Welcome!
Copperstate 2019 has concluded in Buckeye, Arizona but our coverage will continue and then we can get to other stories on hold until after the event.
We recorded several new videos and you can find them and more than 1,000 videos on Light Sport and Ultralight Flyer YouTube channel, (+48,000 subscribers!) — Hundreds of our best videos are archived here in a searchable format.
Thanks for your visit. We genuinely appreciate those of you who have become members!
Copperstate 2019 has concluded in Buckeye, Arizona but our coverage will continue and then we can get to other stories on hold until after the event.
We recorded several new videos and you can find them and more than 1,000 videos on Light Sport and Ultralight Flyer YouTube channel, (+48,000 subscribers!) — Hundreds of our best videos are archived here in a searchable format.
Thanks for your visit. We genuinely appreciate those of you who have become members!
At a major show in China called Zhuhai visitors saw something: a new 6-axis LSA flight simulator. The developer is 
Chinese citizens play games, including flight simulators, as much as (or perhaps even more than) Americans do. Sitting at their computer or using a mobile smartphone or tablet is commonplace.
AeroJones is deep into planning for their new aircraft factory in Zhenjiang, China — where, presumably, they will also build the simulator. With the new facility, all manufacturing steps will be easier, less costly, and much more efficient, which will contribute to better values for customers buying the CTLS. Flight schools or other buyers of the modern and sophisticated CTLS will be able to fly to Dalu General Airport to see the factory and take demonstrations flights to confirm their purchase.
On Day 3 of 
Flying Legend’s Tucano is a scale replica of well-regarded original. Embraer’s EMB 312 Tucano is “a low-wing, tandem-seat, single-turboprop, basic trainer with counter-insurgency capability developed in Brazil,” according to 
Stalls were surprisingly slow considering how clean the aircraft looks, down into the high 40 knot range. A LSA version should readily meet standards for stall.
Let me be fair. Other West Coast aviation events have interesting qualities but none has ever risen to the level of AirVenture Oshkosh or Sun ‘n Fun. Those two dominate general aviation events. Both are “back East.”
Serious airplane buyers encouraged vendors on Thursday before the public attended. They came out in huge droves on Saturday. Vice Mayor Eric Orsborn, whom I interviewed on video, estimated 15-20,000 people that day. It looked like it and we have video proof. By the way, Eric is not only a city leader, he’s a pilot who just earned his ticket. His wife is also pursuing flying lessons and is going through ground school now.
In two quickly linked flights, they let me compare 915 to 912iS. That was most helpful but I did not know either airframe well so it was challenging to compare performance with my earlier experiences. Now, I have a better picture.
Acceleration was fast, we rolled less than 500 feet and climbed quickly from the start and kept going. Jean d’Assonville and I flew perhaps 300 pounds under gross but 
The wing itself is a fresh new airfoil and wingspan is about 16 inches shorter on each side.
Stalls in all configurations were very mild, even with full stick aft and no quick effort of recovery. At full power, Sling TSi would not stall and only wobbled the nose to signal the pilot — well, that and a clearly audible stall warning plus a very steep deck angle.
The Copperstate airshow is on in Arizona! Put on by a new combination of Copperstate leadership in cooperation with the town of Buckeye Arizona — which has been hosting its own 
In many years of reporting on light aircraft, I have flown a lot of weight shift control trikes. I love flying trikes. I’ve flown simple ones, super-deluxe ones, tough ones, and ones that weren’t so tough. Most I enjoyed.
“Talk about heavy-duty, this is simply the roughest, toughest Weight Shift Control (WSC) trike in the world,” said Sid. After my own close look at Goat, I cannot dispute his description.
“Goat is one of a kind, said Denny. “It doesn’t need special care. It is not fragile. It just needs good fuel, your respect, and a little love once in a while. If anybody can build something better, we’d like to be your first customers. Until then, we’re looking to build our team of true adventurers. We hope to share what we’ve learned & hope to learn from you too.”
Yet again, I am motivated to give Steve Beste an enormous “Thank you!” for his dedicated effort to take FAA’s data, make complete sense of it (no small task), and to then work with the folks at Tableau to make this information available to you. Even better, you can adjust the data to your liking in ways I never envisioned with our earlier years of reporting these facts.
Because a large number of you visit this website via your smartphone, you can now see images that fit your screen better (nearby image). Given a wide variety of phone sizes, screen resolutions, and browsers, not every phone will look like these images but the data is much more accessible via smartphone than it was when we launched late last fall.
Note that this is somewhat different than “Certification,” which offers more detailed ways to narrow the field solely to aircraft types that interest you.
“Duck and cover” was a phrase to describe the morning on Thursday, Day Two at 
Some, like Scott Severen of 
L600 importer Deon Lombard said he expecting his first with the 
Sebring 
I attend seven or eight airshows every year. I’ve done this for many years. I’m here to assure you that the night before opening, the place is utter pandemonium with no possible hope in sight of having everyone in position and ready for business by morning. It can’t happen. …yet it does!
“This variation will now be reintroduced to the Americas,” reported Tom Peghiny, President of 
“The approval allows the company to deliver certified aircraft for delivery in Europe and the rest of the world,” said Joerges.
If you like Light-Sport Aircraft and if you like statistics, you are going to love this article.
We report details in two primary ways for two primary periods. The periods are “All-Fleet,” meaning all LSA or other Sport Pilot-Eligible aircraft that have been registered since 2004 when the rule was released; and, “Calendar Year” meaning the January to December period of the previous year. We have been doing both for several years but our reports were confined to fixed wing or “Airplane” Special Light-Sport Aircraft. That is now changing to a broader view that includes all registrations (see next).
Above, we reported fully-built aircraft separately from kits and other types in this post but you can combine them using Tableau. You can also arrange in several other ways or look at a single or few brands.
All of us who enjoy flight know much about this, but things are changing and perhaps fast enough to push many of us current-aviation experts into a discomfort zone.
However, for short-range urban transport, multicopters may be unstoppable.
Lift has also listed many features they believe provide 
“Divvying up the skyline” where skyline means airspace sounds rather threatening to current pilots. Many pilots have told me they worry about drones or multicopters interfering with the enjoyment of their aircraft, or worse, causing safety problems.
Imagine you are flying along in your well-maintained Light-Sport Aircraft with its reliable engine. You are flying a long distance over all sorts of terrain, including vast stretches of water. All is humming along and the miles or kilometers are clicking past. What an experience to fly around the world! Very, very few pilots will ever tackle such a grand challenge.
Handiflight’s goal is both simple and enormous at once: “A challenging and inspiring global adventure promoting the inclusion of disabled people and values such as commitment, fraternity, and fellowship.”
The truth is, electric aircraft go way back, to even before the Wrights’ famous flight 115 years ago. An article about the newest LSA candidate — a 
These unwieldy-looking flying machines are also some of the best priced and funnest aircraft you can consider. Plus, FAA regs say you can get a Sport Pilot certificate in a powered parachute in a mere 12 hours, the lowest requirement of any Light-Sport Aircraft. These facts make powered parachutes among the most approachable of any aircraft.
When Rotax debuted their new 915iS engine at an Oshkosh press conference, Sling designer Mike Blyth raced forward at the end of the conference to closely examine the new power plant. It was clear to me this answered a creation he had in mind and now we can see the fruit of his ambition: the new Sling TSi.
For Oshkosh 2018, 
In addition to the Taco Bar treats (it is Southern California, after all, just a few miles from the Mexican border), attendees can hear about a most unusual Builder Assist experience.
TAF USA also announced, “Next Year we are starting the Sling Pilot Academy to help prepare pilots for the airlines.” However, If you’re not in Southern California or don’t wish to travel to Torrence, you have another attractive alternative run by a veteran flight trainer.