AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2021 - 35

NEWS /
News from OSH
Bronze Lindy
award to Cilliers'
Hatz biplane
Callers to the AOPA
Pilot Information Center
More than 608,000 visitors attended the annual
EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, July
26 through August 1. More than 17,000 aircraft
flew in. There were more than 12,000 campers
on site. EAA Chairman Jack Pelton dubbed it a
" huge, huge success. " The convention returned
after a one-year hiatus in 2020 because of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The decades long effort to find a suitable
replacement for 100-octane leaded avgas
moved one step closer to a solution when
General Aviation Modifications Inc. (GAMI)
announced that it has received two supplemental
type certificates authorizing the use of its
G100UL high-octane unleaded avgas (see " No
Fooling, a New Unleaded Fuel, " p. 86). One STC
covers a limited number of models of Lycoming
engines and the second is for a limited number
of Cessna airframes.
Aviation Safety Resources, a Nicholasville,
Kentucky-based designer and producer of
whole aircraft emergency parachute recovery
systems, announced agreements to install its
systems in three single-engine aircraft models.
Five new sport pilots and a new CFI received
their wings July 27 at EAA AirVenture. The
annual ceremony recognizes graduates of the
nonprofit Able Flight's annual scholarship program,
which provides people with disabilities
opportunities in aviation.
Textron Aviation showed off the boxy, highwing,
special-purpose cargo-hauling or
people-moving Cessna SkyCourier 408 twin
turboprop. The Cessna Caravan's big brother
occupied airshow center at Boeing Plaza after
the aircraft arrived for its public debut.
It's been years in the making. Diamond
Aircraft, which has long been developing the
DA50 RG, publicly displayed it in North America
for the first time during EAA AirVenture.
The next airplane from Van's Aircraft, the
RV-15, is going to have one striking difference
from all those that came before it: a high wing.
Van's officials confirmed that their next airplane
will be made of metal like the kit airplanes that
preceded it. But it will have a high wing and
be " suitable " for backcountry flying at remote
airstrips.
Using its extensive ADS-B network, flight tracking
service FlightAware announced that it is
launching Aviator, a robust suite of flight tracking
and alerting tools for piston aircraft owners
and operators.
German air mobility pioneer Volocopter presented
the first public, crewed, electric vertical
takeoff and landing (eVTOL) demonstration in
the United States. A shorter flight by a smaller
aircraft, California-based Opener's BlackFly,
was made on the same day, claiming the " first
public human-operated eVTOL fixed-wing aircraft
demonstration. "
aopa.org/AirVenture2021
are familiar with Carlo
" Airplane Whisperer "
Cilliers and his elephantine
aviation knowledge, and
the rest of the world is
finding out, too.
Cilliers won a prestigious
Bronze Lindy award at
EAA AirVenture for the
gorgeous Hatz Classic
biplane he built from
blueprints over the past
five years. The red and
white airplane with a
mirror-smooth metal
speed ring surrounding
its 150-horsepower Rotec
radial engine is a mix
of historic and modern:
steel tube and fabric
construction with Dynon
glass-panel avionics.
It's the second scratchbuilt
airplane he's made
and flown (the other is an
award-winning Mustang
II). Cilliers finished the
Hatz just in time to fly it to
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, from
his home in Maryland for
the big event.
-Dave Hirschman
AOPA PILOT / October 2021
35
DAVID TULIS
http://www.aopa.org/AirVenture2021
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2021

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