Thu, Feb 03, 2011
It was a great four days... and despite rain, winds, frigid cold
and other evidence that Florida had lost its rep as a warm and
inviting tourist mecca, folks from all over the world showed up in
Sebring, Florida, to celebrate all things LSA. While the first
day's traffic was outstanding by any standard and the conditions
were likewise, Friday through Sunday attendees had to brave some
serious rain (Friday) and chilly/windy conditions the rest of the
week. But, through it all, they did indeed flock to Sebring.
The home of the US Sport Aviation Expo, Sebring winds up being
the bellwether of the sport aviation business as the first big
flying event of the year -- especially for sport aviation (while
Lakeland fades into the dust and Oshkosh becomes more of a
'Tradeshow' and less of a Fly-in).
The slow growing LSA movement still shows signs that it may
mature into a solid industry, providing a new entry-level option
for those who want to become pilots and aircraft owners -- despite
an economy that does little to promote either aircraft ownership
and operation.
Still; a long-postulated shakeout of the industry, where there
are simply still too many manufacturers barely keeping the doors
open, has failed to come to pass (though signs are starting to
indicate that it may finally be in the offing), and the industry
continues to stumble in presenting a professional face to the
public... especially in terms of marketing-- where ANN's simple
research during the event showed the sale-ability of the products
at Sebring to hampered by companies that apparently knew little
about how to sell.
In the meantime, though, Cessna is now shipping SkyCatchers in
appreciable quantities, a number of hearty and respected
manufacturers have fine tuned their designs and some outstanding
products and values ARE to be had in the LSA market... so while
things ARE tough, there is still great hope that LSA might someday
meet its promise.
ANN engaged the expertise and experience of US Sport Aviation
Boss Bob Wood to discuss all this and a number of other topics for
an interview in the closing hours of the 2011 US Sport Aviation
Expo... Join us!
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