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Don.
Good article about the new LSA planes.
One comment to the CTSW. I believe that is a German creation, targeted at
the Ultralight market here and adjusted to LSA specifications.
I had the opportunity to check out such plane here in Germany. It was owned
by a flight instructor and he honestly spoke about the advantages and
disadvantages of the plane.
Advantages are:
1. It is a lightweight, but very sturdy fiberglass/carbon construction that
is giving a safety advantage in cases of flipping over etc.
2. The Rotax engine is good in gas usage and cheaply to maintain.
3. Seating and visibility are really wonderful
Disadvantages are:
1. It is lightweight, that makes the plane very sensitive to the smallest
turbulence. That Instructor came with a friend of mine for a visit to my
airport. They might have had a 2 hour flight, maybe less that was mostly
flown at around 1000-2000 feet. Yes Germany is mostly flat. My friend had a
"soft" stomach after that flight. When it came to fly back, my friend was
visibly nervous and started sweating when he climbed in into that cockpit. I
am sure that this experience did not make another pilot out of him and I
never received a final report on how the flight back was. It must have been
horror for him. Since he was flying on a summer afternoon. The instructor
and owner admitted that this plane is letting you feel every bump in the
air. He also named this fact as the biggest disadvantage of that plane.
2. The 4-stroke geared Rotax engines are disliked by many who own them.
There are many things on that engine that are mediocre to my standards and
that are just plane bad in everyone's opinion. One fellow pilot on my
airport that owns a Zodiac with a Rotax told me that due to the weird
configuration of the engine-prop gear, his controllable pitch prop was
simply torn into pieces. In idle, the gear has some slack that allows the
prop to go back and forth and not every prop is built to withstand that.
The engine oil return is done by using the engine blowby pressure. That
pressure pushes the oil back into it's container - can't call that a sump
really- and then the oil pump takes from there. This approach works or does
not I have been told. The fact that it might not work some time and the
engine runs out of oil pressure while sitting in oil sounds like a joke to
me. The engine is water cooled. That alone creates a problem of additional
parts that might break ( one burst hose and you are due ). Then the
regulation of the water temperature has it's problems I was told. And there
had been at least 5 more items he explained that were not in favor of a
Rotax.
3. Visibility is wonderful - to the front. There is no rear visibility at
all. And is a high wing plane with it's downsides on visibility. I don't
want to start another high wing versus low wing discussion, but the fact is
that you can not check what's behind you.
That's it folks.
Have a wonderful X-mas.
Hartmut, Berlin - Germany
----- Original Message -----
From: "DONALD BOWEN" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2005 1:26 AM
Subject: [COUPERS-TECH] LSA
----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any
advice in this forum.]----
I'm a bit out of touch since I haven't received any TECH or FLYIN inputs
in the past several weeks.
Today. I cancdelled my subscriptions to both and immediately renewed -
problem solved.
I note a lot of inputs on SLSA aircraft. I, too, am interested, but not
for right now - my ALON is performing excellently, as it should,
considering the moneyI have invested in it I do not presently have any
health problems that would preclue passing a FAA physical.
I attended the recent AOPA EXPO at Tampa several weeks back. I visited the
LSA display area and looked at the 16 or more candidates. Most were
unexciting and very expensive. Entry and egress for senior citizens is
demanding to say the least. However, one candidate caught my eye; the
Flight Design CTSW 2006. I climbed into it and looked around the cockpit,
as I did for half a dozen other models. I followed up several weeks later
by visiting LOCKWOOD AVIATION , the local (Florida) dealer at Sebring, FL.
They also are the ROTEX overhaul facility for this area. I did have the
opportunity to fly the CTSW. I really liked it! I'm not sure what my
bladder would do with the 1000 nm range (!) w/ auto fuel consumption @ 4.8
gph. But, I sure liked the outstanding visability, and the standard
configuration inculsion ot the rocket-launcched ballistic parachute
system. Think about it!
I'm 6'3" @ 210 lbs, and there is plenty of room in the coclkpit for two
of the same size.
Yes, the CTSW is expensive, particularly if you choose all the "bells and
whistles" such as th 3 blade prop ,the digital cockpit displays, etc. but
it is only marginally more costly than most of the old/tired design
competitors.
Try their website (good video and pics): www.flightdesignusa.com
Don Bowen
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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