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December 30, 2009

ANN Daily Touch-And-Go: 12.31.09

AirTran is bringing 100 new jobs to Milwaukee in 2010.
NASA narrows proposals for our next extraterrestrial landing to three finalists.
And the FAA has used up the last of its Recover

More AERO-Casts

Best Of The Breed '09: Final -- RANS S-6/7 Named E-LSAs Of The Year

(E-LSA) -- RANS S-6/7 series The spirit behind LSA seems to be to give the buyer all the benefits of a 'certified' LSA design but allow them the savings and or personal satisfaction that can be accrued by building it themselves. As such, economics is often a major part of the buying decision when it comes to selecting an E-LSA... that being the case, few aircraft are as cost-effective, buildable or offer as much "real aircraft" performance as the RANS S6 and S7 series.

(Tie Vote) Cessna C-162 SkyCatcher, Flight Design CTLS Destined to be fierce competitors, these two aircraft represent the very best of the current crop of ready-built LSAs -- for a number of reasons... For many years, when evaluating the cream of the crop in terms of airframe and manufacturer, the name Flight Design was always a major player, but the recent entry of Cessna, now with an actual delivery under their belt (which is necessary to qualify for this award), means that the top ranks of the LSA market are going to be shook up... again.

Aero-Heartbreaker #10: Rick Schrameck and Epic Aircraft The Epic Aircraft mess was one of the low points of 2009... but for those of us who did the slightest bit of research, it was obvious (early on) that something was amiss and was unlikely to improve. Grandiose plans, exorbitant promises and wild claims were the order of the day while a number of expected milestones came and went... especially the promise of megabucks in corporate financing to set the company on a powerful path to certification.