Where have you taken your LSA?

Dave Anderson

Dave Anderson

Line Up and Wait
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SkyDreams
Just looking to close on a Bristell LSA. I have just over 100 hrs in LSA and Powered Gliders.

I'm on the east coast, but curious where all have you taken your LSA's? What is your typical mission profile? I'm not looking at this as just a weekend (day) flyer but to be able to do some nice 2-3 or longer day trips. Of course, I realize weather will play an enormous part in planning, etc.
 
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That looks like a nice plane.

Most of my flying is boring holes in the sky locally, sometimes including mild aerobatics. But I do take longer trips.

Weather is often the limiting factor, especially if you're on a schedule (like getting home in time to go to work on Monday morning). The Hatz I'm flying now isn't quite LSA, a bit too heavy, but it''s low LSA class in terms of performance (70kt cruise, limited baggage). A bit faster than a Cub. This weekend I flew to an airport (AQW) 85 miles away for a short overnight backpacking trip, back home the next day. Solo; my backpack occupied the passenger seat. The original plan was a 3 day trip to an airport twice as far away, but the weather at the destination was undesirable, both for flying and hiking.

A few weeks prior it was a flight to my sister's house (184 miles) with an overnight stay, then 136 miles to our cabin for three nights, and a 90 mile return home. Of course, I constantly watched the weather and would have altered plans if necessary.

I've often done the 90 mile trip to the cabin... fly up there on a Friday evening and return home on Sunday. But I make the trip by car four times as often (plan to drive, then if on Friday afternoon the forecast looks good through Sunday, fly). I've also included an overnight stop at the cabin on the outward leg of a couple of 200 mile trips, both times camping at the airport at the final destination. Those trips were airplane related, I wouldn't have driven.

The Starduster I owned before that was LSA (barely). I flew it home from Tennessee to Connecticut, 1000 miles over 4 days, with camping gear. Weather caused about a half day delay and some anxious moments. I didn't keep it long enough to do much more with it.

When I had my Taylorcraft I made frequent trips to destinations 100 miles away, with some longer trips... again with driving the last minute option, more often than not. And a couple of trips to the Taylorcraft fly-in, 420 miles each way with a single night camping at the destination... that's a long day at 95 mph, and bringing my young wife on the second one probably wasn't my best decision. Though I suppose modern, quieter planes with autopilots are less fatiguing, I've never owned a modern, quiet plane.
 
Pilawt said:
Backcountry Idaho in my CubCrafters Sport Cub S-LSA. This is Mackay Bar (ID28) on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.
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Beautiful! What time frame was this?
 
Over the Tennessee River:
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Visiting a few friends at a North Carolina Fly-in:

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Enjoying some morning coffee with a friend at his private strip near the NC/SC border:

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Taking the wife with me to a Corvair College:

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Bristell can do much better than 70 knots …more like 110-120.
 
I fly a similar plane (http://www.tl-ultralight.cz/en/ultralight-aircraft/tl-2000-sting-s4) and 90% of my time is just local flying within 200 miles.
I just get up there for fun and relaxation - these little planes with awesome 360 degrees like visibility are perfect for this sort of fun - that’s pretty much all I care about.

Of course with a performance similar to Cessna 172 ( albeit less useful load ) it is possible to go to places and I have done so but I find logistics way too cumbersome ( especially since I am time limited ) - maybe when I retire, it will make more sense but for now boring holes in the sky it is.
 
I fly the cousin to the Bristell, the Sportcruiser and it's usually around California, though I hope to make more trips to Nevada and Arizona to visit with friends, as well as longer flights (over night trips) to Idaho.

Like @Warmi, I am time limited, so my flying is weekend trips with a reward of breakfast at the destination. But can take longer trips if I weren't time limited. Being able to fly to places in less time than it takes to drive is quite useful. Getting down to San Diego (especially on a weekend day where the traffic is horrible) is super convenient with an LSA.

There's a person on YouTube (Lepetiteprince) that had a Bristell. I think he recently purchased a Cirrus Vision Jet as I see more videos of his travels with that aircraft now. But he flew up and down the entire West Coast with regularity it seems. (one video link below.)


 
rtk11 said:
I fly the cousin to the Bristell, the Sportcruiser and it's usually around California, though I hope to make more trips to Nevada and Arizona to visit with friends, as well as longer flights (over night trips) to Idaho.

Like @Warmi, I am time limited, so my flying is weekend trips with a reward of breakfast at the destination. But can take longer trips if I weren't time limited. Being able to fly to places in less time than it takes to drive is quite useful. Getting down to San Diego (especially on a weekend day where the traffic is horrible) is super convenient with an LSA.

There's a person on YouTube (Lepetiteprince) that had a Bristell. I think he recently purchased a Cirrus Vision Jet as I see more videos of his travels with that aircraft now. But he flew up and down the entire West Coast with regularity it seems. (one video link below.)


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Never understood why folks drag it in when landing a long runway.
 
rtk11 said:
I fly the cousin to the Bristell, the Sportcruiser and it's usually around California, though I hope to make more trips to Nevada and Arizona to visit with friends, as well as longer flights (over night trips) to Idaho.

Like @Warmi, I am time limited, so my flying is weekend trips with a reward of breakfast at the destination. But can take longer trips if I weren't time limited. Being able to fly to places in less time than it takes to drive is quite useful. Getting down to San Diego (especially on a weekend day where the traffic is horrible) is super convenient with an LSA.

There's a person on YouTube (Lepetiteprince) that had a Bristell. I think he recently purchased a Cirrus Vision Jet as I see more videos of his travels with that aircraft now. But he flew up and down the entire West Coast with regularity it seems. (one video link below.)


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That dude with the jet is some kind of higher up at Apple - we paid for his Vision Jet with our iPhone purchases …:)
 
4E5C6A7C-22EE-424F-9BF4-51D819DDB024.jpeg I was able to take an ICON A5 through the VFR corridor around NYC. Flying between 500-600 feet parallel to the city was an amazing sight. Most of the buildings were above the plane! After doing turns around the point below Lady Liberty’s torch, I went north, over the George Washington Bridge. I landed for some relaxation in the Hudson River and hung out before heading back to base.4E5C6A7C-22EE-424F-9BF4-51D819DDB024.jpeg
 
Jacob Fentoj said:
I was able to take an ICON A5 through the VFR corridor around NYC. Flying between 500-600 feet parallel to the city was an amazing sight. Most of the buildings were above the plane! After doing turns around the point below Lady Liberty’s torch, I went north, over the George Washington Bridge. I landed for some relaxation in the Hudson River and hung out before heading back to base.
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Welcome to PoA, Jacob. That's one helluva first post! :cheers:
 
Mostly all over California from the Mexican border to Southern Oregon, but also Thanksgivings in Albuquerque, NM and meetup with Jack Fleetwood for an air-to-air photo shoot in Sedona, AZ.

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My daughter and I flew a leisurely trip from NY to Seattle, stopping in Oshkosh for two days in 2018. I brought it back solo in 18 hours, which I managed to do in a day and a half. With the autopilot and huge tanks in the CTsw, it was a breeze.
 
In my CTLSi, which I have sold, I went from Connecticut to OSH, and back... made it each way in one day. Then I traveled to Southern Illinois from CT... I made it back in one day. SLA's are real airplanes. The Flight Design line makes it easy. I could have made it back from OSH without refueling but the WX looked a little iffy 120 miles away, so I stopped for gas just in case.
 
Longest LSA ride for me was ONZ (Grosse Ile Muni, south of Detroit) to 6Y9 (geographical center of nowhere) a few years ago. About 400 miles given a detour to not fly the length of Lake Michigan...
 
Longest for me was DC to Albany and back in a day, in a 162.
 
Not me, but a friend purchased a RV12 and, with an instructor, flew it from the factory In Oregon back to North Carolina.

when I flew a rental PiperSport (my favorite of the three I have flown and a second cousin to the Bristell) it was pretty much local, although it included a day trip for a golf outing.

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I’ve flown from Lincoln Nebraska to Boise Idaho in a Tecnam P2008 with ease. Got up to 13,800ft to take a closer look at the Grand Teton.
 

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Kent Wien said:
My daughter and I flew a leisurely trip from NY to Seattle, stopping in Oshkosh for two days in 2018. I brought it back solo in 18 hours, which I managed to do in a day and a half. With the autopilot and huge tanks in the CTsw, it was a breeze.
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I really enjoyed the CTsw that I rented out of PVG in VA. It can be pretty quick for what it is. I like the minus 9(?) flap position. Great little bird.
 
My new-to-me Tecnam P2004 took me from just north of Richmond, Va to just north of Houston. It was a mid-September flight, and I was introduced to lots of low-level thermals at 2500' as the clouds were not "scattered" enough for me to climb to higher, smoother altitudes. Other than a couple of demo flights, this was my introduction to the bumpiness of LSA aircraft.

People have asked me how long it took to make the flight, and I tell them truthfully, "Three weeks."
"Did you have problems along the way?"
"No."
"Well... How fast do you go?"
"Hmm, 120 mph."
"Wait! That doesn't add up!"
"I know, but it's true."
I finally tell them that Hurricane Harvey locked me out of Texas for quite awhile.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Not me, but a friend purchased a RV12 and, with an instructor, flew it from the factory In Oregon back to North Carolina.

when I flew a rental PiperSport (my favorite of the three I have flown and a second cousin to the Bristell) it was pretty much local, although it included a day trip for a golf outing.

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I wonder if I could get two sets in the back. I'd need collapsable bags
 
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