Sport Pilot Talk

Student pilot working on my PPL (9.3 hours logged as of this evening) at KTTN, with future aspirations to get my instrument rating, but extremely interested in owning an LSA as my personal aircraft in about a year or two due to its relatively low operational costs vs. a GA aircraft and its meeting my mission requirements (most flying done around my home airport, a bit of X-country flying with my wife -- once she agrees to fly with me, that is ). I figure if I'm renting a GA aircraft more than flying my own LSA, then it'll be time to upgrade.

Day job: active-duty USPHS officer (current rank: CDR/O-5) that does healthcare disaster preparedness and response.

Found y'all while Googl'ing how friendly avgas is to the Rotax engine (learned: not very, especially compared to mogas!), and came across Howard's (nomore767) thread from Aug. 2013 more or less asking the same thing.

Looking forward to learning a lot on here!

Welcome to the forum.

There are 3 of us on the forum that are in the area, I hanger my RV12 out of KPTW. We have a active EAA chapter (1250) that meets every Sat. Keep up the training, it is very rewarding and one of the best thing you will do. Shoot me PM and we can arrange a flight.

David wrote:Welcome to the forum.

There are 3 of us on the forum that are in the area, I hanger my RV12 out of KPTW. We have a active EAA chapter (1250) that meets every Sat. Keep up the training, it is very rewarding and one of the best thing you will do. Shoot me PM and we can arrange a flight.

Thanks, David -- will do. The RV-12 is on my list, so I'd love to go on a hop with you sometime. Will be in touch.

Thanks...

Edit: I see that Dave (deltafox) is also nearby, so I might have to pay him a visit, too...

Welcome aboard Commander! Stop by KUKT anytime, I love to talk about LSA.

deltafox wrote:Welcome aboard Commander! Stop by KUKT anytime, I love to talk about LSA.

Thank you, Sir! Took a quick look at your blog and saw that you were a Naval Aviator in a previous life. When and what platform?

Hello Andy! I am from NJ and I used to take sport pilot flight lessons at AB Flight, which is a flight school, aircraft dealer and maintenance repair shop dedicated to LSA and sport pilot training. AB Flight is located in Allentown Queen City Airport probably not too far from where you are located. There is an excellent CFI/DPE in that school, so if you ever want to get a sport pilot license instead of PPL or if you just want to fly LSAs with a PPL, that is the place to be. They only use Evektor Aircraft LSAs.

N918KT wrote:Hello Andy! I am from NJ and I used to take sport pilot flight lessons at AB Flight, which is a flight school, aircraft dealer and maintenance repair shop dedicated to LSA and sport pilot training. AB Flight is located in Allentown Queen City Airport probably not too far from where you are located. There is an excellent CFI/DPE in that school, so if you ever want to get a sport pilot license instead of PPL or if you just want to fly LSAs with a PPL, that is the place to be. They only use Evektor Aircraft LSAs.

Thanks! I've sort of ruled out the Evektors since they're not certified for E10, but I'll keep that in mind.

Fortunately, I only live six miles from KTTN (Trenton-Mercer Airport), so taking my PPL lessons is very convenient.

Welcome aboard, Andy; good to have you with us. If you're near KTTN, may I assume you're training at Ronson Aviation? Good people (though I understand they sold their only LSA).

Yes. the Evektors do not authorize E10. Yes, the Rotax engine prefers auto gas to avgas. But, 100LL is not so much of a problem, if you understand and comply with the maintenance requirements. Switching from mogas to 100LL did double my fuel costs, but represented only a 10% increase in my overall operating costs.

One minor point: GA includes, by definition, all flying except for the airlines and the military. Thus, LSA are in fact GA aircraft. I think the distinction you meant to make was between LSA and certified aircraft (although, to confuse matters further, there are some legacy certified aircraft that are LSAs! )

If an LSA will suit your mission, then by all means consider one, regardless of what you're training in, or what license you're seeking. They are a hoot to fly, and are significantly cheaper (both to purchase and to operate) than new certified aircraft, while in many cases better equipped. (Of course, 50 year old certified aircraft are much cheaper to buy, but that would be comparing apples and kumquats...)

Safe Skies,
Paul

drseti wrote:Welcome aboard, Andy; good to have you with us. If you're near KTTN, may I assume you're training at Ronson Aviation? Good people (though I understand they sold their only LSA).

Yes. the Evektors do not authorize E10. Yes, the Rotax engine prefers auto gas to avgas. But, 100LL is not so much of a problem, if you understand and comply with the maintenance requirements. Switching from mogas to 100LL did double my fuel costs, but represented only a 10% increase in my overall operating costs.

One minor point: GA includes, by definition, all flying except for the airlines and the military. Thus, LSA are in fact GA aircraft. I think the distinction you meant to make was between LSA and certified aircraft (although, to confuse matters further, there are some legacy certified aircraft that are LSAs! )

If an LSA will suit your mission, then by all means consider one, regardless of what you're training in, or what license you're seeking. They are a hoot to fly, and are significantly cheaper (both to purchase and to operate) than new certified aircraft, while in many cases better equipped. (Of course, 50 year old certified aircraft are much cheaper to buy, but that would be comparing apples and kumquats...)

Safe Skies,
Paul

Hey Paul, I just checked the flight school website for TTN and I noticed that not only Royal Karina Air Service changed its name to Infinity Flight Group, you are also correct that the LSA they had is no longer available in addition to their sport pilot program being dropped.

Thanks, Paul!

Yep, training at the primary flight school next door to Ronson -- like N918KT said, it used to be called Royal Karina, they just renamed it to Infinity Flight Group. http://www.ireallywanttofly.com

Edit: apparently, they still do offer sport pilot training...it's a little tough to find on their site: http://www.ireallywanttofly.com/special ... sport.html

They still have their LSA, a Storm Century -- it's sitting on the ramp, downed...took a hard landing, and they're having trouble getting factory parts since Storm is now based in Tunisia. If they ever get it back up and running, I'll seriously consider getting in on the fractional program they once had for it.

Thanks for the clarification re: an LSA being a GA aircraft...you're correct, I was comparing an LSA to something like the C172 in which I'm currently training. I'll also keep the avgas requirements in mind -- if the local gas stations (there are three stations I can hit before getting to the airport) have E10, I think I'd still like to find an E10-friendly LSA for both maintenance and fuel cost reasons. (Edit: which begs the question...which LSAs are certified for E10?)

Thanks again, and cheers...

AJChenMPH wrote:

N918KT wrote:Hello Andy! I am from NJ and I used to take sport pilot flight lessons at AB Flight, which is a flight school, aircraft dealer and maintenance repair shop dedicated to LSA and sport pilot training. AB Flight is located in Allentown Queen City Airport probably not too far from where you are located. There is an excellent CFI/DPE in that school, so if you ever want to get a sport pilot license instead of PPL or if you just want to fly LSAs with a PPL, that is the place to be. They only use Evektor Aircraft LSAs.

Thanks! I've sort of ruled out the Evektors since they're not certified for E10, but I'll keep that in mind.

Fortunately, I only live six miles from KTTN (Trenton-Mercer Airport), so taking my PPL lessons is very convenient.

Hi!

Back in the early 1980s I was a CFI/CFII at Ronson Aviation. Flew the Ronson beechcraft fleet as well as the cessna for the (then) contract with Mercer County Community College.
We lived in Washington Crossing when we lived in Bucks County and when I worked for the airline my wife had a job at Ronson at the FBO side of things.

Cheers, Howard

Nomore767 wrote:Back in the early 1980s I was a CFI/CFII at Ronson Aviation. Flew the Ronson beechcraft fleet as well as the cessna for the (then) contract with Mercer County Community College.
We lived in Washington Crossing when we lived in Bucks County and when I worked for the airline my wife had a job at Ronson at the FBO side of things.

Sorry, Howard -- just saw this!

Yep, we're down in Lower Makefield Township, not far from the Yardley VOR. Small world!

How's that RV-12 treating you so far?

AJChenMPH wrote:

Nomore767 wrote:Back in the early 1980s I was a CFI/CFII at Ronson Aviation. Flew the Ronson beechcraft fleet as well as the cessna for the (then) contract with Mercer County Community College.
We lived in Washington Crossing when we lived in Bucks County and when I worked for the airline my wife had a job at Ronson at the FBO side of things.

Sorry, Howard -- just saw this!

Yep, we're down in Lower Makefield Township, not far from the Yardley VOR. Small world!

How's that RV-12 treating you so far?

It's treating ME very well, and I'm trying my best to return the favor!

Nomore767 wrote:It's treating ME very well, and I'm trying my best to return the favor!

AJChenMPH wrote:They still have their LSA, a Storm Century -- it's sitting on the ramp, downed...took a hard landing, and they're having trouble getting factory parts since Storm is now based in Tunisia. If they ever get it back up and running, I'll seriously consider getting in on the fractional program they once had for it.

Well, for what it's worth -- the school has changed hands (it's now called Infinity Flight Group) and the owner of the old school has put the Storm Century up for sale...just saw it listed on Trade-A-Plane.com.