Looking for that surefire way to get from your superyacht parked on the Mediterranean to your ski house in the Alps?If this has been a long-standing dilemma for you, Lisa Airplanes believes it may have found your solution.
The all-composite Akoya light sport aircraft, weighing only 661 lbs (300 kg), sports a retractable landing gear with skis for snow and ice landings and unique hydrofoil landing gear, that bear a striking resemblance to shark fins making water landings a reality.
The Akoya is the first offering from the young company and is powered by a single tail-mounted 100hp (0.745kW) Rotax 912 piston engine with a price tag of about €300,000 ($408,195). The engine runs on 95 octane gasoline, rather than traditional 100 octane LL avgas.
The aircraft accommodates two passengers with a range of up to 700 nm (1,300 km) and was first unveiled in 2007, followed by first flight in September of that same year.
Despite the global economic downturn, the product has found itself in a solid position, due to high net-worth individuals not being largely impacted enough to slow luxury purchases, says Benoît Senellart, marketing & communication manager for Lisa.
Senellart adds that Lisa had a fruitful show, with as many as ten new potential customers identified. Lisa will invite these prospective Akoya buyers to the company's Chambery, France facility for comprehensive briefings on the aircraft.
Lisa Airplanes is pressing forward with French and US certification, with first delivery less than a year away in the first quarter of 2010.
The company currently has two test aircraft in its certification campaign, one assigned to ground and the other flight testing.
The aircraft will be first certified with a 1091-lb (495 kg) MTOW as an ultralight in France, then as a light sport aircraft in the US with a higher 1433-lb (650 kg MTOW) for extended range.
By the end of 2010, the Akoya will earn certification under EASA's ELA1 light aircraft classification boosting the MTOW up to 2204 lbs (1000 kg).
Lisa has partnered with Danish Yacht, which offers the aircraft as an accessory to a 125-ft (38 m) long dayboat the with a special aircraft storage platform on the aft of ship, enabled by the folding wings of the 25-foot long Akoya.
To boot, the aircraft also has a built in ballistic recovery system, virtually identical to larger general aviation aircraft like those from Cirrus Design.
The company sees a market for 50 units a year in Europe, Asia and the Middle East and 100 in North and South America.
The aircraft will first be fitted with Dynon avionics and a year later with the Garmin G600 package for the US market.
Lisa expects to produce and deliver 25 Akoyas in 2010, followed by 35 in 2011 and reach a top yearly production rate of 50 in 2011 from its Chambery facility.
The company says that first deliveries in 2010 will be to customers in France, Russia and South Africa.
Video Courtesy of Lisa Airplanes
on May 15, 2009 10:00 AM | Reply
Ooooohh! WORRA liddle beauty !!! Me want one Mummy, N O W purleeze !!!
First original thought in light aircraft for years, and as for style, she's got it by the bucketful ...**
** Champagne bucket, of course ...
on May 16, 2009 8:17 AM | Reply
100hp = 74.5kW ;)
on May 16, 2009 4:09 PM | Reply
Makes you wonder why they don't show operations on snow or water. I can imagine that operating from snow might actually work. But from water? Uh, oh!
on May 19, 2009 11:18 AM | Reply
There is a huge marketing mistake in totally ignoring the market of "super-rich" people!
I'm involved in the management of a fleet of about 50 private jets, for over-rich people, where a billionaire looks like a homeless.
None of these persons would even consider climbing in such a small aircraft.
Thinking that these person would consider to use it to fly from their super-yacht to the ski slopes is simply ridiculous.
Most of these people own one or several multi engine helicopter on their yacht, flown by a set of two professional pilots.
They never use their helicopter to fly for such a distance because they're too much concerned about security matters.
So, be realist and target another market with a realistic price…. 300K€ for such a gadget, your aircraft will soon join the endless list of projects launched by dreamers… too expensive, wrong targets, no administrative compliance to exploit such a vehicle on "slopes"… so…
Sorry for having logged this message anonymously, but the LogIn page doesn't work.
Laurent
on May 22, 2009 4:49 AM | Reply
As I'm usually first with the news, I'd like to point out there's a global recession on.
But in a very ideal world this would be perfect for my lifestyle. Right, time to pour some ricemilk on my Credit Crunch cereal.
on May 22, 2009 4:50 AM | Reply
As I'm usually first with the news, I'd like to point out there's a global recession on.
But in a very ideal world this would be perfect for my lifestyle. Right, time to pour some ricemilk on my Credit Crunch cereal.
on May 24, 2009 5:15 AM | Reply
If this is for solicitation purposes, FLIGHTBLOGGER may need to handle it a bit more carefully.
on May 30, 2009 10:49 AM | Reply
The movie shows a lot of rich life style, a lot of snow and long shot of a speeding yacht, but what did we see about landing on snow or water? Nothing.
A waste of effort, totally unconvincing.