About a half dozen Special Light Sport Aircraft are showing at Sun ‘n Fun for the first time this week, and each of them has an example on display in the LSA Mall. The Paradise P-I, a Brazilian design, has a classic Cessna 150 look on first glance, with a strutted high wing, tricycle gear, and mostly metal construction. But inside, the two seats ride close to the floor, for plenty of headroom, and the control yokes are recessed into the panel, providing legroom as well. The one on display has round gauges, but the company will install any avionics the customer requests, said sales rep Christopher Lee Regis. Also on display is the Urban Air Lambada, the first light-sport motorglider. Jeff Shingleton, who flew it down from New York, said “it gets better mileage than a Prius.” Considering that it flies at 100 knots and sips just 2.3 gallons per hour with the motor running, that sounds about right. Turn off the engine and let it glide, and you can follow the cloud streets all day.
Other LSAs showing at Sun ‘n Fun for the first time are the Gobosh 700, Patriot AMD, SportAir’s Sting S3, and the FlightDesign CT-LS.
