www.PSFmagazine.com | January/February 2021 | 15 14 | January/February 2021 | Powered Sport Flying Light Sport Aircraft differently and SeaRey remains a great value. Brazil’s Scoda Aeronautica’s Super Petrel LS has joined the leaders with a breakout year in 2020. And coming in 2021, New Zealand’s Vickers Wave expects first flights this spring. And there is one more. Although presently a kit producer, Aero Adventure will be offering a fully-built model and its price point is sure to attract new buyers for this long-proven design. One statement is true for lsa seaplanes and all other recreational segments: The ease of market entry compared to conventionally-certified ‘legacy’ airplanes is sure to keep developers on their toes, demanding they continually make their aircraft more desirable. Alternative Aircraft: Trikes/Gyroplanes/ Powered Parachutes. Fixed-wing, three-axis aircraft have dominated Light Sport Aircraft since the start. However, what I term “alternative aircraft” (anything not a fixed-wing three-axis model) have long made up about a quarter of the total and this remains true. In this new year, I suspect we will find that Part 103 ultralights will factor in significantly. Among these lightest powered, wheeled aircraft, fixed-wing, three-axis will be the lion’s share but alternative aircraft represent a percentage you cannot ignore. My expectation is that unit sales of Part 103 fixed-wing and alternative models may exceed the total of slsa/elsa models sold. They are less costly by a wide margin — in some cases only one-tenth the cost of a deluxe Special lsa. Reviewing the charts and tables accompanying this report, Steve noted, “Except for Magni, gyroplane registrations were down. This hot segment seems to have cooled a bit in 2020.” I would add that this could change a lot once the new regulation is announced and ready-to-fly gyroplanes can be sold by any company that earns faa acceptance via astm industry consensus standards. “Trike registrations were flat overall,” Steve said. However, he added, “Evolution Trikes had a big comeback in 2020. Interestingly, they registered only one of their high-end Revo trikes. Fortunately, Larry Mednick branched out into the mid-sized RevoLT and the single-seat RevX. The latter is like a high-performance ultralight, so perhaps its numbers are a side-effect of the boom in ultralight sales this year.” Evolution also makes a Part 103 model called Rev that also experienced a robust year in 2020, Larry reported. “Powered parachutes (ppcs) recovered from 2019, but Powrachute brand may soon be the only company in the segment,” Steve wrote. The Michigan producer —which also manufactures components for Evolution Trikes — nearly doubled its registrations from 2019 to 2020. Six Chuter came back from zero in 2019 but their numbers are small. Some other ppc producers have models that show up nowhere. SkyRunner and it’s gnarly, large, and ‘twin-engined’ combo powered parachute and ground vehicle made several sales to the U.S. government and military. These units require no faa registration so do not appear in our tabulations. No other powered parachute make emerged into the statistics, opening the door for new entrants. That’s our look at affordable aircraft in 2020. Building a kit can be a largely solo activity and sport aircraft are flown solo most of the time. Therefore 2020 was not the horrid year it was for someone working in hospitality, restaurants, gyms, churches, or other “non-essential” activities. If you’re one of many who kept flying in 2020, good for you! Enjoy your aerial freedom! Alternate Aircraft Number of Aircraft Registrations Category 2017 2018 2019 2020 Gyroplane 69 73 60 49 Weight Shift Control Trike 23 18 24 21 Powered Parachute 26 32 18 28 Did It Work? Midwest Light-Sport Expo 2020 — the Year’s Final Airshow Lots of doubters expressed their opinions in the weeks and days before Mt. Vernon’s 12th running of this sector-specific event. Did it work? Were the naysayers right or wrong? I will express one person’s opinion but reflect a number of comments I heard: “Thank goodness for Mt. Vernon airport manager Chris Collins and his contingent of orange-shirted volunteers who hosted this event,” making it another success. To me, ‘success’ means no accidents (none happened) and a decent turn-out that got pilots in new aircraft and vendors the sales that sustain them (both happened). Summarizing Midwest 2020 In a typical year, Midwest attracts 1,500 or more pilots for the three days of event. My casual estimate is that 2020 was at least as strong as before and perhaps it was even up a bit. No one knows more. Midwest does not charge a fee to enter and more than one entry gate would make any effort to count heads futile. So, admittedly, I am guessing but having been to 11 of the 12 events (I missed one due to a hurricane in Florida where I live), I think it was at least the same and possibly better than earlier years. That estimate is despite a crippled economy and a substantial share of the population that is so nervous about Covid that they will not venture out to an event like Midwest. Countering that were many who either braved the risk of exposure —while taking normal precautions, I hasten to add… I saw no one acting irresponsibly — or those who believe the country is emerging from isolation and fear. Yet it wasn’t only attendees who could not or did not make the show. Six or seven committed vendors failed to appear. The reasons were varied. Some were told by their home state authorities that if they left they might not be allowed back in the state (presumably without some caution like mandatory quarantine). While this may seem like government overreach to many, employees who would not be traveling also stated concerns Aerosport’s Bushcat exhibit. Significantly revised yet still affordable. Photo by Randee Laskewitz.
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