www.PSFmagazine.com | May-June 2019 | 19 18 | May-June 2019 | Powered Sport Flying Airtime has the trike carriage attached optimally to the floats to complement this quality of trikes and the results are good. I watched as Michael cycled the gear up and down. It’s a remarkably fast moving system and appears very simple. This system is used in two configurations on both the company’s aircraft. Airtime Aircraft offers two trike models. One is the Cygnet that became a Special lsa ten years ago. It has seen refinements but is essentially the same aircraft, probably because it works well. Explorer 103 is a legitimate Part 103 aircraft using the added weight faa permits under guidance. To look at them, though, the two models appear much the same aircraft except for the extra seat and added structure to accommodate the 912 engine on Cygnet. Electric ppg— One of the rigs I was most impressed with was an electric powered paraglider (ppg). The one I examined was for foot launch but I was told it would work well on a lightweight wheeled, as are becoming common in ppgs. I learned of this from Planet ppg owner Paul Czarnecki, also a popular voice in Paradise City this year along with Stephanie Bensinger. These two did great work announcing activities in the area. The electric ppg was a creation of John Magdic in conjunction with Open ppg. This is a modern-style opensource project (think: Linux operating system) where you can purchase components to make your own electric ppg. How successful could this be? According to information provided to Sun ‘n Fun judges, Magdic’s four-motor system can produce 165 pounds of thrust, comparable to the most powerful gasoline ppg units and substantially more than the average ppg. Magdic’s Open ppg propulsion system has 30 pounds of batteries that can provide 30 minutes of power. If you want more you could double the four to eight batteries and get an hour’s flying time but your rig will then be of similar weight to a gas-powered ppg. For many, 30 minutes of flying time may be sufficient. Cost, according to Czarnecki, is about $5,000 for the electric power frame, $3,000 for a wing, and if you want it, a wheeled carriage is about $1,500 making a full price for a complete aircraft less than $10,000. That’s affordable flying! Sun ‘n Fun Day 5 …Wrap Up — Cub and Mother; Sopwith Camel Replica, Father of Ultralight Aircraft moac — “Tweety” got my, and lots of other’s, well-deserved attention (photo below), being the very first airplane American Legend produced, back in 2005. The original aircraft was on display at Sun ‘n Fun. Since the company has since registered 226 aircraft, Tweety launched quite a good run. However, it was the Mother Of All Cubs that commandeered the focus of many show attendees visiting the American Legend exhibit. This variation on their theme has several wow factors. A handsome young fellow sat in the airplane as I approached. He turned out to be Luke, son of American Legend boss, Darin Hart. I looked again to see he was seated in the third seat. A strut maintains structure in front of the third seat but it removes easily with quick pins. Luke scrambled out of the third seat easily. “It ’s actually easier than entering the front seat of moac,” said Luke. Those seats do more. They can fold forward and with some securing anchors, can haul a different payload. The seating ties in with a whole new “turtle deck” as Darin called it. Not your usual turtle deck, this six-foot-long opening runs from the trailing edge of the wing halfway to the tail. The turtle deck opens wide enough to allow an injured passenger to be loaded head first into moac. For three persons or an air ambulance, moac has plenty of power to carry about 1,000 pounds of useful load thanks to the largest Titan X370 producing 195 horsepower. Darin said climb performance is so strong, he plans to enter three aopa regional event stol competitions and believes moac can do well. “It ’s pretty easy to manage the takeoff to win,” Darin noted. “It ’s landing really short that demands high pilot skills.”
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