Lear Driver, I have flown T37s, E188s, and lots of GA aircraft. Your attitude is well......"p_ss p_or" and you might want to take stock of skills.
I flew the whole darn thing at cruise power and was getting 90 knots ground speed. ATC ended up vectoring the poor jet (an airline flight, FWIW) almost back out of their airspace, and told me at one point "Pedal as fast as you can, contact tower..." 
Why they didn't let the jet use the other ILS, I don't know. 
But, that was ATC's screwup, not mine.
Randy, not all LSAs have the Rotax in them. Jay's Zodiac has a Continental O-200, and I know there's at least one LSA out there with a Lycoming O-235.
Not saying not to go with the Rotax if you get one, but there are other options in the LSA market.
Actually, the difference winds up being more like 40-50 pounds. Don't forget the Rotax has some extra things the Continental doesn't, such as a cooling system.
There are few factory LSAs that have Jabiru engines; the Jabiru aircraft and the IndUS Thorpedo are the only ones that spring to mind. I think part of it is that Jabiru has a manufacturer's restriction to day VFR only, and most LSA builders are equipping for night VFR pretty much standard.
470 pounds, officially. Empty weight is 850. A good chunk of that is the equipment level I've got in it, though; most AMD Zodiacs come in right around 800.
Patrick,
Others have jumped on you a bit about your statement, but I want to know what made you said it in the first place. Have you had bad experiences with smaller planes in IMC? Are you one of the people who is afraid to fly IFR in a single-engine airplane? Do you really have so little faith in air traffic control and the rest of the IFR system that you think there's going to be an issue?
I've only had one experience where I thought ATC got me in the way of a jet - I got cleared for an ILS from pretty far out right as a jet was checking in with approach, and I had a 40-knot headwind - In an Archer.
Randy, not all LSAs have the Rotax in them. Jay's Zodiac has a Continental O-200, and I know there's at least one LSA out there with a Lycoming O-235.
Not saying not to go with the Rotax if you get one, but there are other options in the LSA market.
)If you're saying that formation flying with a Lear and a 182 won't work, I agree. But...
...that doesn't mean they can't operate IFR safely in the same termina airspace if the pilots play by the rules. It sounds like your issue is more with the pilots than the airplanes, and in that regard, I agree that you'll find a higher percentage of incompetant pilots in 182's than in Lears, but that's a training problem, not an aircraft problem.
No? Anyone who's been around GA for any length of time knows that it's a constant struggle to keep things as they are so we all have access to the air. Your comments sounded like they came straight out of an airline PR campaign to sweep the skies of us dangerous little airplane pilots:
Many, if not most, of us who don't fly for a living manage to keep our skills up and constantly work to become better pilots. Your broad brush was very insulting, and if this wasn't snide, I'm not sure much of anything can be.
Just what airspace shouldn't we be in, and how would modern avionics keep us out of it?
I'm not instrument rated yet, so you won't be having to put up with me in IMC unless I'm getting a lesson in actual (something I want to do, and will whenever it gets to the point that I won't turn into an ice cube the moment I enter a cloud). Still, it's just another "Keep those little airplanes out of my sky!" comment.
The only problem with this statement is that it's wrong, as anyone with experience in the real world knows. We all can share the skies, and we do it every day.
This is a reason for saying that those of us not flying jets should stay out of your sky? One idiot pilot is not representative of the entire world of GA, as any pilot with any kind of real experience will know.
You made a blanket statement like this...
...and expected not to get called out? I couldn't believe someone would think such a thing, let alone have the nerve to post it. I have been a LearDriver, among other things, for about 8 years until my 135 Lear currency expired at the end of last year and I moved on to something else. The thought that I don't want to share the IFR airspace with small airplanes has never occurred to me. I'll also have to say that I've never heard any of the pilots I fly with make any similar comment. It's comments like that which give people who fly jets a reputation for being arrogant and it increases the divide between the factions of GA who should be standing together.
That is true in some situations, but I don't find it to be the case so much in the IFR environment. The place where the most conflict between mixed speed aircraft shows up is in the VFR pattern of busy uncontrolled airports. At least that has been my observation.
So you are going to extraplolate from that one incident that all small airplane pilots are incompetant? I will agree there are some people out there that should not been flying airplanes. As a young CFI years ago the lack of skill in some people who came for BFRs (when they were still called that), and checkouts was an eye-opener to me. On the other hand, I have been assigned sim partners in jet recurrent programs who I'm glad I don't fly with in real life.
The part in bold is that which I'm quite curious about. You often leave subtle hints in the chat room.
Haha. It's not that mysterious...The part in bold is that which I'm quite curious about. You often leave subtle hints in the chat room.
It sort of brings ya down to the level of us little people. Not that I'd go head to head with ya in my Skyhawk.
You're just jealous that he is cheating on you!
Nick, this board isn't for dating, now.
I don't know about Bruce, but I certainly don't think that the IFR rating makes much of a difference. It's about attitude, and a willingness to learn, and I know plenty of pilot who're not doing well in either category and who are instrument rated. If anything, the instrument rated folks are even worse because they think they're "ahead of the curve".
So now that we're off topic...how 'bout them LSAs?
Actually, I'm not so sure. I doubt the Zodiac will break its 140 knot Vne in a power-on dive.Any LSA will do 190...once.
Good question. The answer probably is that some lawyer, or some insurance company, told them to do it.Really, DAY VFR only? I get VFR, but why day only? Does it turn into a pumpkin after dark?
