Light Sport Aircraft survey

Rick Pellicciotti wrote:

Montblack wrote:

("Rick Pellicciotti" wrote)

Following the conventions of this group, I won't mention the airplane
I sell or the prices. If you are interested, email me off the group
and I will send you details.



It's not spam (IMHO) if the post is requested ...it's hangar talk. g

Post your plane's link and tell us what's special about it - and don't
forget those prices ($$$$$). Many interested people here. Be prepared
for some, um, feedback :-)

Will it, and you, be at Oshkosh?


Montblack

Sorry to take so long to respond to your post. I have been in Romania,
at the factory, taking delivery of our first two aircraft. Yes, we will
be at Airventure, display #39 and we will also have an airplane in the
"Light Sport Aircraft Mall".

Our airplane is the "Festival", manufactured by Aerostar S.A. of
Romania. Aerostar is the same company that builds the famous Yak52 that
I am sure many of you have seen at airshows and aerobatic competitions.

Festival is all-metal, and has side-by-side seating for two people. The
cockpit is 42" wide. The standard engine is the Rotax 912ULS, 100hp.
The airplane has a lot of small features that we think are important to
the owner such as locking gas caps and canopy, seats that adjust easily
and a large baggage compartment. The airplane has built-in, structural
roll-over protection. A lot of airplanes with canopies do not have
that. The biggest thing that we have done is that we have worked with
Aerostar to "americanize" the airplane. All parts that are subject to
wearing out or breaking such as brakes, wheels , tires, instruments and
avionics are all of American manufacture and can be sourced readily from
the usual places.

Aerostar is JAR21 and ISO9000 certified. They do sub-contract work for
Boeing and Airbus. They have about 2100 employees. Absolutley great to
work with and they build great airplanes. In the course of doing the
structural tests as required by the ASTM standards, they actually tested
one airframe to destruction. The standard requires 150% load at 4g's.
The airplane did 182%.

More details on our website at http://www.lightsportflying.com
Constructive suggestions are more than welcome.

Rick


Will you be offering a model for initial sport pilot training ?
--
Mark Smith
Tri-State Kite Sales
1121 N Locust St
Mt Vernon, IN 47620
1-812-838-6351
http://www.trikite.com

Jim,
I appreciate your comments. Obviously, we think the airplane is a
winner or we would have bought a different one. Would you mind
expanding on your comment a bit? I don't have any experience with the
Jabaru but I have flown a lot of airplanes with the 4-stroke, Rotax.
In one form, it is a FAR33 certified engine. I hear people make
comments like yours and I wonder what the reasoning is behind it. I
have found the 912 to be a good engine.

What engine would you prefer? We could put a O-200-LS in the airplane
but it would cost about $6,000.00 more and your useful load would drop
to 460 pounds. Fuel consumption would go up about a gallon per hour.
In 1600 hours of personal flying, the only in-flight engine failure I
ever experienced was on a Continental engine.

Regards,

Rick Pellicciotti
Belle Aire Aviation
LightSportFlying.com

Mark,
We think Festival will make an excellent trainer. The landing gear is
very rugged. The visibility is great. I have flown the airplane from
both seats and it is easy to fly. The airplane is quiet enough that
you can talk between each other without headsets. We even offer an
optional, left-hand throttle for the pilot position. This allows both
the pilot and instructor to fly with their left hand on the throttle
and right hand on the stick.

Flight schools will like the airplane because it is easy to inspect and
maintain. All consumable items are available off the shelf from US
suppliers.

We would love to have you and other flight schools that are interested
in the airplane to come down to Memphis and see it once it gets here.
We will be at Airventure, display #39.

Regards,

Rick Pellicciotti
Belle Aire Aviation
LightSportFlying.com

Dylan Smith wrote:

In article , Lakeview Bill wrote:

Just out of curiosity, why do you dislike the Rotax?


I would suspect lack of support from local GA facilities - the 4 stroke
Rotaxes and the Jabiru are not particularly common in the US so few
mechanics will be familiar with them. Other than that, they are decent
reliable engines.


Those engines seem to have a bad reputation in the U.S. They are seen
as cheapo engines for people who can't afford "real" engines from cont
or lyc. One flight school I know of had diamond katanas with Rotax
engines and only got 900 hours out of them despite regular use. I don't
know how typical that is, but you often hear stories like that. Maybe
it's the Avgas we use over here (it certainly isn't good for small
continentals either, but like you said those can be fixed by just about
anyone). Not having owned or maintained an engine myself I don't know
but I do know their reputation is not good here. For example one of the
new companies (I think it was Liberty) was initially going to use a
Rotax and got no interest, changed to a Continental and now are taken
more seriously.

rpellicciotti wrote:

Mark,
We think Festival will make an excellent trainer. The landing gear is
very rugged. The visibility is great. I have flown the airplane from
both seats and it is easy to fly. The airplane is quiet enough that
you can talk between each other without headsets. We even offer an
optional, left-hand throttle for the pilot position. This allows both
the pilot and instructor to fly with their left hand on the throttle
and right hand on the stick.

Flight schools will like the airplane because it is easy to inspect and
maintain. All consumable items are available off the shelf from US
suppliers.

We would love to have you and other flight schools that are interested
in the airplane to come down to Memphis and see it once it gets here.
We will be at Airventure, display #39.

Regards,

Rick Pellicciotti
Belle Aire Aviation
LightSportFlying.com

It's just that it flies too fast for basic sprot training,,,,,,,,

87 knots is the max flat out speed for a trainer.

a sign off after you are sprot certified may be obtained for the faster
plane,,,,,

--
Mark Smith
Tri-State Kite Sales
1121 N Locust St
Mt Vernon, IN 47620
1-812-838-6351
http://www.trikite.com

Mark,
You have two options here. You can ground adjust the prop to limit the
speed or you can simply endorse your student for the required higher
speed training prior to solo. At least that is what I am told by the
folks I have talked with at EAA and FAA.

Regards,

Rick Pellicciotti
Belle Aire Aviation
LightSportFlying.com

"Mark Smith" wrote in message
...
rpellicciotti wrote:

Mark,
We think Festival will make an excellent trainer. The landing gear is
very rugged. The visibility is great. I have flown the airplane from
both seats and it is easy to fly. The airplane is quiet enough that
you can talk between each other without headsets. We even offer an
optional, left-hand throttle for the pilot position. This allows both
the pilot and instructor to fly with their left hand on the throttle
and right hand on the stick.

Flight schools will like the airplane because it is easy to inspect and
maintain. All consumable items are available off the shelf from US
suppliers.

We would love to have you and other flight schools that are interested
in the airplane to come down to Memphis and see it once it gets here.
We will be at Airventure, display #39.

Regards,

Rick Pellicciotti
Belle Aire Aviation
LightSportFlying.com

It's just that it flies too fast for basic sprot training,,,,,,,,

87 knots is the max flat out speed for a trainer.

a sign off after you are sprot certified may be obtained for the faster
plane,,,,,

--
Mark Smith
Tri-State Kite Sales
1121 N Locust St
Mt Vernon, IN 47620
1-812-838-6351
http://www.trikite.com



Mark what are you talking about? Where exactly is that in the regs?

Gig 601,
Check out FAR 61.327 , you will find it there. Of course if you are
trining in a plane already faster, it's really no big deal. I think maybe it
was put in there to keep ultralighters from just hopping in a Luscombe

Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech


"Gig 601XL Builder" wr.giacona@coxDOTnet wrote in message
news:GRone.21384$DC2.15030@okepread01...


Mark what are you talking about? Where exactly is that in the regs?

"Lakeview Bill" wrote in message
. ..
Just out of curiosity, why do you dislike the Rotax?

How shall I count the ways?

They require their oil, their oil filters, their everything. You pay dearly
for this.

They always have seemed to be temperamental. Everything has to be just
right, to be even close to reliable.

See above. If everything is not just right, they are not reliable. I know
the 912 and 914's are not 2 strokes, but what pieces the 2 strokes are. I
know, some will testify that they have never had a minute's problem, but
there are more out there that have. My gut, and my but says to not trust
them. I don't and I won't. Gut means a llot, to me.

They don't sound "manly" enough. Kinda like a sewing machine, compared to a
Harley. Airplanes are supposed to be "cool", and they aren't. :-)
--
Jim in NC

"rpellicciotti" wrote in message

Jim,
I appreciate your comments. Obviously, we think the airplane is a
winner or we would have bought a different one. Would you mind
expanding on your comment a bit?

See my post, and the other posts from other people. They all raise (or
most, anyway) some good points.

As far as the 6 thousand, I could live with that. The useful load is a
problem, but that is tolerable, too.
--
Jim in NC