AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - 73

flaps, and the descent steepens dramatically. "It's like speed brakes," he says, and the airspeed bleeds off for a normal roundout and flare.
AMERICAN MADE

When news of a new LSA out of Texas leaked in March, one phrase stood out in all the
coverage: American made. The Colt was an American LSA, built in Texas, employing
U.S. military veterans, company officials emphasized. But the Colt was designed and the
company founded by Brazilians-so why was it so important to identify with its adoptive home? For that matter, why build the aircraft in the United States at all? Plenty of
LSA manufacturers ship their aircraft to U.S. distributors from overseas.
Grande says a volatile Brazilian economy and the simple desire to start a business in the
United States influenced the decision to base manufacturing here, but mostly the company
wanted to be where the market was. Most potential buyers are in the United States, and
supplies such as rivets, aluminum, and avionics would be shipped from the United States,
anyway. Seeking a state with a strong economy and a lot of aviation manufacturing, they
settled on Texas.
"I took a car for a week and I drove all around Texas,...all airports you can imagine,"
Grande says. Hondo stood out for its community support and airport-a quiet field with four
runways, ideal for flight testing and training.
During my visit, a team from TA Brasil train American manufacturing staff while others
cut metal and mold composites in a sprint to have the first production aircraft-and accompanying ASTM paperwork-ready in time for EAA AirVenture. Grande says the facility can
produce one aircraft per month currently, but he hopes to amp up production to three per
month next year.
And Texas Aircraft has even bigger plans. Research and development continue at TA
Brasil's Campinas facility as that company works on a four-seater, and Texas
Aircraft recently signed an agreement with Siemens eAircraft to develop an electric version of the Colt. These seem like good bets: Light Sport category changes
on the horizon may allow for certification of four-seaters and electric aircraft
under less-costly ASTM International rules.
But first, the Colt. Texas Aircraft is entering a crowded field of factory-built
A THROTTLE LEVER is among the design
LSAs. It's impossible to predict exactly where a manufacturer will find its niche,
elements borrowed from the Inpaer
but the Colt is sturdy, predictable, and familiar-attributes that appeal to flight
Conquest. The SL model includes leather
seating in a variety of color options, as
schools and private owners alike. Sophisticated avionics and a parachute tip the
well as a GRS ballistic parachute that will
scales for some buyers. And, this all-new, all-American LSA comes with a famfit in the rear fuselage and attach to the
ily tree of Inpaer designs that have logged some 150,000 flight hours in Brazil.
steel alloy survival cell (above). A
touchscreen Dynon Skyview HDX
That's a good start out of the gate.
AOPA
EMAIL sarah.deener@aopa.org

displays synthetic vision and ADS-B
weather, as well as GPS imagery, engine
information, and more-even G loads.

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019

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