Sport Pilot Talk

Tom, you might find Elmdale to allow trailer parking on the ramp for either the ramp fee or a modest increase over the ramp fee...and that's one way a trailerable a/c and the expense of a trailer can in fact be practical and financially helpful. (BTW trailerable LSA aircraft are frequently moved with fuel in the wing tanks, e.g. when they arrive at the annual Sebring show. Perhaps Paul is thinking about LSA a/c where the geometry or the wing linkages make this inadvisable. A friend with a Just Highlander just trailered his a/c 6,000 miles without worrying about this issue, and the fellow who shows up in his Roadtrek at Sebring each year, to preach the pleasures of towing his Kitfox with his RV and flying all over the country, also doesn't concern himself with this).

The Bushcat, from what I could tell when seeing it/sitting in it/pawing over it at Sun 'n Fun, is benefiting by the new round of synthetic fabrics which are now available. My impression is that you'd want a fair bit of knowledge about the fabric chemistry involved before automatically assuming its overall longevity (wear, chafe, UV light, aiir pollution et al.) falls into the same category as the tube 'n fabric choices like Aero-Trek that enjoy two-part coverings over the fabric. FWIW I wasn't nearly as impressed with the Bushcat's structures as I was the Aero-Trek. And then there's the 'resale consideration', something worth reflecting on when purchasing. There was a line-up at the Aero-Trek booth at S'nF this year, and every year I've seen them there. Nothing like that was going on at the Bushcat sales area the two years I've seen them at S'nF.

Jack,

I guess I'm just not familiar enough with these planes to know what can and can't be done with them (e.g. fuel in wings/folding wings), so I'm relying on the info that I find around sites like this. Excellent idea about keeping a trailer at Elmdale. I just looked it up and it's pretty close to ABI and seems like a nice airpark. I'm going to do some more research there.

As far as the BushCat goes, I have noticed that there aren't many out there that I can find and I don't think their sales are overwhelming. I do know that there is a YouTuber who has one, has posted quite a few videos and seems to love it. Like you said, though, who really knows about the long term reliability of the fabric and of course the uncertainty of the re-sale value. I still really like their planes and think they *could offer really good value. The lack of a folding wing could be a problem in my situation, though.