Silent Wings Aviation

LSA Aero, Inc
NEWSLETTER #24
January 31, 2008

Well, the 4Annual Sebring Light Sport Expo is history. Jim Lamb from Moontown Airport agreed to go and help with the driving and logistics. It was a long week! Bob Maiden came down and helped man the booth on Friday and Saturday. The show statistics were 30% larger than last year, both in displays and traffic. I can believe it! We were busy every day, except Sunday, which turned out cold and blustery. The customers disappeared.

We handed out several hundred new video DVDs, which Bill Shaver edited right down to the last moment before the trip. We were making DVD’s all the way down, and every night. The trip was not without incident however. We went through 3 more trailer tires, 2 on the way down, and 1 on the way back. I think we have all the problems with the trailer finally figured out though.

The Mermaid amphib was officially announced at the show that it would not be going into production. The new amphib on the block is the SeaMax from Brazil. It received LSA certification just before the New Year. The model at the show had fabric covered wings with struts. A carbon composite wing is in the works, but at least a year away. I looked forward to flying with it at the show, but alas, they didn’t fly. I did, and got some excellent comments.

The other big attraction was the new Cessna Light Sport. The one thing we noticed was there were always more sales people in the booth than there were interested prospects. Everyone we talked to was very distraught at it being built in China.

Mike Car of South Carolina tries out the cockpit. Mike is 6’ 7”. He is sitting on the floor, but still doable with cushions. N103FC is up for sale, and we got lots of good leads at the show. The next two Freedoms we tracked to Antwerp, and there they sit. Our import agent is trying to find out what is going on. Did they “miss the boat”? Is it like a standby airline ticket, and they got “bumped”? We still don’t have a good arrival date, but at least they are on the way. Everything is set for FAA certification when they arrive.

Don Langford, President
LSA Aero, Inc.