AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2022 - 30

BRIEFING
COMMENTARY /
Blackshape Gabriel
THE MOST INTEREST ING, exciting,
and promising new general aviation
aircraft today have one surprising/
depressing thing in common: They
all came from Europe.
Sport airplane standouts such
as the JMB Aircraft VL3 (see
" Eurovision " p. 50), Blackshape
Gabriel, Tarragon, and Shark are
sleek, composite two-seaters with
constant-speed propellers, and
retractable landing gear. These fast,
modern, highly efficient airplanes
also have exceptional speed and
range.
What's wrong with U.S. manuEuropean
invasion
Why we can't have nice things
BY DAVE HIRSCHMAN
facturers? Is this a replay of the old
automotive story that began in the
1970s when U.S. car makers stopped
innovating and eventually lost the
domestic market to foreign imports?
Well, not exactly.
The real difference-for the sport
airplanes anyway-is that we're playing
by two different sets of rules.
Our light sport aircraft (LSA) category
was adopted in 2004 with pure
intentions when it set out to create
safe, economical, recreational airplanes
that could be flown in day
VFR conditions by sport pilots. But the category was hobbled from day one by nonsensical FAA rules
that imposed severe limitations that did nothing to enhance safety.
The LSA gross weight limit of 1,320 pounds, speed limit of 120 knots, and maximum stall speed of
45 knots boxed manufacturers into mostly boring, uninspiring, anemically powered designs that, to
make matters worse, weren't inexpensive, either.
Cessna did more than most by putting out its vaunted 162 Skycatcher, but the LSA model was a
commercial flop. And the reasons for the LSA category's failure in the marketplace were clear. The
new airplanes' performance and payload were severely limited. Skycatchers were lightly wing-loaded
and twitchy to fly in wind or turbulence; and competed against older airplanes that flew faster, carried
more, handled better, were widely available, and were far less expensive.
The most popular new LSA in the United States turned out to be the Carbon Cub-a CubCrafters
design that observed the letter of the LSA regulations but not its boring spirit. The Carbon Cub was
designed for a far higher gross weight than the 1,320 pounds that CubCrafters put in the pilot's operating
handbook, and pilots subsequently ignored it. The airplane's 180-horsepower engine was capable
of running all day long at full power, but CubCrafters (with a wink and a nod) limited it to just five
minutes at high rpm.
European regulators took a far more enlightened approach.
Sure, they adopted the same weight limit. But like Germany's autobahn, there was no top speed.
And while the FAA specifically prohibited performance-enhancing items such as retractable landing
gear and constant-speed propellers, the Europeans are fine with them.
The result is a slew of modern, sleek, appealing European airplanes with exceptional speed, range,
and safety features that U.S. pilots would love to own and fly.
The turbocharged Rotax 915-powered version of the VL3, for example, flirts with 200 knots while
30
AOPA PILOT / January 2022

AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2022

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