The ALW Tapis.

The ALW Tapis is a high wing variation to the exceptional SP Range of Aircraft.

The ALW Tapis will feature a Glass Cockpit, Variable Inflight Pitch Propellor and a fully upholstered leather cockpit.

Available as a two seat aircraft, with an 8 metre wing span and feature cabin dimensions of 1.15metres wide and 1.01 metres high.

The power plant for the ALW Tapis aircraft is the Superior I0360 – 180 hp.

As with the complete range of Australian LightWing aircraft, the colour scheme and paint work is completely the customers choice.

More information can be found at the Australian LightWing Website at www.lightwing.com.au

Thank you! The Australian LightWing team are all ok, although nursing a broken window, completely battered gardens and telling a ferocious beach fishing story – but our thoughts go out to all the people who were caught driving along on what was a sunny Sunday afternoon, and were suddenly caught in a blizzard of hail.

Here’s some photos of the beach between Ballina and Lennox Head straight after the storm.

This is the second time this year I have walked around on snow/ice in flip flops this year, The first being at Yosemite National Park in August. It’s a crazy old world…..

 In early August 2011 an eager group of  20 high school students and teachers from Ballina High School and Alstonville High School’s aviation studies course (years 9 to 12)  made an excursion to the Australian LightWing Aircraft factory on Southern Cross Drive, in North Ballina, to mark the beginning of this areas second aviation project where local high school students will build, complete and learn to fly an Australian LightWing  SP-2000 low wing Aircraft.

 Students at Ballina High School have previously completed their own Australian LightWing aircraft, a  GR-912 as part the “School Fly” aviation program in 1992 to 1995. This course was a complete success as many of those students have now gone on to gainful employment in the aviation industry. Barry Skinner  for example, now is an instructor teaching flight skills in some of the worlds most sophisticated military aircraft. This new School Fly Project will be building a much more complex aircraft, as the Australian LightWing SP2000 features a glass cockpit, a variable in flight pitch propeller, low wing, gull wing doors  and many more state of the art features not present in the older GR range of LightWing aircraft.

Australian LightWing will initially be sponsoring the aircraft build which will involve students from  a number of nearby high schools, giving students the opportunity to learn how to develop both their hands-on building skills and later on, their flying skills. These skills include:  2 and 3D CAD drawing, generating G codes for computer manufacture, metalwork, spray-painting, general assembly, the hands on aspects of wing design, cockpit safety and active design aspects of this,  basic stress analysis, upholstery; styling, computer aided navigation and much more. Its worth pointing out that the School Fly course at Ballina High,  has been running in both a flying and non a non flying mode (2 students have independently attained RAAus solo status) since 1992.

The project will take shape this coming term with completion due in 2013 giving the maximum number of students the opportunity to interact with the course over the next two years. In the final stage of the School Fly project, the high schools involved will be able to sell sponsorship in the form of advertising on the aircraft itself, use the aircraft for flight training or to sell the aircraft.

Hughes’ initial motives were to ensure an endless supply of bright-eyed additions to the aviation workforce, which was definitely not the case with the previous project as students have gone on to work in the Australian Defence Force and the Australian Virgin Blue Airline etc. The LSA category has been a breath of fresh air in the stuffy world of aircraft design and manufacture making it even more important to introduce a new breed of young and empowered aviation enthusiasts into the RA-Aus and GA fraternity.

 “We have to do everything possible to encourage young people into RA-Aus membership”, says Hughes, “As we strive for an evolving and safety focused future of light sport aircraft and aviators in Australia ”.

Through the School Fly program and also thanks to forward thinking teachers like Ballina High’s Mark Willacy, Australian LightWing is actively  spreading the word about the benefits that flow on from this innovative course. In the past, schools including Kent st High in WA, Moruya on the NSW south coast and others have all built LightWing aircraft  and simply using the RAAus syllabus, hundreds of students have experienced some if not all of the excitement of flying in an aircraft they have helped build, Nick Hughes puts it this way “ its just one big win, win situation” and as Nick was a student at Ballina High when the first GR-912 was built, no one knows better than  he does, how many skills can be learnt from the School Fly program.

The Australian LightWing SP6000 will compete head to head with overseas imports offering excellence in style, comfort and most importantly, safety.

Be sure to watch this space as the aircraft project unfolds!

You can find out more about the Wide Bay Airshow at their Website: http://www.widebayairshow.com.au/

Its set to be a great three days and we welcome you to locate our ALW display area and view the Australian LightWing SP2000 Aircraft. Look out for our red and white flags and smiling faces!

Look out for the ALW Logo!

The airshow also supports some very important charities – The Royal Flying Doctor Service and The Leukemia Foundation of Queensland; and we are very proud to come and be a part of this spirit and be a part of this community. Tug of war with a DC3??!! Fantastic!

See You There!

When: 19th – 21st August, 2011

Where: Bundaberg Airport, Queensland, Australia.

The Metal Work Engine

Pictured: Howie Hughes, CEO of Australian LightWing, visiting the Metal Work engine factory recently in Italy!!!

With horse power ranging from 80hp to 130hp, the ‘Metal Work’ gear drive engines promise a substantial technological improvement over the current range of Rotax engines.

In particular, the soon to be released: 130 hp engine with a capacity in excess of 2 litres.

Watch this space as more details are available after we visit the Italian factory in late march 2011.

With an equivalent weight to the Rotax, but sporting additional 30 horse power, and also a similar size package the Metal Work engine promises to be a great improvement.

Call or email us for price or availability NOW!

And Remember to WATCH THIS SPACE for more information coming soon!!

The SP6000 Under Construction

Note that in the picture shown above, the fact that the body mould for our new six seat SP6000 looks a little like a beached whale augurs well for the aerodynamic shape of this new aircraft.

Shown in this picture, is the middle and rear sections of the body, which to all-intense purposes, are a scaled down A330 Airbus.

The tail sweeps up to the oval shaped bulkhead, which will accept the rear stern spar of the vertical and horizontal stabilisers.

Current calculations indicate that large though this aircraft is, it may well be registrable in the “RA-Aus category” with a maximum take-off weight of 600 kilograms, however, this amazing development will be contingent on the new Metal Works four cylinder boxer engine, generating 160 horse power with an engine weight similar to that of the Rotax 912s.

If all of these events come to pass then it’s vaguely possible that this large aircraft will come in under RA-Aus weights. What will this mean to you the RA Aus pilot?

Firstly, a cavernous rear section to this aircraft which will be capable of carrying two bunks, or a basic live onboard accommodation or a couple of bicycles for your camping trip or even floats.

However, in order to pull this off we will need to build and extremely lightweight carbon fibre body shell for the SP6000.

No designation has been developed for the RA-Aus version of this aircraft, if we are able to produce it, but watch this space.

Don’t worry if this photo makes little sense, watch this space for further developments for this amazing aircraft!

Image # 1: You can see in this image a small slice of our Factory Aircraft Showroom. Feel free to arrange a visit to our showroom at any time to view and test fly our Aircraft!

Images # 2 / # 3 / # 4: Pictured here is the body of the SP6000 – the 6 Seat Australian LightWing Aircraft. This aircraft is currently under construction, and as you can see here, we are currently applying the fiberglass layer to strengthen the body of the aircraft, whilst also keeping it extremely lightweight. For more information visit the website at www.lightwing.com and visit the SP6000 Page!

Image # 5: Here you can see Nick Hughes applying the rego numbers to the Australian LightWing aircraft that is currently in the factory for some refurbishment, including a new paint job! You can see Nick here, lining up the spirit level, getting the angles correct for the numbers and checking all is perfect!

For more information or to request images of your aircraft, please visit our website at www.lightwing.com.au

(The NatFly Airshow at Temora – on Easter Weekend!!)

If the electronic gods are with us and the brain cells are snapping I may play a few aviation related songs at Temora on Friday night, including….. “All australian boys need a hanger” and “10 things I hate about aeroplanes”  are just a couple !

Temora Fly – In 2011

With horse power ranging from 80hp to 130hp, the ‘Metal Work’ gear drive engines promise a substantial technological improvement over the current range of Rotax engines.

In particular, the soon to be released: 130 hp engine with a capacity in excess of 2 litres.

Watch this space as more details are available after we visit the Italian factory in late march 2011.

With an equivalent weight to the Rotax, but sporting additional 30 horse power, and also a similar size package the Metal Work engine promises to be a great improvement.

Call or email us for price or availability NOW!

at

al@spot.com.au

or (02) 6686 8658

Australian LightWing