Sonex Aircraft, LLC formally submitted its comments to the FAA today, regarding proposed policy changes to the Experimental-Amateur Building regulations which empower Sonex Aircraft and AeroConversions customers in the United States with the privilege of constructing and flying their own homebuilt aircraft. The message, sent this morning by Sonex Aircraft CEO and General Manager Jeremy Monnett to Miguel Vasconcelos of the Production and Airworthiness Division of the FAA, was clear: Enforce the regulations already in-place, and do not place an undue burden upon builders complying with the spirit and intent of the Experimental-Amateur Built aircraft regulations by creating new regulation via changes in policy. Monnett¹s comments to the FAA can be found in their entirety below.

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September 10, 2008 — The EAA SportAir Workshop program will be in the Seattle area with three of our most popular classes on October 18-19: Sheet Metal Basics, Electrical Systems and Avionics, and What’s Involved in Kitbuilding. The workshops will take place at the Arlington Fly-In facilities on the Arlington Municipal Airport in Washington. Sheet Metal Basics presents the essential elements of metal aircraft construction. During this session you’ll learn about materials and fasteners, and will work to building a small sheet metal wing section. All tools and materials are supplied.

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The 2008 FAI Championship calendar is well underway with 36 of the 48 category 1 events now successfully completed. This calendar comprises 25 World, 16 Continental and 7 other International Championships, staged in all six of FAI’s continental regions. FAI Secretary General Max BISHOP was invited to the 1st FAI European Paragliding Accuracy Championship in Niska Banja, Serbia.

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There is just a short amount of time left before applications for the Red Bull X-Alps 2009 close, and all budding athletes are invited to apply online at www.redbullxalps.com. There have been a record amount of entrants so far, but anyone who think they have what it takes to compete in the world’s toughest hiking and paragliding adventure race should send in their forms immediately. “The level of interest in the 2009 race has been greater than ever,” says Race Organiser Hannes Arch. “We have a tough task selecting 30 athletes to compete since the standard of applicant is extremely high.” Potential participants have until September 30, 2008 to fill out the online form, and an official selection announcement is scheduled for mid-October. The race starts on July 19, 2009.

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Each FAI Air Sport Commission (ASC) determined how athletes should be selected, so as to gather together the very best competitors from as many FAI countries as possible. Selection methods used by ASCs include International Ranking Lists, results of previous championships, and special selection events. Each athlete (including reserves) will be approved by his/her respective ASC and NAC before receiving an official invitation (Reference : World Air Games General Rules). FAI Air Sport Commissions are responsible for making selections, and the FAI Secretariat will provide administrative support and coordination between ASCs and NACs during the whole selection process.

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FAI recently signed up as a fully integrated user of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS). This system is coming of age with added functionality and easy-to-use features which will enable FAI competitors to minimise the impact on them of complying with the World Anti-Doping Code. ADAMS is a one-stop shop for anti-doping management; competitors will be able to enter whereabouts information using several methods, including by SMS text message. FAI can record Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs), keep track of testing and communicate directly with WADA.

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On july 07th 2008, Miguel Esteves flying with SOL Kangaroo 2 along with his passenger Cléber, broke the world paramotor record. Until this date, the record was 361 Km. They flew 380km in about five hours and half. 44 liters of fuel was consumed and it was left 14 liters, which it was enough for more two hours to fly. Congratulations for the pilot and his passenger for this conquer.

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Marius Jansen and Knut Ståle Thomassen have made an amazing tandem PPG flight over the summit of Mt Blanc, using the Ozone Magnum. Reaching a max altitude of 5009m ASL, the two were able to fly around some of the most amazing terrain in the Alps, not to mention right over the summit of the highest mountain in Western Europe. Even with a total weight of 228kg, their Magnum delivered the performance necessary to make this impressive flight.

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Also present were four more pilots flying UP Edge, i.e. all in all a quite strong presence. Mads Syndergaard managed to secure a win for UP in the 2. task by, as the only pilot doing so, taking the first start time in the clock start sequence and flying all alone to the goal 67 km east of launch. Robert Bernat and Primoz Podobnik also flew great results and made this 2. task a true “UP Task”. The third task was sadly the end of the adventure for the UP Race Team. Torsten, Robert and Mads all landed short and thus lost all hope of a decent overall result (Robert was in 4th place overall before the disaster struck). Still the boys went to launch motivated to improve their result every day, and on task 4 Torsten ate all the Leading Points while Primoz and Goran Dimiskovski (MK) improved their results daily. In the end these two pilots landed in 5th and 10th respectively and saved the comp for UP.

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Echterdingen, GERMANY / 25 July 2008 — Flight Design is pleased to announce hiring a talented young engineer to add to its team of veteran aircraft engineers. The clear LSA market leader (measured by FAA aircraft registrations), Flight Design has announced one new model in 2008 and has hinted at another, reinforcing the dedication of its engineering team. “The new face at Flight Design Germany is the 32-year-old aerospace engineer, Tim-Peter Voss,” said Flight Design Sales & Marketing Manager, Uwe Laszig. Mr. Voss will act as the chief engineer for flight & ground test and the chief test pilot of Flight Design. “He is experienced in design, test and certification of light aircraft.”

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South Woodstock, CONNECTICUT / July 25, 2008—Flight Design USA is pleased to announce the launch of its “CT Partners” program created for the importer of the leading Light-Sport Aircraft. Other aviation segments have fractional ownership programs, but the company believes this is a first for Light-Sport Aircraft. “In my Bonanza, I burn 16 gallons an hour at $6.00 a gallon,” said CT Partners program developer Robert Mann. “In the CTLS I burn 4.5 gallons an hour and can use high-test auto gas at $4.50 a gallon. That’s $96/hour versus $20/hour in the CTLS, a savings of nearly $8,000 a year if you fly only 100 hours.”

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(RENO, Nev.) – On Saturday, September 6, 2008, The Great Reno Balloon Race will host The World’s Largest Pajama Party – Pajama Fest 2008. In preparation for the big day, The Great Reno Balloon Race asks Reno residents and balloon-lovers alike to help enforce the new ordinance of “Pajama Friday” during the month of August. Accompanying “bed-head” is optional, however recommended in compliance with Pajama Fest Preparation. The month of “Pajama Fridays” will culminate on Saturday, September 6, where Balloon Race spectators will leave their pajamas on! From 5 to 11 a.m. PJ-clad event-goers can hang out in the Pajama Fest tent to enjoy hot chocolate, movies and games or be photographed by the Reno.com Pajamarazzi!

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Rotterdam – July 21, 2008 — It was a good day to be British, especially if you were a pilot competing in the Red Bull Air Race in Rotterdam on Sunday. With his third win in four races this season, Brit Paul Bonhomme widened his lead over Austrian Hannes Arch in the World Series, while fellow countryman Steve Jones took third place and made his first visit to the podium this year. With the win Bonhomme has 35 points in the World Series standings, followed by Arch with 29. Bonhomme outlasted Arch with a time of 1:17.25 in the final after the Austrian could not finish his run because of a pylon hit. Arch was going all-out to beat Bonhomme but cut his line too close and hit an Air Gate on the first straight. He aborted his run after pylon material got caught briefly in his right wing.

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The first edition of the X-Fly Mont Blanc took 65 competitors on a bivouac race from Gresse en Vercors to Plaine Joux near Chamonix over 5 days. Designed as a cross between a travelling competition and a mini X-Alps, the event lived up to its promise by delivering challenging tasks that had to be covered on foot or in the air. Some launches involved vertical climbs of 1,000 metres, with more climbing or long walks in between flights. Gérald Bertoli and JC Skiera from the Annecy club Les Chamois Volants took Geo 2’s with them on their adventure, either walking for over 8 hours or thermalling hard over the Alps.

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READINGTON, NJ — At this week’s Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning, the biggest things going up are the balloons. As gasoline prices continue to rise, area families looking for things to do closer to home should consider the upcoming Festival, July 25-26-27 at Solberg Airport in Readington in Hunterdon County. The three-day Festival is the largest summertime hot air balloon and music festival in North America and offers 39 hours of entertainment over the weekend, from mass hot air balloon ascensions to live concerts. “We have brought in new attractions and new entertainment but have not raised our price of admission,” said Howard Freeman, executive producer of the Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning. “The festival offers an affordable and enjoyable experience close to home, whether its friends wanting to take in a concert, couples looking for a night out, or entire families wanting a day’s worth of activities.”

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Another phase of APWC (Acro Paragliging World Cup) has been won by the pilots SOL. The event took place during the 16th and 19 th in Austria in Ell am See. 4 Tasks were acomplished and all of them were won by the pilots flying with Supersonic.

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On Saturday, July 19th, Dustin Martin launched his T2 144 out of Zapata, Texas, and just kept going - landing 410 miles later, north of Big Spring. Dustin figures he was one thermal short of being able to go over 450 miles, and that 500 is definitely possible. “The flight was basically easy,” wrote Dustin afterwards, “the glider is flying sweet and I felt fresh the next morning.” Congratulations, Dustin, on an incredible flight!

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July 18, 2008 — Charles Lindbergh won the $25,000 Orteig Prize in the Spirit of St. Louis for the first nonstop aircraft flight between New York and Paris. Paul MacCready won the $100,000 Kremer Prize for the Gossamer Condor as the first human-powered airplane to fly, climb and turn. And SpaceShipOne won the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE, becoming the first private manned spacecraft to exceed an altitude of 328,000 feet twice within 14 days. There is no doubt that prize money entices innovation. And that’s the reason why the U.S. Department of Transportation announced on July 10 it would finance its own green fuel contest. The DOT and Federal Aviation Association have granted $500,000 to the X Prize Foundation to create a contest they hope will award $10 million or more to the creator of an alternative jet fuel. Specific requirements for winning entrants will be developed over the next 14 months.

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July 17, 2008 — If you’re going to build a solar and hydrogen powered airplane and be the first to fly around the world using only renewable energies as fuel, it helps to have friends. Or in this case a manufacturer of photovoltaic cells. Trina Solar Ltd. announced this week a cooperative agreement with LISA Airplanes to build the Hy-Bird, Under this agreement, Trina Solar will supply LISA Airplanes with almost 300 photovoltaic cells for the wings and horizontal tail of the plane. That’s enough to supply sufficient energy to complete the fuel cell power for takeoff and for on-board power supply. In addition, a fuel cell will fuel the aircraft for cruise flight, while an electric engine will propel it.

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July 17, 2008 — A 12-member private team comprised of athletes and mountaineers began a search Monday to find multimillionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, who disappeared in September 2007 when his single-engine plane went missing in Nevada. Led by Simon Donata, a Canadian geologist and expert cyclist and racer, the group is searching a mountainous area straddling the California-Nevada state line. “You never know what we’re going to find out there,” Donata, 31, told the Associated Press. “It’s going to be getting into those hard-to-reach areas and basically crossing them off the map. The best-case scenario is that we find him. The worst-case scenario — we’re making it easier for people in the future to continue this.”

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After three phenomenally successful editions, the Red Bull X-Alps is back and is now searching the globe for potential participants. From July 15, 2008, athletes can apply online via the official website, www.redbullxalps.com, to be part of the next instalment of this incredible event which starts on July 19, 2009. Applications will close on September 30, 2008 and a selection announcement will be made shortly after. A total of thirty international athletes will be chosen to race over an 850km route through the Alps, which is expected to take up to 20 days. “We are looking for the best competitors, most interesting sportspeople and athletes who are fully motivated to push their limits and make it to Monaco,” says Race Organiser Hannes Arch.

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At the 10th FAI European Championships in Serbia the ADVANCE team pilots sparkled with their outstanding performances. From 30th June to the 12th July the paragliding elite of Europe met in Nis, Serbia, to decide the European champions. 5 tasks with distances of 51 to 71 kilometres made a selective and fair contest possible. At the end Greg Blondeau of France and Ewa Wisnierska for Germany stood at the top of the podium for men and women respectively.

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Villingen-Schwenningen. U-Turn Team Pilot Pál Takáts flown 5 new Hungarian National XC Records in Switzerland! Last winter Pal moved to Interlaken, Switzerland, and after discovering the area´s cross county potentials he just waited for the spring to come. In the beginning of may during a long period of sunny weather he managed to fly 2 new records on U2 tandem together with his girlfriend and 3 more solo records flying U-Turn´s competition wing, the AIR FORCE. The records have been accepted and validated by the Hungarian Free Flying Association, see the details below.

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Felix’s comp report: This year the comp in Villenueve was highly competitive, even without Raul and Antoine! The first task was a compulsory routine of: SAT to helico, helico, asym spiral and dynamic full stall. For the 2nd task pilots needed to announce their routine, for me it was: Rythmic SAT to Infinity tumble, Helico to helico, Helico to SAT. It was an aggressive program I was not sure if I would have enough altitiude, but my strategy was to do the hardest maneuvers and as many as possible. I won the task by 4 points.”

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Last week Mathieu Rouanet dominated the French National PPG Championships with his Viper 2, taking overall and French National Title. Ex-World Champion, current Vice World Champion and European Champion, and now 2x French Champ, Mathieu’s competition record is almost unparalleled in the PPG world and his overall skill as a pilot is truly unmatched in the PPG scene. Mathieu said that the Viper 2 (available to the public soon… stay tuned) was highly effective in the speed, slalom, and economy tasks, with excellent stability. 7 Ozone Vipers and 4 Roadsters flew in the championships. Laurent Salinas placed 4th overall flying his Viper, and 16 year old Ozone Pilot Alexander Mateos finished 5th, and Ronan Choullou in 6th on his Viper. Congratulations, guys! And congrats also to Coralie Matéos, who took 3rd overall flying her Ozone Rush in her first competition ever! Splendid!

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