Oshkosh - Day 2 - first day of show

Day 2 of our Oshkosh trip, the opening day of the show, was our busiest day. I think this day is best described in pictures…

We started the day with the unveiling of the new Cirrus LSA (Light Sport Aircraft) concept. To me it looks a lot like the Lancair Legacy FG. Cirrus says they'll have to slow it down to make it LSA compliant. Personally, I wouldn't look to Cirrus if I wanted a slow airplane, but if the price is right I imagine they could do quite well. I expect the avionics to change before it goes to production as one of the selling points of this airplane is that it would be a good starting point before moving up to a SR model.





Then we stepped over to the Cirrus G3 displays. The "X" on the tail is what you get when you go with one of the new paint schemes, like the red one below. They must have figured out how to keep the composite from melting in the sun under dark paint. At least I hope they have. ;)





A short hop over to the Columbia section had us checking out their latest offerings. They now offer TKS anti-ice as an option to the Evade heat-based installation. Apparently the Evades have been problematic to install.


Diamond had a mock up of their D-Jet. The cockpit blew me away when I hopped in the left seat - it is gorgeous. The MFD is huge. Jim and I sat in almost all of the Diamond planes and found them fairly comfortable (though the smallest DA20 was a bit tricky). They don't compare to the comfort of the Cirrus cabin though (well, the D-Jet does).




Piper had the PiperJet on display - complete with little "stars" in the ceiling of the cabin. I'll have more pics in my day 3 post.


And Eclipse was the last stop of the day. They had a single engine jet on display which they had flown to the show. It looks just like the Cirrus Jet to me, except it's not just a model - it's flying.





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