The folks at Flight Design must be feeling some impact of the down economy, but it hasn’t slowed them down much. They are here at Sun ‘n Fun, busy as ever, and with a list of new stuff to entice light sport buyers. Now they are offering floats for their fleet, as well as a “show special” value package — several popular options for the CTLS, including the Garmin 695, Artex ELT 406, and leather seats, included at no extra charge. The company also continues its efforts to attract new pilots, with three new Flight Design Pilot Centers coming online around the U.S. They have also developed a two-day training syllabus to help improve transition training for experienced pilots who are switching to LSAs. “It’s about five hours of flying, and a good introduction to what’s different about flying and owning light sport planes, for pilots who might be switching over from other kinds of aircraft,” John Gilmore, a company spokesman, told AVweb.
On Tuesday, the Flight Design crew was busy getting ready an example of their CTLS-Lite, being shown here at Sun ‘n Fun for the first time. The model has a lower price, by $20,000, than the standard model, as well as more useful load. Gilmore promised to have more updates later in the week. He also said that more new projects are in the works, some of which might be ready for the market by Oshkosh. A CT model with a high-lift wing is one item expected soon, as well as a Rotax 914 turbocharged option.
