New Speed Record

Enroute from Panama City, Florida to Melbourne, Florida, the Phoenix just set a new LSA speed record between these two cities. 312nm in 2 hours flat. That is an average speed of 156kts. Since this trip involved point A to point B flight, the short wingtips were chosen. The air was as smooth as could be at 5500' so the Phoenix just hummed along!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.

We want to wish all of our friends the very best in the year to come, and we hope all of your dreams come true.

Phoenix Baggage Area

We have been getting questions lately on the size of the baggage area. Some of these photos were posted a while ago, so it must be time to show them again. We will get some photos on the website too.

You can see that there are two seperate areas, split by a bulkhead. Heavy objects in the front, light ones in the rear. The entire area is about 8 cubic feet and can handle 100 pounds. The small wingtips fit in with plenty of room left for baggage. The long wingtips don't even come close to fitting in the plane. You can't have everything. (But the Phoenix tries to come close!)

Flight to the Avionics Shop

A nice smooth evening flight to Merritt Island Airport to get additional avionics gave me an opportunity to explore slow flight with the long tips. The sun was just above the horizon.


Patrick Airforce Base just off the right wingtip.

Prop feathered over the Indian River.

Banked turn to the right with the sun shining on the Integra, and no problem seeing the display.

Tied down at Merritt Island outside of Sebastian Communications. The light weight canopy cover offers nice coverage over the canopy, and fits really well. This will be perfect for those cross country trips to come.

December 4 Flights with 36' Span

After a few small details to work on Saturday, it was time for some flying. The main purpose was to break in the engine at fairly high rpm. The skies were crystal blue with no evidence of instability or thermals, so the short tips were chosen.

The Becker radio was yet to be installed, so the Sporty's handheld did the duties with the Melbourne tower. After the short take-off roll, we were off before the 500' marker on the runway. Patrick Air Force Base was closed, so we boogied through their airspace and toured Port Canaveral and circled Merritt Island airport. Then back south above the MLB Class D to Sebastian Inlet (below).

A helicopter was unloading skydivers over Sebastian Airport, and many aircraft were coming and going. So we then headed for Valkaria Airport for some touch and gos after about an hour of flight at almost 120kts. Valkaria was busy with student training but we squeezed into the pattern for some landings at various flap settings.

The Phoenix is a delightful aircraft to fly with the short span. Super quick roll rate due to the full span flaperons, yet still enough wing area and span to soar.

Phoenix Certified

N24PG received S-LSA certification on Friday, December 3rd.

FAA DAR Jim Allen is really impressed with the Phoneix. The certification took about two and a half hours, and included paperwork review and aircraft inspection. No issues at all, and now we can go flying!

Phoenix Photos