If the Cessnas lined up at the Lancaster Airport were bluebirds, the planes John W. Calla Jr. sells would be wrens.
John W. Calla Jr. demonstrates the roominess of the cabin of the high-wing Flight Design CTSW. The air
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The low-wing Sport Star features a bubble canopy. Up to 50
pounds of luggage can be stowed behind the
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One of Calla's low-wing Sport Stars sits on the airport's tarmac.
Unloaded, some of them weigh less than 700 pounds.
"I've had motorcycles that weighed more than that," Calla said.
They're called light sport aircraft, a new category created three years ago by the Federal Aviation Administration.
It includes the small, fixed-wing planes that Calla sells along with powered parachutes, weight-shift aircraft and gyrocopters.
To fly them, a pilot needs at least a sport pilot certificate, which requires less training than a regular pilot's license and can be obtained without a medical certificate.
Fully loaded with fuel and up to two people, a light sport aircraft can weigh no more than 1,320 pounds.
But they're not just recreational aircraft, Calla said. They can also be used for personal transportation.
He said it takes him just two hours cruising at about 115 mph and less than 10 gallons of premium auto fuel to fly to Connecticut to visit his mother.
That is much quicker than driving and probably also cheaper.
"I've taken one of my airplanes here to Sarasota, Fla.," he said The flight took 7½ hours and 36 gallons of fuel with one stop in South Carolina.
In addition to selling the aircraft, Calla's businesses also provide the flight training and mechanical services needed to fly and maintain them.
"I've been a flight instructor for 22 years and sold airplanes on a part-time basis," Calla said. "I saw these things, and as soon as I saw them, I saw an opportunity to get into a business from the ground floor."
That was three years ago.
Calla started by renting hangar space at the York Airport and selling the aircraft part time while still working as director of organizational development at Adhesives Research Inc. in Glen Rock.
He said it soon became apparent he needed to devote his attention to the business full time to really succeed at it.
"I left my job, sold the big house, invested all my money in the business and took on a couple of partners," Calla said.
A little more than a year and a half ago, he moved the business to the Lancaster Airport, where he saw more opportunities for growth, and since then has expanded into lessons and maintenance.
"You can't just survive on one business in aviation, you have to have multiple businesses," he said.
Liberty Aviation Management is the name of the core company in the corporate structure.
Advanced Aircraft Services LP is the maintenance wing, with four mechanics primarily specializing in high-performance Cirrus and Diamond airplanes plus providing maintenance for the light sport aircraft.
Adventure Flight Training LP is the flight school for both sport pilot certificates and regular pilot's licenses, and employs several part-time instructors in addition to Calla.
Flight Design Mid-Atlantic is the dealership for the Flight Design CTSW aircraft that Calla sells. It's a German-designed, high-wing aircraft with built-in parachute manufactured in Ukraine.
And Liberty Sport Aviation LP has been the dealership for the low-wing Sport Star aircraft, which is manufactured in the Czech Republic.
The business has one high-wing and two low-wing aircraft that are used for training and rentals, and Calla has sold another 26, about half in each wing configuration.
Right now, Calla said, he's negotiating to become a dealer for Gobosh, a Polish manufacturer of low-wing aircraft similar to the Sport Star.
"The Europeans have had these aircraft for several years," Calla said. "Europeans have been facing this fuel crunch for a long time."
Calla said a lot of new models have come on the market since the FAA established the category. There were about 30 different models when he started. Now there are 71.
"I went high-end, the BMW class," he said. "The ones I sell go for between 108 and 140 [thousand dollars]."
Still, "compared new to new, that's about half the cost of a Cessna 172," he said.
There are cheaper models.
"I would venture to say you could probably pick some [models] up for around $50,000," Calla said.
A used market is also starting to develop for the light sport aircraft.
"I'm brokering a couple of [used] aircraft right now," Calla said.
Robert F. Jefferys Jr., of King of Prussia, bought a low-wing Sport Star from Calla and flies into the Lancaster Airport every week to have lunch.
"I owned a Mooney before, and this airplane is comparably built," Jefferys said.
The Mooney weighs three times as much as the Sport Star, flies twice as fast and consumes fuel at a much faster rate despite being a highly efficient aircraft.
"The kind of flying I do, and I do it all day long, I'm not necessarily doing it to travel, I'm doing it to be flying," Jefferys said.
At five gallons of fuel an hour, it's a lot more economical to do that kind of flying in a light sport aircraft than in a Mooney, which goes through 11 gallons an hour.
"This is where I think tomorrow lies," Jefferys said. "I see a future for this [kind of aircraft] for younger and for older people."
Flight training for a sport pilot certificate is also less expensive than for a pilot's license.
People who are able to complete the training in the minimum 20 hours — and Calla cautions that most people require more than the minimum — can get certified for about $3,400.
A private pilot's license requires a minimum of 35 hours of training and will cost at least double, he said.
The certificate limits pilots to a ceiling of 10,000 feet and prohibits them from flying at night or when visibility is less than three miles.
People who want to upgrade to a pilot's license later can apply the sport pilot training toward that goal.
A lot of flight schools haven't yet begun offering training for sport pilot certificates, Calla said.
"I had a gentleman who drove down from Erie, rented a hotel room and stayed a week [to become certified] because there was nothing in between," he said. "I have another guy who drives in from South Jersey."
Calla said more than 30 people are in his flight school at the moment with six or seven close to becoming certified pilots.
Some of the students are younger people who see light sport aircraft as a way to get into flying, he said, but a lot of them are people who have long wanted to fly and are finally taking the plunge.
"I just soloed a 75-year-old man the other day," Calla said. "It's always been a dream of his."
Dennis Larison is editor of the business section and can be reached by telephone at 291-8753 or by e-mail at dlarison@lnpnews.com.
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