The Center Of The LSA World Resides In Sebring Every January!
It was a great four days... and despite rain, winds, frigid cold and other evidence that Florida had lost its rep as a warm and inviting tourist mecca, folks from all over the world showed up in Sebring, Florida, to celebrate all things LSA. While the first day's traffic was outstanding by any standard and the conditions were likewise, Friday through Sunday attendees had to brave some serious rain (Friday) and chilly/windy conditions the rest of the week. But, through it all, they did indeed flock to Sebring.
The home of the US Sport Aviation Expo, Sebring winds up being the bellwether of the sport aviation business as the first big flying event of the year -- especially for sport aviation (while Lakeland fades into the dust and Oshkosh becomes more of a 'Tradeshow' and less of a Fly-in). The slow growing LSA movement still shows signs that it may mature into a solid industry, providing a new entry-level option for those who want to become pilots and aircraft owners -- despite an economy that does little to promote either aircraft ownership and operation.
Still; a long-postulated shakeout of the industry, where there are simply still too many manufacturers barely keeping the doors open, has failed to come to pass (though signs are starting to indicate that it may finally be in the offing), and the industry continues to stumble in presenting a professional face to the public... especially in terms of marketing-- where ANN's simple research during the event showed the sale-ability of the products at Sebring to hampered by companies that apparently knew little about how to sell.
In the meantime, though, Cessna is now shipping SkyCatchers in appreciable quantities, a number of hearty and respected manufacturers have fine tuned their designs and some outstanding products and values ARE to be had in the LSA market... so while things ARE tough, there is still great hope that LSA might someday meet its promise.
ANN engaged the expertise and experience of US Sport Aviation Boss Bob Wood to discuss all this and a number of other topics for an interview in the closing hours of the 2011 US Sport Aviation Expo... Join us!
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