Aventur a ii It’s a Bird! It’s a Boat! No…it’s a HOOT! JULY 2006 Big Feet, Little Feat Gear Maintenance Made Easy $4.99US $5.99CAN Flying to a Fly-In: 07 Sun ’n Fun 2006 All the News From Lakeland What You Can Do Odyssey of the Young To Make It Safer 0 09281 03883 2 Levi Self is 15—and a Builder airPlay. The Lancair Legacy. Acceleration meets exhilaration. You climb at a rate of 2500 fpm to 10,000 feet, level off, then swallow up a 1200 mile route at 280 mph on a single tank of gas. You want to pinch yourself. But you are not dreaming. No, you are flying, first class, in the sleek Lancair Legacy—a combination of speed, control, comfort and economy that translates into unparalleled performance and pure flying fun. There is also an extra measure Cruise 280 mph Useful Load 800 Lbs of satisfaction that comes from having built this beauty yourself. And with simple, Range 1200 miles straightforward instructions as well as optional one-week to eight-week builder’s Stall Speed 67 mph Rate of Climb 2500 fpm assistance programs you can dramatically cut the time to that first flight in your Horsepower 310 new Legacy. Fuel Burn 15 GPH The Lancair Legacy and the fixed-gear Legacy FG. Two aeronautical masterpieces that deserve serious airPlay. Lancair-Kits.com ■ 541.923.2244 Performance from the Ground Up Copyright © 2005 Neico Aviation Inc. All rights reserved, specifications and pricing to change without notice. Photograph by Mark Leet Photography. CONTENTS July 2006 | Volume 23, Number 7 On the cover: Dave Higdon photographed the Aventura II fl ying boat over ideal terrain near Aero Adventure’s Rockledge, Florida, base. Flight Reports 10 AVENTURA II Want an airplane that makes a splash? Aero Adventure’s Aventura II off ers amphib fun; by Dave Higdon. 48 READY FOR PRIME TIME With 77 airplanes delivered, this composite cutie has jumped to the head of the LSA class; by Dave Higdon. Builder Spotlight 17 15 AND FLYING, BUILDING TO SOLO 48 Th is Mini-MAX builder wasted no time turning his dream into reality; by Levi Self. 31 DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT: DARRYL MURPHY Renegade? Rebel? Moose? Are we describing the man or the machines? By Tim Kern. 62 COMPLETIONS Builders share their successes. Shop Talk 25 FLIGHT TEST LIKE A PRO Wringing out your new Experimental isn’t just about adrenaline; by Marc Cook. 53 GET IN GEAR You may only use it twice a fl ight, but your landing gear is an important subsystem; by Tim Kern. 65 ENGINE BEAT Take a look at Rotax’s fab 582; by Tim Kern. 73 AERO ’LECTRICS A quick and dirty 12-24 up-converter; by Jim Weir. Designer’s Notebook 59 THE “SECRET OF FLIGHT” DVDS Aerodynamics like you’ve never seen them before; by Murry Rozansky. 68 WIND TUNNEL Bumpy air? Make your airplane a smooth operator; by Barnaby Wainfan. Exploring 2 AROUND THE PATCH 10 Who’s next in LSA? By Marc Cook. 8 WHAT’S NEW EAA’s new Homebuilt Aircraft Certifi cation Kit simplifi es paperwork; edited by Brian E. Clark. 36 FLY-IN FLYING Before you venture out to special events, take time to prep; by Ed Wischmeyer. 40 SUN ‘N FUN 2006 At this year’s spring fl y-in in Florida, engines were the name of the game; a staff report. 45 LSA MIDTERM, PASSED! A year aft er approval of the fi rst SLSAs, we surveyed the Kit Bitslandscape of the FAA’s newest category; by Brian E. Clark. 4 CONTRIBUTORS 6 LETTERS 63 SPORTPLANES ADVERTISING SECTION 64 LIST OF ADVERTISERS 70 BUILDERS’ MARKETPLACE 17 75 THE CLASSIFIED BUILDER 80 KIT STUFF Drawing on experience; by cartoonist Robrucha. KITPLANES July 2006 1 AROUND the Patch MARCBY COOK the trainer is smaller doesn’t mean it’s a whole lot less complex or time-consum- Who’s Next in LSA? ing to build. And yet you can’t charge mong the juicier rumors at Sun ’n Fun, fl oating like mosquitoes over the scrub- nearly what you’d like for it, given its Agrass, was this one: Our little corner of aviation, now showing signs of growth with place in the line. the new LSAs, might just be joined—invaded, some say—by a big player. Now, were I Th e answer to the second question slightly less patient, I might have jumped in with, “Yeah, Van’s. Everyone knows that.” partially covers the fi rst one: Create an Not so fast, hotshot. It’s true that Van’s has displayed interest in LSAs and would entirely new airplane that’s easier to doubtlessly put out an excellent kit—likely to be a conventional 51% rather than an build and therefore more profi table at ELSA, I’m told—with fi ne performance and stellar handling qualities. It has been what amounts to the entry-level price of assumed that once Van’s enters the market a good many of the marginal players, those around $100,000 equipped. with limited production capacity or off -shore facilities that are subject to the whims of Now we can have a bit of fun specu- local government and shift ing currency values, will wither and die. It’s a familiar topic lating what it might be. A plastic 152? around the ice-cream tent at these airshows that LSA simply can’t support 30 or 40 or Something like a Diamond Katana? 50 diff erent manufacturers and more times that of individual aircraft models. It’s a hot How about a new design that mirrors area now, certainly, but will it be that hot long term? No one really knows. some of the elements rumored to be part But these rumors I’m hear- of Cessna’s other new project, supposedly ing don’t have to do with Van’s. a replacement for the 210 and a Cirrus Th ey’re centered on none other battler. Th e sudden emergence of the than Cessna. Yes, that Wichi- Very Light Jets (VLJs) has shown that ta juggernaut, once the largest Cessna can react—and react quickly—to manufacturer of light aircraft fresh threats. (Th en again, that’s the jet in the world and holder of set, practically awash in cash.) Or might what will probably stand for all we be in for a strategic alliance, putting time as the record for number the Cessna name on another design and of units produced. (Hmmm. bringing the Textron-owned compa- Better wait on that. China, in ny’s marketing and support structure to a decade or so, may prove me work? wrong.) Word is that Cessna has Is this the next new LSA? Don’t count on it. And let’s not forget that Cessna is vir- watched the fi eld carefully and tually alone in making a serious go of the taken the opportunity to watch trainer market—at least until Diamond the successes and failures of the other manufacturers. For a smaller manufacturer, this showed up. Beech, Mooney and Piper all would be a suicidal stance. When a market segment shows life, it pays to be early to the tried special-built trainers, and failed. party, if not necessarily the fi rst one through the door. Anybody remember the Beech Skipper? A company the size of Cessna, with far-fl ung service centers and plenty of corporate How about the Mooney Cadet? In fact, dough to make such a project happen in a reasonable amount of time, might do well the only way Piper made its trainers work among the smaller fi rms with unfamiliar names and designs. was to use the same bones in most of But this postulation begs a couple of questions. One, how might Cessna conclude its single-engine line. Cherokees every- that it could make suffi cient money in the category when it’s said that the single-engine where you look! line, particularly the 172, are hardly profi table enough to put Twinkies in the corporate But here’s the kicker: Th e rumor with- vending machine? And, two, what would Cessna build? in a rumor was that Cessna will not I can’t really answer the fi rst question without seeing the books—fat chance of that— adhere to the ASTM-created LSA specs but that’s always been an issue with models low in the lineup. It used to cost Cessna but in fact produce a FAR Part 23-cer- nearly as much to build a 150 as it did the 172, and likewise the 182 or 206. Just because tifi ed airplane that happens to meet the speed/weight/stall speed requirements of LSA. Would that be enough to get you Marc Cook has been in aviation journalism for 19 years and in magazine work for 25. He is a shopping at the Cessna store? Or has the 3800-hour instrument-rated, multi-engine pilot with experience in nearly 150 types. What’s more, he’s mad about homebuilts. company been too long from glory? It’s going to be an interesting ride. 2 KITPLANES July 2006 ©2006 Garmin Ltd or its subsidiaries How to make light sport of serious avionics. 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