www.PSFmagazine.com | November/December 2021 | 13 12 | November/December 2021 | Powered Sport Flying Light Sport Aircraft Support Our Advertisers with superb aerobatic capabilities,” said Magnus Aircraft. However, the company advised, “While the aircraft has aerobatic capabilities … as a Normal Category slsa aircraft, Fusion 212 is presently limited to a maximum of 60 degrees of bank and a maximum pitch up or down of 30 degrees when operating in the United States.” Now, younger representative Doma Andreka speaks for the Hungarian company in revealing that they are pushing flight school sales when upset recovery training is offered. Fusion certainly looks the part. Perhaps it was a different (and striking) paint job on the 2021 model I examined at Midwest lsa Expo but I was immediately caught by the flatness of the upper wing surface. On looking at the also-flat underside I recalled that Fusion 212 uses a symmetrical airfoil, not uncommon on high performance aerobatic aircraft. Fusion’s span is also tight at just 27.3 feet plus it employs a dual-taper planform. Fusion’s cruciform tail is placed higher to be in clear air all the time. As head of Magnus Aircraft’s U.S. operation, Doma is an ideal candidate. He has worked in the factory in Hungary for some years, as head of communications and marketing. As the Hungarian company sought to pursue business in America, the leadership sent Doma to Texas to help Fusion 212 earn its slsa Special Airworthiness Certificate. In 2021 alone Doma reported selling seven aircraft and expects to log a couple more before the year ends. That’s a solid start to the refreshed Magnus America enterprise in the usa. Although this sturdy aircraft may be optimized for aerobatics, this is a comfortable traveling machine as well. Going cross country knowing an aircraft can handle turbulence is reassuring. As Doma next plans to promote Fusion 212 in the uberactive aviation state of Florida, I’m sure we’ll be seeing more Fusions and if some of them appear to be upside down… perhaps they are! Flying the Fusion & Chasing the Fox. I flew Magnus Fusion four years earlier. I liked it then and I like it even better now. This is one of the solidest airplanes I’ve ever flown. It simply feels tight and robust, quite comforting. Doma Andreka did a fine job flying the airplane showing me a standard demo routine as I requested. Having accumulated 400 hours in less than a year, it is clear he is at one with Fusion. My theory is that since I’m the lucky one getting to go up in these planes I should be asking the same questions you might ask if you were the one aboard. Fair enough? We shot a video with a couple cameras inside recording the conversation. Those Video Pilot Reports are more complex to edit but I hope you’ll see the Magnus slsa the way I did today. Chasing the Fox? —Yeah, that. Making my first landing in Fusion, a big bird, approaching from the left, appeared to land in the middle of the runway. “That ’s odd,” I thought, “but he’ ll fly off as we approach.” I was seated on the right and couldn’t see the animal as well. I continued. Doma could see better and said, “No! Go around! That ’s an animal on the runway.” It was a fox, I saw, as it scrambled to the north. Doma had promptly announced it over the radio to advise others in the pattern. Chris Collins and his orange shirted volunteers, always manning the radio, immediately went on ‘wildlife duty,’ chasing the critter off the runway. What service! We went around and my subsequent landing went quite well. Four Distinctive Features of the G1 stol On the last day, I recorded more video interviews including one with Mark Mellicker, the U.S. rep for the G1 stol. We had seen an example at both Sun ‘n Fun and Oshkosh 2021, so it was clear this company was on the move to market their short takeoff and landing entry in the kit aircraft space. When I studied G1 at Midwest, I discovered four features that differentiate this entry from those that look similar. The design is not new; it has more than a 20-year history in Europe where I had first seen it at the Aero Friedrichshafen show. In Germany a G1 displayed with wings folded and on a trailer caught my attention initially because it was fitted with hand controls, allowing a pilot without the use of his or her legs to fly the machine. I find this a worthy development to help others get in the air. That’s one feature. Only after the fact did I even pay attention to the wing fold, another distinction. Many light aircraft enthusiasts will note that G1 looks very similar to Zenith’s CH-750, a shape that has attracted numerous entries. Decades back, Chris Heintz designed the CH-701 and Zenith Aircraft in Mexico, Missouri later developed the 701 into the wider, more comfortable CH-750 variation. The U.S. company sells both models today, but the 750, with its bulging doors, can accommodate larger Americans better.
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