Note the other planes- both runways were extremely busy at times; just mind-boggling. There have been a few accidents at Airventure over the years, but never a midair, as far as I know.
Also not exactly new...very fine TBM.
A really pretty late-70s Bellanca 8CAB:
This chartered Gulfstream gave Aeroshell Square a lot of glamour when it was parked there... never realized how big they are... :o
The 2006 Cessna LSA... interesting. I'm not exactly against things like this, but what will happen to the world of primary instruction (for sport and PPs) when all the trainers are composites? Will schools all have to hangar their aircraft? Will the fleet of "plastic" birds hold up as well as the old spamcans? The Diamond aircraft have really made big inroads into primary training, so I guess those in the know are confident it will work out. But I dunno.
And despite my love of Cessnas, if I were to go with a "plastic" bird for my training, I'd probably go with a Diamond, not this jazzed-up version of an old if respectable airframe type. Better visibility, and more efficient (this thing has nothing new under the cowl, believe me) But a high wing has many advantages, especially with no struts.
Speaking of which, here's the "new C-150": the Skycatcher (this is a mockup). Looking at this, my first thought is: if you have the almost unlimited freedom in design that composites allow, why stick with the old shape? Why have even less visibility to the rear than the old 150s?
Frankly, I'd rather have one of these, if I were buying a brand-new 2-seater that met LSA requirements: these folks are remanufacturing the Luscombe Silvaire. I love it! But I don't love the price tag: +$80K. For a Silvaire. No thanks.
Never seen one of these before... I guess it's intended to compete with the TBMs or something. Pretty slick.
Next: part 20
