Innovations To Watch For

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Of course, every manufacturer wants its latest and greatest at the big show but they’re often cagey about making promises they can’t keep. However, reading between the lines, there appear to be some new aircraft set for debut. Comp Airannounced introduction of a new pressurized, eight-place turboprop single called the Comp Air 9. CubCrafters’ new Sport Cub Light-Sport airplane is expected to get LSA approval in early July so it will likely be there. And, if everything works out for Eclipse, it may celebrate FAA certification of its long-awaited very light jet (VLJ) at this year’s Oshkosh, missing only one (range, and not by much) of its many performance guarantees. There are bound to be some surprises, too. Of course, in aviation, the best-laid plans can go awry in the blink of an eye and some new products will miss this year’s show. Excel-Jet had hoped to debut its Sport-Jet in Oshkosh but an upset accident on takeoff at Colorado Springs dashed those hopes. Seawind had hoped to finally unveil its production conforming and certification testing amphib (the one you see at all the shows is actually a homebuilt from the original kit manufacturer) and it came close. However, company officials say the first production Seawind, which rolled out June 8, likely won’t make Oshkosh as staff try to get the certification testing jump started on the often-delayed project. Maybe by Sun ‘n Fun…

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