➡️ Update 11/3/20 — A new video interview with Flight Design USA importer Tom Peghiny appears at the bottom of this article.
October 29, 2020

I hope you can attend 2020’s Midwest LSA Expo — the last airshow in 2020.
September 5, 2020

How does one LSA brand rise and stay above others? Many reasons can be introduced; all possibly valid.
February 29, 2020

What a great day to start off the Midwest LSA Expo!
September 6, 2019

Once upon a time in the then-new world of Light-Sport Aircraft Flight Design lead the pack for airplanes delivered and registered.
June 13, 2019

A funny thing happened on our way to quarterly reporting of LSA and Sport Pilot kit market shares.
June 8, 2019

Jetting straight from Sun ‘n Fun, we were able to arrive at Aero Friedrichshafen by noon on opening day.
April 10, 2019

As a new season of flying is upon us (even while northern pilots may still be still shoveling snow), one company continues their vigorous comeback.
January 21, 2019

At the season ending DeLand Showcase show, Flight Design was ably represented by John Hurst.
November 14, 2018

Two years ago, Flight Design was the number one producer of Light-Sport Aircraft in the USA backed by strong sales in other countries.
January 22, 2018

When Rotax moved their 912 iS Sport project from engineering to production, the big Austrian engine manufacturer elevated their already-immensely-popular 9-series engines to a higher level.
November 17, 2017

A good friend in aviation journalism and Editor-in-Chief of Plane & Pilot magazine is Robert Goyer.
September 28, 2017

After more than a year, a resolution was reached for the airplane that topped the charts in the LSA space since Day One.
August 2, 2017

At Sebring 2013, we made the rounds speaking to sellers of various Light-Sport Aircraft.
August 19, 2016

Perhaps it’s to be expected that the leading seller of Light-Sport Aircraft in the USA has now entered the public service aviation market with their CTLE, the “LE” standing for Law Enforcement.
August 19, 2016

If you’ve tried flying with floats (or in a boat-hulled aircraft) you already know the appeal.
August 19, 2016

The leading seller of Light-Sport Aircraft is Flight Design and CTLS is their third-generation of the popular CT series.
August 19, 2016

Dynon Avionics has arguably become the largest supplier of LSA avionics in the form of computer screen displays of engine monitoring and flight instruments.
August 19, 2016

While Flight Design has released two newer models (the CTLS and all-metal MC), it was the CTsw that helped the German Flight Design company continue to be the market leader, even after four years and nearly 100 new models followed the CT series into the American market.
August 19, 2016

HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIO — You crash landed your airplane at an airport.
July 16, 2016

Breaking News … Recently Flight Design in Germany sent a letter to their dealers including this statement, “We have applied for a planned receivership which allows for reorganization of the company.” What does this mean?
February 19, 2016

Aero 2015 is open! The halls are full of shiny airplanes displayed with the usual European sense of style and panache.
April 15, 2015

For more than 100 years, cars have had accidents and if they were severe enough, the results were poor (photo).
August 12, 2014

Something of a stealth invasion is beginning. I refer to an emerging flock of four seat Light-Sport Aircraft.
August 12, 2014

Since the beginning of Light-Sport Aircraft almost ten years ago — this summer at EAA AirVenture, the SP/LSA sector will celebrate its tenth anniversary with special functions — Flight Design has continuously led the fleet size statistics as seen in our market share charts.
February 19, 2014

After flying more than 350 different aircraft models, I became rather adept at what some pilots call “stick wiggling.” The reference is for all the actions you take to physically fly the plane.
December 19, 2012

Yes, as the pics show, I did indeed take advantage of a rare, calm, beautiful, warm (for winter) day in New England to drive over to Tom Peghiny‘s Flight Design USA and take my first hop in a fuel-injected Rotax-powered LSA: the new CTLSi.
December 6, 2012

The first iLSA are flying in the USA. Springboarding from Apple’s famous iDevices, why not iLSA?
December 5, 2012

Anyone who has tried to borrow money in the last five years knows how tough it has become.
June 19, 2012

Flight Design of Germany — in cooperation with U.S importer Flight Design USA — just signed an agreement with emergency parachute maker, BRS, to provide the 1350 LSA ballistic system on all CT aircraft sold in the USA.
March 16, 2012

The LSA movement may have struggled along with the rest of civilian aviation over the last three years.
December 29, 2010

The folks at the CT Flier Forum kick off their 4th Annual CT Fly-in this coming Oct.
September 9, 2010

Flight Design has maintained their substantial lead in market share partly through a strategy of steady innovation.
August 27, 2010

Here’s a hot item that should shake the dust off the notion that LSA are little toy airplanes.
July 19, 2010

Two Swiss pilots embarked on a round-the-world flight on April 30 and 51 days later they are back home in Switzerland.
June 22, 2010

As they connect the dots of their plan to circumnavigate the world in celebration of 100 years of aviation in Switzerland, Yannick Bovier and Francisco Agullo have now spanned one immense body of water.
May 16, 2010

Way back near the dawn of Light-Sport Aircraft… in 2007, two Indian military pilots flew a CT around the world to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Indian Air Force.
May 3, 2010

I was lucky enough to get Matthias Betsch, Flight Design’s CEO, all to myself for a few minutes and here’s what he had to say: *** General update: “A hard year but better than we expected.
February 2, 2010

Much has been written about Cessna’s Skycatcher incidents, those spin investigations that caused the loss of one airplane and a parachute deployment from another.
January 14, 2010

If you study FAA’s registration database as I do, you’ll quickly discover that Flight Design and its various CT models have a strong presence in the USA (the world for that matter, with 1,500 flying, according to the company).
December 21, 2009

Word of a few interesting developments arrived in my inbox, bringing with them new questions.
October 11, 2009

Sales are subdued all over aviation but it isn’t stopping the top performers in the Light-Sport Aircraft marketplace.
July 13, 2009

These days, “oversight” is a heavily used word on national media.
October 24, 2008

Lots more fun than a military build-up but bearing some resemblance, companies across the USA are preparing for Sun ‘n Fun starting Tuesday the 4th.
September 10, 2008

OSHKOSH UPDATE — At a ceremony on EAA AirVenture’s show-center location, AeroShell Square, Flight Design unveiled another new LSA, their second of 2008, the first being the CTLS which debuted at Sebring in January.
August 18, 2008

I can identify four factors in the economy presently affecting airplane sales: Potential customers (often with plenty of assets or creditworthiness) see the value of their stock portfolio going up and down like a roller coaster; worry over their once-soaring real estate, now down markedly in some areas; witness the continuing rise of the euro-dollar exchange rate, bringing much higher prices for many LSA; and, fret over a climate of political uncertainty during another election cycle.
May 14, 2008

Flight Design leads the LSA flock maintaining a market share of more than 20% since the start of SLSA certifications almost three years ago.
December 10, 2007

Market leader Flight Design seems hot as a pistol and appears to be validating their plan to substantially increase production.
August 28, 2007

Many other airplane categories have tried round the world flights, but it’s now been done by a Light-Sport Aircraft.
August 20, 2007

The Czech Republic featured in the last few SPLOGs may not be well known to Americans, but Ukraine seems yet another world away.
June 26, 2007

Sun ‘n Fun 2005 started off with a bang when Flightstar Sportplanes’ Tom Peghiny heard the Flight Design CT he imports was one of the first Special Light-Sport Aircraft to be given its airworthiness certificate.
February 6, 2007

I hope you enjoyed your Labor Day holiday. Over this long weekend Randee and I headed to Boston for the EAA Sport Pilot Tour on Sept.
September 4, 2006