A Doub Ly International LSA
Canadian-Designed Czech-Built Skylark A doub ly international LSA Story by Dan Johnson, photos by Jim Koepnick portsPlanes.com imports sev- Investigating the Skylark Skylark, but SportsPlanes.com com- eral light-sport aircraft (LSA) My opportunity to fly the Skylark pany pilots Dale Faux and Eric Del- that have found ready buy- came while attending the U.S. Sport lenbach, who is also SportsPlanes. ers. After researching through Aviation Expo in Sebring, Florida, in com’s national sales director, have Sseveral designs, SportsPlanes’ owner January. I flew with Darrell Hamil- wrung the plane out extensively. Josh Foss originally settled on the ton, the SportsPlanes representative Although the Skylark is a Czech- Comco Ikarus C42 and Breezer and for Florida. built LSA, it was designed by David the U.S.-built American Flyer for its Darrell retired from Northwest Marsden, a professor of aeronautical fleet. Most recently, the company Airlines four years ago. He most re- engineering at the University of Al- added the Czech-built Dova Skylark cently crewed the fly-by-wire Airbus berta in Edmonton, Canada. Marsden to its offerings. A320, which needs only small con- was able to use the university’s wind However, the real story of this com- trol movements. But he also piloted tunnel, a capability not available to pany is not Josh Foss’ care in the se- the Boeing 747 and, before that, the many LSA designers. After complet- lection of what airplanes to sell. What McDonnell-Douglas DC-9. The latter, ing the design work, Marsden enlist- may be more important to the mar- he said, took lots of control pressure ed Dova to be the manufacturer.
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