LSA Bits

photo courtesy Remos Aircraft

In 36 hours or so, Chief Pilot S. Claus will be on final for a few billion chimneys worldwide.  Here's what's popping up in one of my last looks at LSA news webwide for 2011.  Meanwhile, my best wishes for a Merry Flying Christmas and new flight horizons for all in 2012!

Cubcrafters flexes its market success muscle with a new manufacturing facility and the hiring - yes, hiring - of new personnel to build its popular LSA Piper Cub clones. 

photo courtesy CubCrafters

A newly leased 15,000-square-foot building near the Yakima, Washington airport boosts existing capacity by almost 40% and is already in operation.  Congrats to CubCrafters and we wish you continued success.
Included are a new welding shop and CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) machine shop.

The new space will make room in the main plant for an R&D facility and an updated, more centralized parts department.  

Owner Jim Richmond says, "Our planes are selling well, and if we get even a little help from the economy, we will need to increase our production rate." 

Check out those job openings here.

SportAirUSA, that broadbased purveyor of several LSA models and instrument panel goodies, adds to its avionics offerings with the Adventure Pilot iFly GPS, a 7-inch touch-screen moving map based on FAA sectional charts (I own and myself - very cool unit).

The company also reports the iFly will be standard equipment on the Snap! singleseater and an installable   option for its Sting, Sirius, Savage Cub, and SeaRey LSA. Starting price is $549.  The iFly comes loaded with the U.S. sectionals, IFR low en route charts, geo-referenced approach plates, airport diagrams, and more. 

JUSTNET, the Justice Technology Information Network and an arm of the Office of Justice, posts a  summary of the aircraft considered so far here, and more detailed looks at each aircraft evaluated here.

photo courtesy Rans Aircraft

The page is part of the Aviation Technology Program, which looks at a broad range of low-cost aviation technologies as alternatives to conventional GA aircraft in law enforcement aviation units -  typically helicopters and FAA certified aircraft. 

Some familiar SLSA models evaluated: Rans Coyote, Tecnam Eaglet, Sky Arrow.  Powered parachutes and autogyros are also considered.

The overview cites the high cost of acquiring and maintaining these aircraft (new Cessna 172: $300,000) and serves up the economic viability of various types of LSA as a dramatic alternative to  for maintaining  the long arm of the law skyward.

In particular, the report calls out Light Sport Aircraft as well as small unmanned aircraft systems (“sUAS” - how institutions love acronyms!) and moored balloons...moored balloons?  

Remos Aircraft keeps growing its dealer/service center network.  Latest addition is Light Sport West of Sacramento, California. A Remos GX was added to the GA training fleet based at Sacramento Executive Airport (KSAC).  

Light Sport West joins a growing number of FBOs nationwide who are realizing LSA offer appeal, economy and fun flying to flight students.

Spotlight On: Women’s Longboarding

The Sport, Gender & Media team was delighted to have the chance to get in touch with Georgia Young, 23, of Perth, Australia, professional women’s longboarder. Georgia is a highly accomplished longboarder, with her titles including: two 2nds and 3^rd in the Australian Longboard Titles; 1^st in the ASP Australasian Professional Women’s Rankings (2011); 1^st in the Whalebone Classic; 2^nd in Newquay Boardmasters; as well as three 17ths in the World Longboard Titles held in Biarritz.

Georgia became interested in the sport at age 11 and by age 14, began competing in local surf club competitions, gradually advancing to state competitions. As a teen, she looked up to both men’s and women’s professional surfers in both Western Australia as well as the country as a whole, including Claire Finucane and Chelsea Williams, for inspiration. In particular, Claire Finucane befriended and encouraged Georgia in taking her longboarding to the next level, pushing her to do more competitions across Australia and taking her on surfing trips around Western Australia.

Generally, there is a divide between traditional and progressive longboarding. In traditional longboarding, maneuvers favour “nose-riding”, and this method is usually considered to be more style-oriented. Progressive longboarding, on the other hand, is similar to shortboarding, involving radical and powerful turns as well as aerial moves. Men’s competitions generally combine the two styles, whereas women’s surfing focuses more on the traditional side. Women’s boards, therefore, are a bit bigger, heavier, with their competitions focus more on the traditional-style rather than the more progressive styles of surfing. About this difference, Georgia feels that “It’s very important to keep this traditional element to women’s longboarding, but I think there needs to be more room for progression in the competitions”. 

 

In Georgia’s opinion, women’s surfing has hit a plateau regarding sponsorship, in both long and shortboarding, with funding seeming to fluctuate between continents and from year to year. Recently, huge controversies occurred when many professional surfing events, including the World Shortboard Tour competitions, were cancelled due to lack of funding. At the same time, progress is being made in women’s longboarding, where a second World Title event was held in China in 2011, marking the first time the Women’s World Title was determined by more than one event. It is generally felt among the community that the sport is quite marketable, due to the unique style of women’s longboarding as well as the culture and lifestyle of surfing. Competitions are frequently sold as festivals, such as Roxy Jam in Biarritz this past July, with art exhibits, music concerts and surfing demonstrations, culminating in the actual competition. Such events attract a variety of people and generate a lot of interest to the sport as a whole, and Georgia hopes that this type of sponsorship continues for major events.

Such discrepancy in funding is evident when examining other extreme sports in Europe, such as skiing and snowboarding, where events are sponsored by large motor companies, and other non-sport related corporations—obviously not related to the competition at hand. Surfing, according to Georgia, would really benefit from such recognition from larger companies, which would help generate funding and greater media recognition, particularly for female competitors. As such a marketable sport, with the athleticism involved and culture and lifestyle being promoted, interest in the sport is apparent, it just needs to be highlighted. Georgia hopes that in the future, other companies outside the realm of surfing will take on sponsorship of female athletes. 

                                                                       

Personal sponsorship remains an ongoing obstacle to the general acceptance of the sport. Women’s longboarding remains one of the lowest sponsored sports within the world and few companies, other than a few surfing ones, including Roxy, take an interest in supporting the sport. Georgia herself is sponsored by Roxy, Sticky Feet Wax and Clearwater Surfboards. Very few women are paid to compete at the professional level, with all 32 of the world top women having jobs or other careers that enable them to compete. Although there are some women who are paid to compete, few can make a living out of their passion for the sport. According to Georgia, Roxy is one of the most supportive companies, sponsoring both athletes and events across several continents as well as really encouraging the surfing lifestyle.

Georgia hopes that in terms of funding, the future holds better for women’s longboarding and more opportunities for women longboarders continue to grow. She would really like to encourage more young women to try longboarding at the competitive level as well. Personally, she hopes to finish in the Top Ten World Longboarding and win an Australian Longboard title.

The Gender, Sport & Media Team wishes you the best of luck, Georgia!

CONFERENCE ABSTRACT DEADLINE - 12TH DECEMBER

Today is the last day you can submit an abstract for the exciting Sport, Gender and Media conference at the Unviersity of York on 10th March 2012.

We invite all postgraduate and early career researchers interested in gendered aspects of sport to a one-day interdisciplinary conference. This is a growing academic field which addresses important questions about equality, public health, representation, participation, citizenship and ‘fair play.’ With the Olympics in the UK, and a likely glut of related journalism, 2012 is an opportune time to investigate the framing of media relationships between sport and gender. 

The conference will be interdisciplinary, and welcomes contributions from many fields in order to foster understanding of, and promote relationships between a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives. We also intend to celebrate the achievements of women in sport, and this conference will be part of marking International Women’s Day.

Please submit abstracts to womensportmedia@gmail.com by 6pm today (12th December 2011) You can also now register to attend the conference - see right-hand sidebar of blog.

There have been some fantastic abstracts submitted thus far...don't miss your chance to be involved in this exciting conference!

Knocking Around The InfoVerse

Today's Word

photo courtesy Pipistrel 

News travels fast these days: Just ask Herman Cain. New tech net scraper Gizmag just ran a blurb on the Pipistrel Alpha I highlighted here a couple weeks back. The focus of the highlight is on the low cost, which as they note is under 60K Euro.  
Now consider this: if the Euro continues to go through its troubles and drops further against the dollar, imagine a quality SLSA, like the Alpha promises to be (it's based on a years-proven design - the Vinus/Sinus - with hundreds now delivered), priced at, say, $70K.  For all of us who've decried the high costs of LSA, might  this be the price point/airplane that would help break the LSA sales logjam?


Catching Up With Dan The Man


My blogosphere bro Dan Johnson has a piece in this month's Light Aviation eZine that updates LSA manufacturers now - at last - finding some markets overseas.  

photo courtesy Dan Johnson

He details foreign sales by Arion (Lightning), Flight Design, Remos and Piper Sport/Sport Cruiser.  ASTM and type certificate approvals are being won country by country, and products are beginning to move, over thar. 
One cool story:  U. S. Sport Aircraft, the U.S. distributor that reps the Sport Cruiser, has sold what Dan believes is the first LSA in Brazil...and the company flew the airplane from Florida all 4,300 miles to deliver it!  
Aviation is booming in that country...let's hope more American companies find success in the southern hemisphere while we're waiting for the global economy to work through its identity  crisis.


Dynon SkyView Hands-On Training at Sebring


Who among us hasn't sat for the first time in a new LSA and felt brain overload when confronted with an unfamiliar EFIS display?
One of my initial - and most stressful - challenges during my Sport Pilot training was figuring out where to look and how to work those info-jammed screens while also getting to know the airplane.

photo courtesy Dynon Avionics

Helping out with that comes a promising and much needed program, to debut at next month's Sebring Light Sport Expo (that's right, kids, Sebring is just around the corner...more on that below).
Dynon Avionics will offer free courses on how to wrangle the SkyView, its runaway hit EFIS display.  
The 3.5-hour classes will be held all four mornings and the first three afternoons at Sebring.  Working SkyViews will be set up so people can get some real hands-on tutoring without having to RTFM (Read The Freakin' Manual, which apparently only 1.4% of the U.S. population can abide).
Class size will be limited to the first 15 people who sign up here.  The classes will be held at the nearby (like, walking distance from the show) Chateau Elan Hotel and Conference Center.
Kirk Kleinholz, CFII and SkyView expert, will handle the professorial duties.  This first set of classes will be free: ongoing  classes will have a fee, so get in there, pilots, and sign up!


Sebring Expo Looms!



Yes chilluns, the big winter LSA show is truly stepping it up this year, with a much-ballyhooed new presence and a much bigger feel, judging by the number of promo emails I've gotten for months now.

photo courtesy Sebring Expo

Rather than rehash the 2012 offerings, just go here and check it out for yourself.
Alright, just a couple teasers, I can't resist (and I can't wait to get down there myself!):
<> "Exotic" vacation packages will be auctioned
<> Registered exhibitors include Flight Design, which will bring its CTLE law enforcement special, NASA Green Flight Challenge winner Pipistrel with several models (alas, not the winning electric one-off Taurus Electro G4), and the EAA Piper Cub J3 Sweepstakes contest airplane.  Y'all get your tickets now, hear?

Flight Design CTLE     photo courtesy Flight Design

<> EAA's new head man Rod Hightower will give a presentation at the annual LAMA dinner.
<> Tons of events, factory and general demo flights and lots more to look forward.
Did I say I can't wait?  Now if only winter would truly arrive in the northeast (it's 58 degrees again today!) I'll have even more motivation to jet southward...not that Sebring leaves any need for that...this is simply the biggest all-LSA event in the country.

Paula Radcliffe and the IAAF

You may remember the blog post we did on 10th November in reaction to the IAAF saying that Paula Radcliffe can keep her world record, but that the ruling would still apply to future races. We are thrilled for Paula Radcliffe. But we are distressed by a decision that we believe is sexist. If women can only set records in women's races, what does this imply about women? What does it mean for women?

We decided to make a storyboard that shows the range of emotions we felt when we found out that Paula Radcliffe gets to keep the record.

Good News from Sport, Gender and Media

We have two things to celebrate today! (And considering the week it's been with SPOTY, we bet you'll be happy for some good news)

The first is Amy Pressland's invitation to return to BBC York Radio to discuss events of the week, including BBC's SPOTY and her research. Listen to the broadcast with Jonathon Cowap today on the iplayer and jump ahead to 1.14.53 to hear Amy.

The second bit of good news is that you still have ten days to submit your abstract! We are so excited with the response that we've had thus far. Please keep the abstracts coming and forward the call for papers to anyone who may be interested. Remember abstracts should be sent to womensportmedia@gmail.com with ‘Sport, Gender and Media abstract’ in the subject heading. Deadline is 12th December. We can't wait to hear from you!

Have you registered for the conference yet?

Oldest Living LSA Pilot?

Here's a story to give us all some cheer as we slide into final on the Holiday Season.
An article in Martinsburg, West Virginia's The Journal newspaper chronicles the exploits of one T. Guy Reynolds Jr. , a local pilot who just celebrated his birthday by spreading his wings in his Evektor SportStar.
"No big deal", you say?  Ah, but this gentleman is one year shy of being a centenarian...that's right, he just turned 99 years old!

J. Guy Reynolds about to do his thing.  photo courtesy The Journal

That makes him, says the article penned by John McVey, likely the oldest pilot in the state.
And we have to ask...maybe the nation?
"I wanted to fly on my 99th birthday," he said. "I enjoy it, and my airplane is very nice to fly."
The SportStar model was the first to win ASTM approval back in 2005 as a legal S-LSA and continues in its latest iteration as the Harmony...my flight report is due out in the next issue of the magazine.
Evektor's airplanes appeal to pilots like Mr. Reynolds with long aviation backgrounds, since it's a familiar, mostly-metal airframe with good long range legs and comfortable interior to back it up...these things get more important as we get older!  I've logged around 30 hours in the Evektor Max and its successor Harmony so I'm more expert on this subject than many...it's an excellent long-leg airplane for the posterior regions.
The article goes on to report that Mr. Reynolds began flying, in a Ford Tri-Motor, before most of us were even glints in our parent's eyes: in 1929!  He founded Martinsburg's Civil Air Patrol squadron and was its first commander in 1943.

Evektor SportStar.  photo courtesy www.lightsportaircraft.ca

Taking on challenges late in life seem to be a habit...Reynolds had in fact laid off flying in the mid-50s in order to raise a family and didn't resume until 2004...at age 92.
He made his first parachute jump on the day he turned 93.  What a Guy!
"I keep very positive - that's how I've lived so long. I'm still happy and thank God for that every day."
Happy Birthday to you sir!