The Aspiring Pilot

Piper cancels distribution agreement for PiperSport LSA

PiperSport in flight

Photo: by ben.fitzgerald via flickr.com

Sad news for fans of the PiperSport light sport aircraft.  Piper announced today that they were cancelling their distribution partnership with Czech Sport Aircraft to distribute their LSA as the PiperSport.  My full article on the press release can be found at my General Aviation Examiner site here. 

I did email Piper for additional details on the reasons behind the cancellation, particularly what the actual differences cited; however, they have not responded as of yet.  I am curious on if Piper may be considering designing and manufacturing their own LSA in the future, once the LSA market stabilizes and matures; however, that's purely speculation.  The PiperSport did seem to have a decent social media following as mentioned in my article.

The PiperSport was one of the nicer LSA aircraft and seemed to fit the Piper family well.  It's possible the redesign of the PiperJet to the Altaire may have played a roll as well, especially in this tight economy.  If Piper answers any of my questions, I'll be sure to update the Examiner.com article and let you all know.  As for now, there are still other LSA's on the market and in design, so the LSA segment should not suffer too large of a setback, especially since Czech Sport Aircraft can still manufacture and distribute the airplane, albeit without the PiperSport moniker.  

AOPA announces it's 2010 Fun to Fly Sweepstakes winner

AOPA announced the winner of AOPA's 2010 Fun to Fly Sweepstakes airplane during their annual Aviation Summit in Long Beach, CA.  Yorke Brown of Etna N.H. was introduced as the winner of theRemos GX light sport aircraft.  During the video introduction, AOPA President Craig Fuller said 'The day you give away an airplane is a very good day.' 

For full story, see my General Aviation Examiner Article. 

Now... if only I could win the 2011 sweepstakes aircraft.... 

AOPA's 2010 Sweepstakes plane to attend Midwest LSA expo

Coincidently, when I write about the new 2011 AOPA sweepstakes plane, I find out that the 2010 sweepstakes plane, the Remos GX will be at the 2nd Annual Midwest LSA Expo.  I did a quick write up of the plane coming to the expo along with some other LSA's that will be on display at my Chicago General Aviation Examiner page. 

I'm trying to see if there is a way to make it down there to interview the pilot of the plane Jill Tallman as well as interview and write up reviews of as many of the planes as I can.  Would be a great way to establish contacts in the LSA industry for future news and articles.   

I'm very interested in these LSA aircraft, though I'd love to own a 4-seater, just for family trips, but still, I think that LSA's haven't even started to make a dent in the aviation field.  I still foresee them helping to slowly make general aviation more affordable. 

"Flying Car" Terrafugia closer to delivery

via www.examiner.com

"Flying Car" Terrafugia closer to delivery
July 27, 11:07 AMAviation and Aerospace Examiner
Pierre A. Kandorfer

Not quite sure what to think of this concept. It does fall under the Light Sport Aircraft category, so a Pilot license will still be required; however, it'll be interesting to see the price point. The safety features that will be implemented (airbags, etc.) to make it road worthy will probably make it the safest plane as well in the event of an incident.

Either way, this will lead to great advances in the 'flying car' segment. It also shows that the FAA is supporting the 'flying car' idea by granting the Terrafugia an exception to the weight limit to be considered a Light Sport Aircraft. It's weight will exceed the normal LSA weight limit by 110 pounds due to the automotive safety features that will be required to make it street legal.

Add in LSA flight training, and I think it will be safe and fun way to get around on short trips. Haven't decided if I personally like the idea or if I would ever consider getting one, but still a very interesting development that deserves the aviation worlds attention as this could very well be a big part of general aviation in the future.