Summary: We’re at the Sebring Regional Airport in sunny in Sebring, Florida for day one of the annual U.S. Sport Aviation Expo. I’m David Allen, and I’m about to take you into the cockpit … of Other People’s Airplanes. Each year, hundreds of exhibitors descend on the airport to show their products and services. From avionics packages, to airplane kits, to fully certified LSAs, if it has anything to do with sport aviation, you can find it at EXPO. We started by talking to Mike Hansen of Hansen Air Group about the Fk12 Comet, an acro-capable biplane with tandem seating that, frankly, looks like the Pitts’ cousin. While it has not been certified for aerobatic flight, the new Lycoming engine will allow them to make that jump. Then we popped over to talk with Ken Scott of Vans Aircraft, Inc. about the RV-12, a super-capable little homebuilt ELSA. His comment, “It flies like a Vans, which is about the best thing you can say about an aircraft,” really caught my attention, as did the fact that you can build one of these in about 800 hours. Finally we spoke with Ken Z. of Breezer Aircraft USA. The Breezer features a sliding canopy, allowing the pilot to keep the canopy cracked about 8 inches while in flight below 90 KIAS. On those hot summer days, you can climb out at 90 with the “windows” open. When you get to higher, cooler air, close the canopy and run it up to 120. Genius. We wrap up by spending a few minutes with Carl Valeri of the Stuck Mic Avcast. Carl attended the event for several days and got some really great interviews. You can listen to that episode here.
