General Aviation - Come, Fly A Plane

Good news for wannabe pilots who fear that flying might be too difficult to learn, as well as for experienced pilots who secretly long to escape from an over-regulated environment and enjoy that ‘free as a bird’ feeling. Designers are hard at work to produce an uncomplicated light aircraft, such as the Icon A5—an aircraft that practically anyone can fly. In fact, these aircraft may well be easier to handle than sports cars.

Sport Pilot Certification

In 2004, when the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) created a new category of pilot licence, the Sport Pilot Certificate, it simultaneously laid down specifications for a corresponding Light Sport Aircraft (LSA). Both the certification and the aircraft were aimed at promotion of recreational flying.

LSAs lie somewhere between the smallest propeller driven private planes and the flimsy contraptions otherwise known as microlights (or ultralights). Most LSAs are cheaper than the former and more capable and more reliable than the latter. Such planes cannot carry more than two persons and cannot exceed a speed of 120 knots. While the maximum permissible stall speed is 45 knots, the maximum take-off weight is limited to 600 kg for land based aircraft and 650 kg for aircraft designed for operation on water that are equipped with floats. The cabin must be unpressurised and the undercarriage fixed. A single electric motor or reciprocating engine must power a fixed pitch or ground adjustable propeller. In India, a lower weight limit of 450 kg is prescribed for the microlight class of aircraft; the other specifications are broadly similar to those laid down for LSAs in the US.

It is fairly simple to gain a Sport Pilot Certificate and persons as young as 17 years are eligible. Against the minimum 40 hours training needed to fly a private, single-engine piston aircraft, the new certification requires just 20 hours of flight training which costs around $3,500 (Rs 1.7 lakh) in the US. At least 15 hours must be dual instructional flying with a qualified flight instructor; while two hours must be cross-country dual instruction and five hours must be solo flight. A check sortie with an FAA-designated examiner is mandatory. The entire process does not take more than four weeks to complete at a comfortable pace, even for a newbie. Naturally, there are operating restrictions. A sport pilot can only fly in daylight, in clear weather and away from busy airports below 10,000 ft. That still leaves room for plenty of fun. Sport pilot flight time also counts toward more advanced pilot ratings. Best of all, no special medical check (a bugbear for many aspiring pilots) is necessary. A holder of a valid driving licence automatically qualifies as medically fit to hold a Sport Pilot Certificate. This enabling provision, however, does not exist in India. Perhaps that is just as well in view of doubts about the adequacy of issuing procedures for driving licences.

After a slow start, in just five years, around 90 new types of aircraft that meet LSA criteria have been launched. To begin with, sport planes were developed on the European continent, primarily Italy, Germany and the Ukraine. Rotax, an Austrian firm, supplies many of the engines. US manufactures were initially hesitant to enter the market, but Cessna is now in the process of developing its own line of sport planes to be manufactured in China. Terrafugia, a company set up by graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, has come up with the idea of a ‘road plane’. Christened ‘Transition’, it looks like an aircraft, but its automated electromechanical folding wings slide out of the way at the press of a button, leaving a roadworthy car. Thus after landing the pilot can just drive the Transition home and park it in the garage. Extremely convenient, it offers front wheel drive on the ground and automotive-style entry and exit. It needs neither a trailer nor a hangar.

Birth of An Icon

One of the most exciting prospects in sport flying is Icon Aircraft’s Icon A5, an amphibious Special-Light Sport Aircraft (SLSA). The result of close collaboration between an F-16 pilot and a skateboard designer, simplicity is the key of the A5’s design. Even the most diffident aspiring pilot would find it hard to find anything to be wary of. The Icon is 22 ft long, seats two and has a single 100 hp Rotax 912 ULS engine that runs on unleaded petrol, available at the roadside gas stations. It has a maximum take-off weight of 648.6 kg. The weight of pilot and passenger, fuel and everything else cannot exceed 240 kg, so slim occupants are obviously preferable. Extensive use of carbon fibre composites makes the plane as light as it is. Its maximum speed is 105 knots and range extends to approximately 555 km. It needs a distance of just 750 ft to take-off and land. The side windows open out, so pilots can enjoy ‘wind in the hair’ freedom. The cockpit display is simplicity itself, more like a sports car dashboard rather than the usual aircraft cockpit. A wing angle-of-attack indicator enables carefree yet safe manoeuvring and a GPS-based moving map system informs the pilot of local terrain and weather in real time.

The Icon A5 has a flying-boat hull. With a retractable undercarriage built into small deck-like sea wings on either side of the hull, it can operate as easily on land as on water. The wings of span 34 ft (10.4 m) look rigid enough but can be folded manually or automatically and tucked neatly under the slim rear tail. This feature allows the A5 to be towed behind a vehicle (much like a speedboat) and stored at no extra cost at home rather than after paying hefty fees at an airport. The designers probably intended the Icon A5 to resemble a sports car more than an aircraft. It has predictable, docile flying characteristics making for extreme ease of operation and allowing the pilot to focus on the fun of flying, looking out of the window, enjoying the view and talking to the other occupant. It is engineered to handle aggressive manoeuvring over the water while at the same time making the pilot’s experience both very safe and extremely exciting. Its looks are also guaranteed to turn heads.

Over the past few months, Icon Aircraft completed a series of rigorous hydrostatic and hydrodynamic tests on the plane. These tests verified the basic hull performance for typical seaplane operations, as well as expanding the envelope into higher winds, rougher sea states, and advanced manoeuvring. According to company officials, these tests have shown that while running on water, there is minimal porpoising tendency and the Icon smoothly accelerates to take-off speed in a stick-free condition, requiring little to no pilot input until rotation speed is achieved. In addition, this amphibian plane can comfortably negotiate relatively rough water on take-off and landing. The emphasis on safety is impressive. Apart from a propeller guard, a rocket-launched Complete Airplane Parachute stowed in the roof section means that in the event of an in flight engine shutdown, the pilot just has to deploy the parachute and descend gently back to earth with no damage to the aircraft or injury to the occupants.

Icon Aircraft has started taking orders for the A5 from the public and the order book is already 400 long. After making its Air Show debut at Oshkosh in July this year, first deliveries are scheduled for mid-2011. A stripped-down version is expected to cost around $140,000 (Rs 68.5 lakh).

Back Home, It’s Tedious

In India, of course, there is a huge additional burden of nearly 26 per cent as customs duty on import of planes under the ‘private’ category. So buying an aircraft made in India would probably make better sense. Such an option is available at Agni Aero Sports Adventure Academy, Jakkur, Bangalore. This company manufactures the 701 and 601 models of the Zen Air Microlight and also provides training to fly the machine.

There is also the small matter of applying for a security clearance through the local police authorities to be submitted to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Any private aircraft in India, even a microlight, can be purchased only after security clearance. What is more, the security clearance has to be renewed every year. When it comes to parking, private microlights find it extremely difficult to obtain suitable space at busy civilian airports, while they can forget about military airfields. Usage charges are not practical, since there is no relaxation of the commercially applicable rates. Even to obtain a Microlight Pilot Licence (PL[M]), 40 hours of microlight flying including dual instructional training, solo flying and cross-country trips are specified.