Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, is an expert on Light Sport Aircraft.

Every now and then the marketing geniuses in Light-Sport aviation have an exceptionally good idea. Here’s one of them: Initially organized by SportairUSA’s Bill Canino and now-American Legend marketer Dave Graham (formerly of Gobosh), a flock of planes, including five of the most popular brand names, will set off for Sebring-After-Sebring…or what they are calling The 2011 Florida LSA Tour. “We’re in Florida already and we have to fly home through the state after Sebring ends,” explained Canino. “Since everyone can’t come to Sebring, we thought we’d take the show to them.”

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Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, is an expert on Light Sport Aircraft.

Breath a sigh of relief — 2010 has ended and nearly everyone in the business of aviation is offering prayers for a better 2011.

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Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, is an expert on Light Sport Aircraft.

When my former home state of Minnesota grappled with enough snowfall to collapse the Metrodome’s inflated roof, I was still hanging out in the Bahamas (yeah, I know, tough job…). After the first International Sport Pilot Fly-In concluded, all but a couple Breezers flew home. Our group of four, lead by U.S. Breezer importer Mike Zidziunas, took a pair of Breezer LSAs south to an island called Staniel Cay (pronounced “key” unless you want to be easily identified as a tourist).

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Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, is an expert on Light Sport Aircraft.

“Too much fun!” was a common exclamation of my Alaska ultralight friend Mike Jacober. His signature phrase ran through my head as 18 airplanes, mostly LSA, arrived at the Freeport, Bahamas, airport for the first International Sport Pilot Fly-in over Dec. 10-12.

For many this was their first flight over the ocean (including yours truly). It isn’t far — 85 nautical miles, less than one hour — and it isn’t hard (unless you go for a swim en route…none of us did, thank goodness!). But flying out of sight of land, even for a short time, is rather attention-getting.

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Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, is an expert on Light Sport Aircraft.

Tim Casey is just plain full of it. Garmin‘s jovial, well-recognized manager of the instrument company’s aviation hand-held and LSA line of avionics products is one knowledgeable character. In fact, he is so full of information that his one-hour seminar at the Midwest LSA Expo only scratched the surface of the seemingly limitless capabilities of the company’s digital instrument line. For example, synthetic vision comes preinstalled on the G3X and if you want, the Garmin unit can even be wired to show the closure of doors.

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Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, is an expert on Light Sport Aircraft.

David Kruger is what you might call a data-intensive fellow. A technical background gives him a keener-than-usual understanding of the value of research. Also an enthusiast of flying LSA, David has invested considerable study into the influence of airplane cost on the pilot population. His analysis suggests partner ownership of an airplane offers a means to confront the problem.

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Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, is an expert on Light Sport Aircraft.

What do sugar cane harvesting equipment and light aircraft and engines have to do with one another? The former was the original work of Jabiru founders Rod Stiff and Phil Ainsworth. The latter is what occurred after a trip to Europe back in 1988. While they traveled, the other partners voted them out of the company and on their return they got a check for their equity, so Rod and Phil did what entrepreneurs do: They took their dough and started a new company. This is the story Jabiru USA boss Pete Krotje told to begin his talk about the engines and airplanes the duo created.

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Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, is an expert on Light Sport Aircraft.

Over the years, Garmin has become a staple of LSAs. Stick your head inside the cockpit of virtually any SLSA and you’ll probably see a Garmin 296, 396, 496, or 495. The handheld gizmos are ubiquitous, often nestled securely in panel-mounted Air Gizmo docks. However, the great run of the X96 series is flying off into the sunset.

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