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Amphibian airplanes can be a relatively new concept even to pilots. That’s because most of us train in tricycle, land airplanes. But the fact is 70% of planet is covered by water so it only makes sense that we have airplanes that can land or float on water. Well we do, and today we are checking out 5 of the best light modern sea planes available in the industry. Being that these aircraft are light, and many of them in the LSA category, you get limited amount space/useful load and you’re traveling no more than 120 miles per hour for the most part. Here are the airplanes listed: 1. Icon A5 - Arguably one of the most technologically advanced light plane built in the last 20 years. The Icon A5 stuck a chord with many old and new pilots, particularly those who want to fly just for fun or sport. The airplane is known for its good handling capabilities and anti-stall safety feature. But honestly there is no such thing as anti-stall for an airplane. Due to troubles and some failed promises over the years, the ICON initial goal to take over the sport aviation market has somewhat stalled. There are very few production airplanes flying today, and pilot/owners seem to be very happy with the product. Below are specs for the A5. USEFUL LOAD: 430-550 lbs RANGE: Up to 491 miles SPEED: Up to 109 mph PRICE: $269,000 2. Super Petrel LS - If you’re in the US, You probably haven’t heard about this amphibious plane. Me either, not until researching for this video. The Petrel is a French/Brazilian design and although popular around the world, its a bit quiet here in the United States. With all the cool features in the airplane though, which includes double wings, and a turbo charged engine upgrade, all for $175,000. Not bad, hopefully the company gets more love and coverage. Below are specs for the Super Petrel. USEFUL LOAD: 537 lbs RANGE: Up to 590 miles SPEED: Up to 115 mph PRICE: $175,000 3. Vickers Waves - An Icon A5 lookalike but much sleeker. This airplane is designed by founder and owner Paul Vicker from new Zealand. Lots of cool features including those folding wings also seen the Icon A5. But the Vicker is still in design phase. There is no flying prototype yet to confirm any performance numbers. Below are specs for the Vicker Waves. USEFUL LOAD: 500 lbs RANGE: Up to 828 miles SPEED: Up to 138 mph PRICE: $180,000 4. MVP - The name alone draws special attention. MVP is another light seaplane that flames to be the most practical of all. With this plane you can fly on land, water and snow. You can also take it fishing, camping and much more. Perfect airplane for the all the adventurous daredevils out there. Below are specs for the MVP. USEFUL LOAD: 450 lbs RANGE: N/A SPEED: Up to 120 mph PRICE: $189,000 5. Searey - Available in both light sport and experimental with your choice of engine, ranging from the Rotax 912, 914 or 915. The Searey airplane is hands down the best bank for the money. No it’s not the best looking plane when compared to the other sleeker ones like the A5 or the Vicker, but you get all the same feature and then some with the Searey. And a complete light aircraft will only cost you $125,000. Below are specs for the Searey. USEFUL LOAD: 450 lbs RANGE: Up to 416 miles SPEED: Up to 120 mph PRICE: $125,000

When we think of airplane ownership, specifically small single engine piston engine airplanes. The general consensus is that owning an airplane is only reserved for the rich. Well I hate to break to ya. Actually just about anyone with a job can afford to own an airplane. If you can afford a brand new honda accord, chances are you can afford to own a single engine airplane. Four of the airplanes shared in this video are certified, cessna, piper and grumman and one is an experimental build, the sonex. Outside of the amateur build sone, consider these airplanes old and rugged. They are rugged and very reliable aircrafts. The fact that they’ve already made it through several decades and still flyable is amazing. Here are the 5 airplanes listed Cessna 150: The cessna 150 is what you consider your modern day light sport aircraft. Except the model is about 50 years old. And unlike modern light airplanes, cessna 150s are fully certified aircrafts. Both for VFR and IFR flying if fully equipped. The best thing about this airplane is the low entry cost and low cost of maintenance. Also the cessna 150 is one of the most forgiving airplanes in General aviation. Very reliable and slow to fly. Great airplane to learn and build some time for new pilots. Range: 300 Nautical Miles Cruise speed: 103 knots Useful load: 303 pounds Fuel consumption: 5 gallons per hour Avg Used Price: $20,000 Cessna 172: When you think of the godfather of general aviation aircrafts, think of the cessna 172. One of the oldest modeled airplane still being produced in the US today. The 172 have certainly earned it’s stripes in aviation over that last few decades. A great reliable and safe airplane, but with more speed, range and better useful load than the cessna 150. Cessna 172 remains one of the most utilized training aircraft till today. Range: 435 Nautical Miles Cruise speed: 115 knots Useful load: 930 pounds Fuel consumption: 8 gallons per hour Avg Used Price: $29,000 Piper Cherokee 140: A superb low wing airplane that was first introduced in the 1960s. Back then this was considered a very sporty airplane, still is. But what sets the piper cherokee apart is it’s great handling and forgiving characteristics, and many pilots have said this is one of the easiest aircrafts to land. The piper cherokee comes in multiple variations/models. You have the 140, 160, 180 and 235, all with different size engines and performance differences. This airplane is also one of the few early birds that is still used to train new pilots in todays age. Range: 455 Nautical Miles Cruise speed: 110 knots Useful load: 900 pounds Fuel consumption: 8 gallons per hour Avg Used Price: $25,000 Grumman American AA1A: The Grumman is a vintage aircraft still flying today. The best thing about the Grumman is not only it’s handling characteristics but the price. A used Grumman can be bought in today’s market for as little as $16,000. The late 60s models with a nice six pack avionics panel. Low purchase price also translate into low maintenance cost for this airplane. It uses a similar lycoming engine as the cessna 150, thus share some of the same performance. Except the grumman has much better useful load at 1007 pounds. Range: 350 Nautical Miles Cruise speed: 109 knots Useful load: 1007 pounds Fuel consumption: 6 gallons per hour Avg Used Price: $18,000 Sonex Waiex: Sonex aircraft is an amateur built airplane kit manufacturer. One of the many based in the US. They provide kits for several airplane models, which include a one seater (sonex onex) and a personal jet (subsonex). Amazing right? building your own personal single engine jet for only $100,000. The model displayed in this video is the Sonex Waiex-B model. Great little airplane that sits two comfortably and travels at speeds north of 130 miles per hour. Range: 500 Nautical Miles Cruise speed: 113 knots Useful load: 480 pounds Fuel consumption: 4 gallons per hour Avg Used Price: $24,000

Still at Composite FX. In this video we get a brief run-through on how to operate the Mosquito helicopter. We do a cockpit flow, run up and startup of the turbine engine. In the aircraft, You have your control stick, also known as the cyclic which is used to control the forward, backward and left to right movements of the aircraft. Also you have your collective handle bar which is used to gain lift all descend. The collective bar is also attached to the throttle. In the panel, this helicopter is equipped with an MGL electronic flight information system. Here you can read and get all the data for your engine. You have a master switch on the lower right hand of the pilot.

By popular demand, we stopped by Justaircraft earlier this month and low and behold, we flew the Superstol XL. This is the flight review. If you’re not familiar with Justaircraft or the Superstol aircraft, this is an experimental home build airplane where you buy the kit and put the airplane together yourself or with a builder assist program. Justaircraft designs and produces kits for several different model airplanes. All STOL and taildragger airplanes. They produce, highlanders, superstol (both experimental and light sport version) and the superstol xl. The Superstol XL is the aircraft we flew today, shown in the video. This particular airplane is Troy’s plane and it is powered by a 180 HP Titan engine. As you’ll see in the video, this airplane is an absolute blast to fly. If you want to fly low and slow, the massive wings on this plane will let you do just that. The wings on the superstol xl also has some slats. This allows the airplane to remain stable is slow flight condition. Here are the standard specs of the Superstol XL Engine: 180 HP Titan engine Speed: 100 mph Stall speed: 32 mph Useful load: up to 1000 lbs Takeoff and landing distance: within 400 ft Price: $75k - $100k for a finished airplane Music: http://bensound.com http://hooksounds.com