Day Two of Sun ‘n Fun

The Merlin Lite, cute as a bug and a genuine Part 103 ultralight. The Polini Thor engine in on a motor mount extender.

All Photos by Ed Wischmeyer

By Ed Wischmeyer

The Flight Legend Tucano Replica was there, an Italian “ultralight” in the European sense of the word; a cute, all metal, tandem seat airplane with retractable gear and a Rotax 912ULS up front. With a Rotax 915Is, they claim 150 knot cruise speed. Very similar except not looking like a Tucano is the Stream, a Czech airplane that will be available as a Light Sport Aircraft or with retractable gear. The Stream has a side stick instead of a center stick, and the cockpit looks oh, so cool!

If you are interested in a plane with a five-bladed prop, N766CM is for sale by the Lakeland museum. It’s an Austrian HB-207 Alfa with, presumably, a VW Porsche engine turning that prop at a leisurely and quiet 1500 RPM, according to Wikipedia. If I needed another airplane.

The beautiful instrument panel of the impressive Pipistrel Panthera. The forward view over the panel seemed limited as I sat in it. Photo Credit: Ed Wischmeyer

Over at Pipistrel, we chatted about the Alpha Electro which has speed brakes optional, but they increased flap deflection for more drag as an electric motor might not provide much propeller drag. The conventional trainer version has speed brakes on the motorglider version, but not on the normal, airplane version – but the two airframes are, I believe, virtually identical except for the paperwork.

Feeling politically correct? There’s a flight school in south Florida advertising carbon-neutral flight training. I didn’t check them out personally, but you can fly C172s with diesel engines and buy a carbon offset.

The cockpit of the Czech Stream, about the coolest lightplane cockpit I’ve seen in a long, long time. Photo Credit: Ed Wischmeyer

If you’re a warbird fan, as of Tuesday there were lots of “junior warbirds,” meaning T-34s, T-6s, Nanchings, and L-39s. There were even two Navions painted up in warbird colors, plus three civilian-painted Navions parked in the warbird area. C’mon, now… In my mind, warbirds really means fighters and bombers, but over the years, scope creep crept in, just like a software project. There were a handful of Mustangs present, plus one each Corsair, P-40 and B-25. Said B-25 flew displays, and, being the only show plane in the air at the time, the wonderful sounds of the two engines was clear and distinct. Draken International, which provides adversary aircraft to the U.S. military, towed over a Mirage jet.

Also on the warbird ramp were the big buck chalets, some for corporate customers and some for retail customers, like Cirrus. Cirrus said that they can’t build ‘em fast enough. There were also bleachers for watching the airshow. Aviat was over with the other airplane exhibitors, but they also reported that sales were up last year, and even more this year.

Homebuilts? Back in the day, when Sun ‘n Fun was a homebuilt fly in, the record was 187 homebuilts parked in the grassy field in front of the exhibit buildings. Not so much as of Tuesday morning, only about three dozen, almost half of them RVs. But there were three Thorp T-18s. And there was a bumper crop of regulars, Cessnas and Pipers and Beeches and all kinds of things that I used to see at airports. On the first day of the show, I’m told, there were 40 percent more airplanes on the field than on the busiest day at the last show.

Two SubSonex single seat homebuilt jets were in attendance, certainly one of the least practical airplanes to own, but practicality is not what they’re about! I think there’s still a lot of interest within the homebuilt community for Sun ‘n Fun if they want to leverage it.

Antique airplane presence seems to have been declining over the last two decades or so as the folks who were really interested in them seem to be fading away. Nevertheless, there were a half dozen Stearmans and one UPF-7. A Swiss PC-3 trainer and a pair of French Epsilons were there. There was an ultralight, I think, replica of a WWI Fokker D-VII. One giveaway was that the ultralight had wire bracing on the wings. The original D-VII not only had no wires, it had no N-struts because the wings were cantilevered. N-struts were added to reassure the pilots…

Certainly one of the more interesting planes was the Pipistrel Panthera, a four seater promising screaming speed – 198 knots – at non-oxygen altitudes. Sleek that puppy is, and I was surprised that there was plenty of headroom. On the other hand, with the big engine and low roof line, the view over the nose on the ground is as bad as some taildraggers. I wonder if you have to S-turn on the ground. That foible aside, it is a tremendously exciting airplane. Early versions are sold not as Standard Category, which will come later, but licensed Experimental Exhibition. I’d love to be an exhibitionist in one of those… $650 now, another $50 thousand for the certified version.

Also in the manufacturer’s area was CubCrafters with the XCub with the nosewheel. It has impressive performance in the short field arena, and I bet it’s a hoot to fly. But be prepared to pay for all that with a price tag around $400 thou. One advantage of the nosewheel is that the plane can achieve a higher deck angle on takeoff and landing, hence, a higher angle of attack on the wing. And being able to see over the nose while taxiing is always a win.

Overhead, a C17 was impressive in 45-degree banked turns at low altitude. Somehow, though, I never heard anybody call it beautiful.

How ‘bout them valve covers? Would be a shame to hide them under a cowling. Pinnacle Aircraft Engines, it says on the ignition wires. Photo Credit: Ed Wischmeyer

Two days of walking around was enough for my tired old body, but an epidural and anti-inflammatories have been rejuvenating. I thought that I’d done a reasonable job of covering the vendors in the exhibit buildings, but I remember asking one vendor what was new, and the man said not much, same old same old. Two days later they had a series of product announcements. Remind me not to ask them next time.

I did attend a few very informative forums at the AOPA site, and I saw a few old friends.