Ukrainian airframe producer Aeros has risen from complete obscurity in the early 1990s (after the Berlin Wall fell) to wide recognition in recreational aviation. Although powered ultralight and light-sport aircraft enthusiasts may not immediately know the brand, hang glider pilots around the world are very aware of the name. The current reigning world champion hang glider pilot is Oleg Bondarchuck, a Ukrainian pilot who works with Aeros.
This young company emerging from the former Soviet mantel also makes an ultralight sailplane plus two powered aircraft. Aeros produces the Sky Ranger 3-axis airplane (under agreement with its French designer), and it has designed and markets its own trike. The company also supplies trike wings for other producers like Antares. By any normal measurements, Aeros is a versatile company.
Many ultralight and LSA pilots probably know the Aeros Velocity trike, and may recall its earlier name, Venture. In those days, it was sold by Sabre Aircraft alongside the trikes that Arizona company made here in America.
Search Results for : Titan Aircraft
Not finding exactly what you expected? Try our advanced search option.
Select a manufacturer to go straight to all our content about that manufacturer.
Select an aircraft model to go straight to all our content about that model.
Lightweight Four-Stroke HKS Now Available for LSA
After Rotax announced ASTM compliance for their lightweight 582 two-stroke engine, many American pilots celebrated. This lighter, simpler powerplant (compared to the 9-series engines) gave ultralight builders seeking SLSA certification more flexibility while significantly lowering cost for buyers. Now HKS enters the arena issuing a Statement of Compliance for the horizontally opposed, twin-cylinder, four-stroke, 60-hp 700E engine. HKS is lighter than four-cylinder engines and can save buyers several thousand dollars. American importer HPower has assisted at least 29 companies as they became HKS-powered, including such leading names as RANS, Quicksilver, Murphy, Earthstar, CGS, Titan, ASAP, and Flightstar. The Japanese company, HKS Aviation Co., Ltd., made their declaration on July 16, one month after the Rotax 582. Behind HKS Aviation is real depth in a 400-employee company active in high-performance auto components. I’ve flown a number of airplanes with this engine and have become converted to its smooth power.
A Completely Different Sort of SPLOG ByDanJohnson
Many visitors have now heard about the airplane crash I had just before Sun ‘n Fun where I broke my back, landing me in a West Palm Beach, Florida hospital since April 2nd. I’m happy to report that although I have two or three months of hard work ahead of me to regain my muscle use as it was, I still expect to regain most of my original capabilities. It may take a year to recover fully, but at least I have the chance for which I feel extremely grateful. I suffered a massive compression fracture (called a “starburst” fracture) of the T-12 vertebra that required, as the doctor put it, “major, invasive, and aggressive” surgery. But they feel they found all the bone parts and installed some titanium hardware to strengthen my back. It has been a difficult ordeal to be sure — especially so for my loving and faithful wife, Randee — but I had excellent medical care and the well wishes and prayers from hundreds of friends in the light aircraft industry that represents my enlarged family.
Part 103 Ultralight Trikes
Part 103 ultralight trikes aim at soaring pilots.
Many visitors to Oshkosh AirVenture 2003 expected the FAA to announce its new sport pilot/light-sport aircraft rule. New Administrator Marion Blakey reported signing off on the rule on July 30, but with two other agencies in line to review it, we aren’t likely to see the final version until 2004.
Visitors may not have expected to see more than a few Part 103 ultralight aircraft at AirVenture (some thought they would disappear as LSA approaches). But there were many. Next month I’ll write about two Part 103 rotary-wing aircraft, but this time, the subject is nanotrikes.
Nanotrike is a term to describe extremely light wheeled structures combining powered paraglider engines and contemporary hang glider wings. The idea is to create a low-cost, self-launching ultralight motorglider.
Trike Pod
Minnesota-based Seagull Aerosports debuted its Escape Pod at Oshkosh. Pushed by a single-cylinder Cors-Air engine generating 25 hp, the Escape Pod weighs only 75 pounds.
Product Lines – November 2004
ST. PAUL, MINN. — Just as the October “Product Lines” was headed to press a last-minute
update was inserted into the column by USHGA’s alert art director, Tim Meehan. At
the end of last month’s column I was writing about Alan Chuculate’s paraglider
aerotow trike, the SlowTow. A week after the deadline, Alan wrote, “The SlowTow
project suffered a major setback on Wednesday when Floyd Fronius crashed
in the trike and crushed a vertebrae and his heel. It was a classic case of a low
altitude aerotow problem resulting in the towplane pilot getting pitched down and
not releasing early enough. Both trike and glider were airborne at approximately
150 feet AGL.” Alan reports that Floyd thought the glider had released because the
towline was slack. He began to descend and turned left to reconnect and try again.
“But as he turned left the towline tightened rapidly, the glider climbed dramatically,
and the trike was slowed and pitched nose down.” Perhaps Floyd should have released
at the first sign of the problem, but it takes a short time to comprehend the situation
and he didn’t have those precious seconds.
Product Lines – June 1994
ST. PAUL, MINN. — The season is hot and the thermals are poppin’! ••• Moyes has been having one heckuva year. Says boss Bill, "Glider sales have never been so good and we are producing 30 a week" (an annualized rate of over 1,500 gliders). Further, Moyes Microlights is "having a run on Dragonflys" thanks to good publicity and a very workable tug machine. On a roll, Moyes is enjoying good airpark activity with their financial and other interest in Malcolm Jones’ Wallaby Ranch in central Florida. ••• Recently Moyes California sent out their spring newsletter (late April). Besides telling a short story of surviving the Northridge Quake — only two miles away from their Canoga Park shop… whew! — they also identified the U.S. operation in more detail. "Almost every one of the Moyes gliders sold in America are built in Australia. Moyes California serves as a distributor for Moyes hang gliders in North America." That’s a change.
Simple Done Right
AirBorne’s Outback trike has all the essentials
Light-sport aircraft (LSA) are on the minds of many would-be sport pilots, especially now that the proposed rule has advanced from the Depart-ment of Transportation (DOT) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for its last review. But the big-picture view of these airplanes is complex. Yes, we’ll have sleek im-ported machines like the CT2K, G3 Mirage, SkyBoy, or SportStar, but we’ll also have much more. We will also still have popular American-made machines like Zenith’s CH 601, SkyStar’s Kitfox, Quicksilver’s MX or GT series, RANS’ Coyotes, Quad City Ultralight’s Challenger, and more. And we’ll have trikes, powered para-chutes, gliders, airships, gyros, and who-knows-what-else. The new LSA category actually represents a virtual zoo of different aerial animals. The fiberglass or metal versions that may enter our market from Europe are but the upper end of the spectrum, in both speed and price.
Trikes, in particular, may be one of the earlier qualifying entries.
New Ultralights at Sun ‘n Fun
New ultralights and light aircraft were featured at Sun ‘n Fun
As flying season begins, Florida’s popular Sun ’n Fun airshow brings a focus on new aircraft of all types. Aviation writers review the new machines revealed at the event. Yet many machines are often overlooked in the rush to place the most attention-getting aircraft onto magazine covers and into survey articles. This month, we cover a few ultralights and light aircraft you should find interesting.
While aircraft like Titan’s T-51 Mustang, Just Aircraft’s Escapade, Airborne’s XT and Sabre’s Wildcat garnered lots of attention, designers of other ultralights have also been working hard.
Ramphos
One machine no one had seen before was the Ramphos amphibious trike. Though the amphibious trike concept has been used by numerous other companies, the Ramphos has features the others have lacked such as its counter-rotating propeller.
A prior model required a small vertical tail and distinguished itself by a composite hoop surrounding the propeller arc.
How-to-Buy a Lightplane — Part 3 of 3
In the previous two installments, we’ve discussed you, the pilot, and the many types of aircraft choices you have. As we wrap up this series, we’ll put it all together and try to help you narrow your choices to a few models.
Notice the word “try.” It is important that you understand that it is not possible to direct you to the one-and-only best choice of aircraft. Novice buyers often seek assistance but even experienced pilots can become swayed and end up purchasing the wrong aircraft for their needs and desires. Because aircraft purchases are commonly emotional decisions, it is helpful to gain a “second opinion” to help make a more rational choice.
Many years ago, at the beginning of my career writing articles in light aviation, I made a similar attempt to help hang glider pilots choose the right glider. I compared nine contemporary models to an idealized “perfect” glider and through a series of questions much like those below, tried to steer pilots to the one right glider for them.
Antares 582
Antares qualifies as the first 51%-rule trike kit.
These days, hangar talk in the sport flying community seems to be focused on the FAA’s not-yet-final sport pilot rule [we have labeled it SportPlanes™—Ed]. If you are thinking of building a new airplane, you will want to know the rules that may affect your use of it.
As we wait a year or two for SportPlanes™ to prove its worth to the flying crowd, some things remain as they were. Aviation’s simplest rule defining aircraft and pilots, FAR Part 103 (ultralights) will not change. In presentation sessions, FAA officials worked to convince enthusiasts that the agency has no plans to alter this rule. Therefore, you may still fly one of the single-seat ultralights that qualify.
Long Live 51%
For many KITPLANES® readers, a primary interest is the amateur-built regulation commonly referred to as the 51% rule. As the magazine’s annual December-through-February three-part directory shows, pilots are fortunate to have hundreds of choices among attractive aircraft of every description.