Aero-Tips!
A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard
this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer
statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of
"there are no old, bold pilots.")
Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner,
master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us
-- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators. Some of them, you
may have heard before... but for each of us, there will also be
something we might never have considered before, or something that
didn't "stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized
it for the practical test.
Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you
through the Aero-News Network.
Aero-Tips 07.30.06
Writing this at AirVenture 2006 I'm surrounded by the excitement
of Light Sport aviation. There are well over a dozen newly
certificated light sport designs featured, from established
manufacturers, newcomers to the industry, and even the lightplane
powerhouse Cessna exhibiting its proof-of-concept LSA -- from some
angles bearing a strong family resemblance to a straight-tail
Cessna 150.
"New" being what it is, the typical asking price for a Light
Sport is $80,000 to $100,000. Between purchase cost and the expense
of insuring such a pricey airplane (especially in a training/rental
market), the few LSA-renting FBOs to date are having to charge
about the same hourly rate common in late-model Cessna Skyhawks:
$90 to $110 per hour, with instructor fees extra. The result:
renting a Light Sport airplane won't be any less expensive than
traditional general aviation, and may be more costly that renting
the older Cessnas and Pipers that are the mainstay of
instructional/personal flight.
Sport Aviation Club
For Light Sport to thrive in the U.S. I think we should take a
lesson from some of our European and Australian friends. Flying
clubs are common in foreign lands, member-run groups that own and
operate one or more small airplanes. The "Sport Aviation Clubs"
provide an informal atmosphere conducive to family activities and
social gatherings on nice days, with members taking turns leading
talks and projects that teach the other members what they've
learned about flying.
Since Light Sport airplanes by nature are not cross-country
ships, it'll be unusual when they'll be gone for more than about an
hour at a time, so if the airplane is out when a member arrives at
the club to fly it'll usually be back before too long. This permits
time for hangar-flying or reviewing videos or visiting with the
family until the airplane comes back. The atmosphere would be more
like the extremely successful sport parachute clubs in the U.S.,
where members tend to gather all day long and socialize while they
wait their turns to go airborne.
Traditionally many joint ownerships
and clubs have not worked well in the U.S., I think, because
traditional American general aviation pilots are more interested in
cross-country flight, limiting airplane availability. With renewed
emphasis on simple, local flight under Light Sport rules, however,
U.S. pilots might be more open to a well-run partnership. A Sport
Aviation Club may be a vehicle for many Sport Pilots to band
together to purchase, insure and own one of the exciting new Light
Sport aircraft.
Aero-tip of the day: Interested in Light Sport?
Think about forming a Sport Aviation Club.