n° 13 - January 2009

In this Newsletter

1. Foxbat features on Channel 7 TV at Hummocks Station
2. Fantastic Foxbat pictures at www.airliners.net
3. Meet Shawn Okun - USA manufacturer of the A22LSA
4. Second A22LSA Floatplane delivered
5. Foxbat Australia deliveries and pricing

Foxbat features on TV

A recent Channel 7 Adelaide 'Discover' programme featured Hummocks Station - a quiet retreat to stay or enjoy a function/event with owner/hosts Roger Duance and Merry Canavan. Hummocks Station is a wonderful place to go and relax for a few days - excellent accommodation, food & wine (I know, I have stayed there!). Apart from showing you around Hummocks, presenter Briony Hume also takes a flight round the area with Roger in his yellow Foxbat - affectionately known as 'Foxy Lady'. Click on or copy and paste the following into your browser address window:
http://www.hummocks-station.com.au/
Then scroll down and click on the 'Channel 7 - PLAY CLIP' link to enjoy the 4 minute show! While you're there on the Hummocks Station site have a look round.

Fantastic gallery of A22 Foxbat pictures!

If you are looking for a good selection of Foxbat photos from all over the world - try copying and pasting this website link into your browser:

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?engine_version=6.0

Then type in 'Aeroprakt A22' into the photo search box at the top right of 'airliners.net' homepage and you'll have access to several pages of high quality Foxbat pictures. One of my favourites is Trevor Mahoney's yellow Foxbat 24-4114 (the first factory built Foxbat in Australia) taxiing past a big Global Express airliner, taken at the Avalon Airshow in 2004.

You can upload your own pictures to add to the selection - go on, give it a try.

Shawn Okun - USA manufacturer of the Foxbat LSA

I recently was able to spend a day with Shawn Okun, CEO of FPNA (Float Planes 'N Amphibs), to talk with him about the A22 Foxbat worldwide and likely developments for the future. That's Shawn in the picture, on the left, with new A22LSA owner Brook Papworth, somewhere over northern New South Wales - the aircraft is currently based at Murwillumbah.

Shawn and FPNA have been the USA importer for Aeroprakt aircraft, based in Florida, for quite a few years and now manufactures the A22LSA under both FAA and Aeroprakt licenses. He has considerable flying experience, including endorsements on many types of float planes, including the DC-3 Dakota on floats - now that must have floats bigger than the Foxbat itself! FPNA are a major manufacturer of floats for all types of aircraft, including trikes (sometimes called 'microlights' in Australia) and other types of recreational aircraft. In fact, FPNA has just completed rigorous FAA certification for their latest float design, which can be fitted to many GA aircraft as well as LSAs, like the A22LSA Foxbat.

Shawn has CFI ratings for both GA and recreational aircraft and regularly comes to Australia to carry out instructor rating renewals. As we sat and drank coffee in Melbourne's sunny and warm (at least on that afternoon) Federation Square he told me about development plans for the A22LSA. Major among these are the metal top to the wing and a MTOW certificate for 650kgs, the LSA float plane limit. At this weight, the plane is certified to +6-3 'G', so will be very strong when used in the 600kgs MTOW landplane limit. Empty weight with the metal wing is working out around 281kgs. If this appears on the final certificate (which we fully expect) it will give the A22LSA Foxbat the biggest load carrying capacity in its class - a whopping 319kgs!! And remember, this is still 50kgs below the maximum certified weight....

Other developments for the A22LSA include a revised elevator trim system, which allows power-off, hands-off trimmed flying at 50 knots; a revised heating and ventilation system; standard oil thermostat with bypass valve, to keep temperatures in the green; and complete weather sealing so that the aircraft can be parked outside in wet weather. Shawn's already tested the weatherproofing in an unexpected downpour in Florida and reports not a single leak.

The metal wing 600/650kgs A22LSA Foxbat will be available in Australia from around July 2009.

Finally, he mentioned some very exciting engine developments in the pipeline for 2010 and beyond. Details of these cannot yet be revealed but believe me, they can potentially revolutionise light sport aviation. Watch this space...

Second Foxbat float plane delivered

FPNA has now delivered its second A22LSA Foxbat floatplane, called the 'Capetown' in non-Australian markets. The original version has been flying off salt water in Florida for almost 9 months now and, with 'normal' anti-salt washing after flights, is proving to be fully corrosion resistant. Fittings are marine quality brass or stainless steel and the floats are a special FPNA patented, FAA certified design. The hull is chromate zinc treated during manufacture to further reduce corrosion possibility.

Pilots report that the aircraft leaves the water amazingly quickly and flies much like the standard landplane A22. A great safety feature is that the aircraft can land safely on the water with the amphib wheels in the 'down' position - something one or two Aussie pilots will tell you about! The Capetown uses a 3-point landing gear to enable it to operate from rough earth-bound strips, something strongly unadvisable with 4-wheel amphibs.

For more detailed information go to the FPNA website at http://www.fpna.com and click on either 'Capetown' or 'Gallery' and scroll down until you see the still photos and/or the video - which shows the A22LSA Floatplane taking off and landing.

If you are interested in ordering, please contact me, Peter, on 0413 900 892

Foxbat deliveries and pricing

You don't need me to tell you about the 'world-wide financial recession' - it seems to be reported tediously and in detail on every radio and TV station and in every newspaper I pick up. I suppose the main impact on buyers of imported products - including aircraft - is the slide in the Australian dollar exchange rate against the Euro and, in particular, the US dollar.

However, there is a bright side to everything - many of my Australian customers are reporting booming export business based on their goods & products actually becoming cheaper (less expensive?) on world markets.

Thankfully, both the Aeroprakt factory in Kiev/Ukraine and the FPNA factory in Sebring/Florida have been very supportive of their Australian colleagues - both have been able to help us out with pricing and flexibility on deliveries.

We can still currently deliver well-specified A22L Foxbats from Aeroprakt at under $100,000 Australian, everything paid (including GST) with a radio ready to fly away. And FPNA is ready to deal on an A22LSA for orders in the next few weeks - there are only two specific aircraft available for early delivery at unbelievable prices, particularly when you take the exchange rate into account.

Finally, I may have a slightly used A22L for sale (under 100 hours) at a basic spec but always hangared and privately used. Price in the low $80k's including GST and although over 12 months old, I might be persuaded to give a fair warranty.

If you're interested in any of these aircraft, please call as soon as you can. First in best dressed as they say. (I always thought it was 'first come, first served', but I'm only an old Pom!).