12 | December 2017 | Powered Sport Flying Light Sport Aircraft The Triumph of lsa — Helping the Entire World of Aviation (that’s no exaggeration!) This entry is largely from my presentation given at the DeLand Showcase in November. After more than 13 years of lsa, I believe the industry can stand tall and proud… Even with more than 140 attractive, innovative, and roomy lsa of every description, much of what makes lsa a strong and worthy addition to aviation is less obvious to many. Sure, pilots love the nuts and bolts and hearing about performance or flight characteristics of our favorite aircraft but what has really brought lsa to the forefront of aviation…worldwide? I’m lucky. I’ve had a front row seat to what I consider to be the greatest modern story in aviation. Since the 1970s, I’ve watched hang gliders evolve into ultralights, and ultralights transform into lsa. Then I watched as a worldwide fleet launched into the skies over the past 15-20 years. This has been humbling to experience and a source of constant delight …as well as a source of material for thousands of articles and hundreds of videos. I wish to identify the “Triumph of lsa” through seven bold claims: 1. lsa lead in aircraft deliveries around the globe 2. lsa greatly aided development of Type Certified aircraft 3. lsa stimulated new instrumentation 4. lsa popularized new safety systems 5. lsa lead powerplants into the new millennia 6. lsa encouraged use of modern materials 7. lsa benefit their local communities Can lsa go even further? Quick answer: yes! Yet before we talk about the future, let’s look at the 13-year record. Let me briefly prove each of these 7 claims: Defending The Claims 1—lsa lead aircraft deliveries around the globe. Does that sound hard to believe? You must look globally. While the American fleet is around 4,000 aircraft plus used lsa (nothing to sneer at, imho), in less than two decades more than 65,000 lsa or lsa-like aircraft have been delivered around the world. This is 3:1 compared to TC Aircraft— 2015 data shows 969 Type Certified single engine piston aircraft delivered versus 3,000 lsa/lsa-like. 2—lsa have aided Type Certified aircraft development. Really? Yes! How? As faa agreed to rewrite Part 23 rules (used to certify new Cessnas and such), the agency agreed to use astm industry consensus standards and used the lsa F37 committee as a guideline to establish the new GA-oriented F44 committee. faa would not have done this if they didn’t think the lsa idea worked quite well. You’re welcome, GA industry. 3— lsa massively stimulated new instrumentation. From the first gps use on hang gliders (surprised?) and the first digital engine instruments on ultralights, we now have gorgeous flat screens on lsa, touch screen digital devices in full color with more information than we ever dreamed… and all while most TC aircraft are still dominated by round analog dials. Plus this explosion of visual data came at vastly reduced prices. As the late night infomercials urge, “But wait, there’s more…” lsa also encouraged developers of synthetic vision, cheap autopilots, cheap AoAs, and more. 4—lsa introduced and popularized new safety systems, most notably whole airframe parachute systems but also ‘crush zone’ (safety cells) technology and more. Airframe parachutes were first invented for ultralights. Today they are widely used in lsa and Germany even has a rule mandating them. Hundreds Dan Johnson doing his presentation at the DeLand Showcase
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUwNDI3MA==