| LIGHT SPORT AIRCRAFT | MERLIN LEAVES THE NEST A kit maker turns out a factory-built LSA WINDS WERE 14 KNOTS, gusting into the 20s, for the turn to final approach for Runway 16 at Arlington Municipal Airport in Washington, home of Glasair Aviation. The aircraft was Glasair's new two-seat Light Sport aircraft (LSA), the Merlin, named for a small predatory bird that captures and feeds on smaller birds and insects. Accordingly, the Merlin M-1 is the lightest clean-sheet design Glasair has ever made. B Y A LT O N K . M A R S H PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE FIZER 50 | AOPA PILOT October 2016