Despite a number of new aircraft and product introductions in the sport plane and light-sport aircraft segments -- and noteworthy improvements to a number of existing models -- 2007 was a hard one for Sport Aviation, due to the loss of a number of well-known and respected pilots in a series of high-profile accidents.

The year also ends with clouds on the horizon for a number of regional fly-ins, after the EAA announced it can no longer afford to put such events on its insurance policy.

January

Alleged preferential treatment and unsafe practices are just two of the reasons the FAA cites in refusing to sign off on a plan by officials in DeLand, FL and skydivers to retain a famous sky diving drop zone open with the construction of a new airport control tower... Czech planemaker Evektor raises the gross weight rating of its SportStar LSA by 55 lbs, to 1,268 lbs... Blue skies and strong breezes greet attendees to the annual Sebring Sport Fly-In... David Hempleman-Adams breaks the world altitude record in a hot air balloon, flying to 32,500 feet... the FAA certifies New Zealand planemaker Alpha Aviation's Alpha 160A aerobatic trainer... The city of Brownsville, TX chains the doors at Taylorcraft Aviation, after the fledgling company reportedly passes a hot check to the city for back rent... A woman in Belgium is charged with the murder of her friend and fellow skydiver, after she discovered the married woman was having an affair with her boyfriend. Police say Els Clottemans, 22, tampered with the woman's parachute, causing her to plunge to her death before a crowd of onlookers.

February

Lancair International and Barrett Precision Engines team to offer a new line of Lancair Reno Edition Engines... Aircraft Manufacturing & Development Co. (AMD) completes its first BRS (Ballistic Recovery Systems) parachute installation in a Zodiac 601XL... Authorities in Carson City, NV confirm the body of Reno Air Race pilot Steve Brown was found in the wreckage of his "Tonopah Low" biplane near a frozen Sierra Nevada lake... CubCrafters becomes only the second planemaker to be awarded an FAA production certificate in the state of Washington. Boeing's the first... Steve Fromhals submits the 5,000th "first flight" report received by Vans Aircraft... A sudden thunderstorm catches paragliders training for an upcoming event in Australia unawares, hurtling two of them to flight-level altitudes, and killing one.

March

The close-knit Harmon Rocket community is hit with another accident, when a pilot flying from Mojave, CA to Bakersfield with a group of five other planes crashes in a vineyard west of the Tehachapi Mountains... The EASA issues an Airworthiness Directive for Rotax 912 fuel pumps, affecting many light-sport aircraft in US service... After spending two years building a 16-foot flying replica of a Cold War-era Vickers Valiant bomber, modelmaker Simon Steggall watches as the detailed model crashes during a proving flight... Czech Aircraft Works moves into its new, 120,000 square-foot facility in the Czech Republic... Helicopter kit manufacturer RotorWay International announces it will explore certification with a new, larger two-seat model. The A600 Talon is later introduced at AirVenture 2007.

April

American Legend Aircraft Company forms an offshoot to provide aircraft restoration services on vintage tube-and-fabric aircraft -- particularly on vintage Piper Cubs, and similar aircraft... Billed as the world's first-ever hovering biplane, the 750-hp Turbine Toucan biplane makes its debut... King Schools co-founder Martha King is involved in a minor accident while receiving instruction in a Polaris trike floatplane. Martha tells ANN it was her fault -- "I flew it like an airplane and not like a trike"... Comp Air Aviation owner Ron Lueck takes flight successfully in his company's Comp Air 12 turboprop single... The FAA repositions its position on repositionable landing gear on amphibious light-sport aircraft, and issues an NPRM to correct a niggling point in the original standards defined for light sport aircraft in 2004. The rule becomes law in June... Ballistic Recovery Systems announces final approval to offer a recovery parachute on the Czech Aircraft Works Sport Cruiser LSA.

May

Miles Hilton-Barber lands his ultralight in Sydney, Australia, after flying 13,500 miles from London. Oh, and he's also blind... Retired British veterinarian Maurice Kirk announces plans to restore a 1943 Piper Cub reportedly flown by General George Patton... Adapting a formula borne out of the musclecar era -- or the Reno Air Races -- CubCrafters takes the lightest airframe it could create, stuffs a big motor in the front, and adds a high-lift wing to create the 220-hp "Carbon Cub"... The Turbine Toucan uber-bipe flies for the first time...  The FAA issues a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), regarding proposed changes to the packing interval for certain types of parachutes... A jumper with the Canadian Forces "Skyhawks" Parachute Team breaks his arm during a jump at the Salute to Veterans Airshow in Columbia, MO.

June

Epic Aircraft flies its new Elite single-pilot, twin-engine VLJ... Balloonists don't like user fees, either! The Balloon Federation of America joins The Alliance for Aviation Across America, and its fight against proposed user fees in the FAA's reauthorization plan... The United Kingdom's Popular Flying Association issues two mandatory safety bulletins to owners of Europa planes... A passenger in a hot air balloon falls -- or jumps -- from the gondola roughly 700 feet above the ground in Colorado... Adventure Productions, with the help of the Aero Technical Institute and Lockwood Aviation, releases a new DVD detailing the proper care and feeding of the popular Rotax 912 powerplant.

July

Cessna announces it will go ahead with production of its as-yet unnamed light sport aircraft. The SkyCatcher debuts later in the month at AirVenture 2007... Glasair Aviation adds Vans RV-7 and RV-10 kits to its popular Two Weeks To Taxi program, in addition to the Glasair Sportsman 2+2... The pilot of a Yakolev 55M is lost when the plane impacts an Everett, WA neighborhood. The plane was on its way to the nearby Arlington Fly-In... Glider pilots Steve Fossett and Terry Delore add to their long list of successes, breaking one of the oldest world gliding records by flying a 777-mile triangular course over Nevada in eight hours and 23 minutes, at a new world record average speed of 92.73 mph... Two Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter pilots make their way across the US in a Flight Design CT, part of a round-the-world flight in the microlight... Cirrus jumps into the LSA fray, with its European-sourced SRS... Lancair unveils its Evolution turboprop at Oshkosh... UK-based Powerplant Developments unveils plans to produce a diesel engine intended for the LSA market... PS Engineering takes direct aim at the homebuilt market, with the company's new PMA9000EX... Two P-51s collide on landing following a mock air race performance at AirVenture 2007, claiming the life of Gerald Beck ... Airshow pilot Jim Leroy is lost in an accident during his routine at the Vectren Dayton Airshow.

August

The "Super Sky Cycle" hybrid motorcycle/gyroplane enters serial production... Within two weeks, Cessna touts 720 orders for its SkyCatcher LSA... John Cudahy, who served as president of the International Council of Air Shows (ICAS) from 1997 to 2006, is reappointed to that position... The FAA investigates reports a California ultralight pilot flew very low over the Sacramento River -- allegedly alarming a group of tubers -- before flying under the Gianella Bridge... Sonex Aircraft, LLC flies two new factory prototype aircraft... Two passengers onboard a hot air balloon are lost when the aircraft bursts into flames on takeoff in western Canada... Flight Design USA distributor Airtime Aviation delivers the 200th CT light-sport aircraft sold in the US... The Experimental Aircraft Association marks the third anniversary of the introduction of light sport aircraft and sport pilot regulations.

September

The ninth month of the Gregorian calendar sees a slew of fatal sport plane accidents. Two pilots are lost when their aircraft collide in midair during a performance at the 2007 Radom Air Show in Poland... The Reno Sport Class racer "Blue Thunder" Thunder Mustang is destroyed in a takeoff accident; pilot John Parker is OK... Pilot Jan Wildbergh is killed when his North American SNJ-2 crashes during a rehearsal/media performance by the GEICO SkyTypers at NAS Oceana... Officials at the Reno Air Races respond to three fatal accidents at the 2007 event, the first such occurrences since 2002... In happier news, light-sport newcomer Gobosh Aviation delivers its first two G700S LSAs... What a birthday present! British racer Paul Bonhomme lands the top standing in the 2007 Red Bull Air Race World Series, following his win in San Diego.

October

Georgia State Senator Preston Smith announces he will go skydiving to raise money for the Sexual Assault Center of Northwest Georgia... Four pilots flying their antique aircraft to the EAA Fly-In in Hagerstown, MD find themselves under escort by F-16 fighters, after busting a Temporary Flight Restriction over the presidential retreat at Camp David. News later surfaces the pilots may not have been told of the TFR by FSS briefers... A California woman falls from a balloon during the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, after the balloon hits a fiber-optic line and the gondola tips... BRS announces it will supply an airframe parachute for the Cessna SkyCatcher... Glider pilots and enthusiasts fear they may lose one of the most storied launch sites in the continental United States, as a high-rise dorm at University of California San Diego threatens the Torrey Pines glider port (CA84)... A twisted plane, a bent Lincoln Continental and three people hospitalized. That is the aftermath of a ground collision involving a noteworthy RV-8 and a car on the runway of a Boerne, TX airpark. The plane involved belongs to Steve Fromhals, and was the 5,000th Vans aircraft flown... Several EAA members gather at Cecil Field Airport in Jacksonville, FL to recognize the recent repeal of that city's ordinance banning construction of aircraft in a person's own home.

November

A British grandmother chooses to celebrate her 100th birthday in high-flying style -- by becoming the world's oldest paraglider... American Mike Mangold snatches the 2007 Red Bull Air Race World Series championship from Britain's Paul Bonhomme, after the closest fought title race in the competition's four-year history... An Arizona model airplane club fears it will soon have to disband, after 30 years, if it can't find a new field to fly their planes from... A new skydiving record is clouded by the death of one of the jumpers... Cessna announces it will build the SkyCatcher LSA in China.

December

After 28 years of outstanding formation aerobatic air show performances, The Schwan Food Company announces the retirement of the Red Baron Pizza Squadron... A South Texas model airplane club finds a sweet-smelling solution to its search for a new field to fly from: a city dump... Flight Design announces it will introduce its new 'CTLS' at Sebring 2008... The EAA asks the FAA for more time for owners of two-place ultralights to complete the airworthiness certification process of their vehicles to the experimental-light-sport aircraft (E-LSA) category, citing a backlog of requests for inspection... On the heels of the announcement the Southwest Regional Fly-In has been cancelled for 2008, the EAA stresses other regional events shouldn't feel threatened -- but also says changes in EAA's role in such events are coming... Lightplane manufacturer Pipistrel flies an all-electric powered aircraft, based on the two place Taurus motor-glider.

FMI: www.aero-news.net