survival Equipment Inc. announced
the reincarnation of his company,
which will manufacture and
distribute recovery systems for
most light-sport aircraft, plus
perform repacking, updating, and
scheduled service for ballistic
recovery systems from any
manufacturer. Additionally, Second
Chantz will distribute new
ballistic recovery systems, such
as the Magnum parachute system,
which are manufactured by a Czech
company, and will bring back its
patented A.I.R.-equipped recovery
devices for hang gliding and
paragliding pilots. Read
more |
Glider
Flight Among 'Most Memorable'
Records of 2009
 The
best aviation records of 2009 are
being remembered by the National
Aeronautic Association (NAA). Of
the six records highlighted, three
of them were set by EAA members
including James Payne, EAA 240618,
who flew a Windward Performance
SparrowHawk ultralight glider a
distance of 623 miles. Read
more |
FAA
Ends Ban of Pilots on
Antidepressants
The Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) announced
Friday it is changing its
longstanding ban on use of
anti-depressants by pilots.
Beginning April 5 the FAA will
consider the special issuance of a
medical certificate to pilots who
are taking medication for mild to
moderate depression, conditions
that now bar them from all flying
duties. Read
more |
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King
for a Day
 It
was an absolutely
beautiful fall day in Alaska’s
Interior. Blue sky as far as the
eye could see! I jumped in my
pickup truck and headed out
to the airfield in North
Pole. En route, I couldn’t escape
the feeling of excitement in
anticipation of what the day
had in store. Read
more
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Emergency
Landings on Roads - No
I read with some alarm the March
2010 article in the EAA Light
Plane World newsletter about
pilots who recently landed on
highways. As always, I was glad
they pulled it off and no one was
hurt. I also heard the little
voice in my mind asking,
"What were they
thinking?" The highway or any
road is the last place a pilot
should want to land an aircraft.
However, I had listened to
numerous inexperienced pilots
proclaim they would go for the
road. This mindset baffled me, but
after thinking about it, I began
to understand. Read
more
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Your
First Flight Lesson
 I
know of no pilot, no matter how
many years she's been flying or
hours she's accrued, who won't
break into a huge grin when asked
to recall her first flight. A
pilot's first flight is always one
of the highlights of her flying
career. Read
more
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Transition
Flight
 Pedestrians
view the winter-to-spring
landscape change from a common
perspective – the ground. Pilots
can fly far above the terrain,
some so high that the ability to
experience seasonal change is
lost. However, there’s an
alternative perspective, one
available to a select group of
pilots: the low and slow aircraft
(light sports, ultralights, and
powered parachutes [PPCs]). These
pilots view what is happening in
the environment below from an
altitude of only a few hundred
feet. Read
more
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From
the EAA Light Plane Community
The message forums at
Oshkosh365 are alive with
activity. Here are the latest
discussions!
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| Videos
from the light plane world |
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| The
Golden Age of Ultralight Flyers |
Holly
Dolly microlight |
| Submit
light plane videos that you just
had to watch again; and probably
forwarded to your friends. Send
them to LightPlaneWorld@EAA.org. |
| Featured
Audio |
A-B
Accident Rate Stats Hide Complex
Factors
In February, AOPA released its
annual Nall Report, a summary of
accidents trends and factors for
general aviation. A portion of the
report focused on amateur-built
aircraft and showed an increase in
accidents for the category. EAA
Radio's Fareed Guyot talked with
EAA Vice President of Industry and
Regulatory Affairs Earl Lawrence,
who says that, although there is a
wide variance in the actual
numbers, some amateur-built areas
need attention. Listen
to the interview |
| Featured
Photo Gallery |
Ultralights
and Light Planes of
Sun 'n Fun 2005-2008
Sun
'n Fun 2010 is next week and what
better way to herald its approach
than to see some snapshots of
aircraft seen at the fly-in from
the light plane world. View
the gallery |
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Engines
Q. Why is it necessary to
warm up my two-stroke engine prior
to flight? Read
the answer
Powered
Parachute
Q. How do you flare a
powered parachute (PPC) to lower
the descent rate? Read
the
answer
Weight
Shift Trikes
Q. Without a tail like an
airplane, how does the trike
maintain yaw stability? Read
the answer
Fixed-Wing
Airplane
Q. Does weight affect the
glide ratio of an airplane? Read
the answer
Powered
Paraglider
Q. Why doesn't a powered
paraglider (PPG) have a rigid or
inflatable structure to prevent a
canopy collapse? Read
the answer |
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 Meet
Chuck Slusarczyk
EAA Experimenter
February 2000
Chuck
Slusarczyk, never really stopped
playing with models. As a
teenager, he won several national
competitions, which would serve
him well during his time at NASA.
And his love of models would carry
over to man-carrying kites and the
growth of the ultralight movement.
Chuck was one of the first to
offer a three-axis ultralight that
flourished in the early days of
Part 103, and propelled him
to the EAA Sport Aviation Hall of
Fame. Read
the article
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| Q.
What is your level of flying
experience?
-
I've never flown in an ultralight
or light plane.
- I am a pre-solo student pilot.
- My logbook has less than 100
hours as pilot in command.
- I've flown between 100 and 1,000
hours.
- My logbook has more than 1,000
hours flight time.
- I've flown hundreds or thousands
of hours but don't keep a logbook.
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