We were busy throughout the AirVenture week at the Zenith booth, meeting with both existing builders and owners, and showing the demo aircraft to potential new builders. We flew in our two new factory demonstrators: The STOL CH 750 and the low-wing CH…

What a week Oshkosh was this year!!  I arrived at Whitman Field on the Saturday afternoon preceding the start of Oshkosh 2011.  Since this was our big “Zenith’s To Oshkosh” year, there were already several Zenith aircraft in the three rows of homebuilt parking earmarked for our types.  I parked my 601XL between Andy Elliott’s 601XL TD and Al Beyer’s 601HDS.  For a few days Matt Archer’s 601XL was parked right behind me.  During the week, aircraft came and went, but at the height of the show,…

In a letter dated June 24, 2011, Terry Allen, manager of the FAA Production and Airworthiness Division, stated that the Evaluation Team determined that the kit will “allow an amateur builder to meet the major portion requirement of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations part 21, Certification Procedures for Products and Parts, § 21.191(g),” known as the…

The Turbine Zenith 701 (742DE) flew over 1200 miles at 300’ over Lake Livingston last week in an attempt to locate a lost fisherman. We unfortunately did not save a life this time but I was sure impressed with the utility of the 701 to perform this type of search. It was gratifying to be able to help and I would recommend that all of you that have 701/750 consider letting local law enforcement know if you have time to volunteer.

Scott Ehni

A documentary is underway about what we do in West Africa, much of it with Zenith aircraft... Many people ask to see a video of what we do, but our internet is 'inter-mittent-net'....

Happily, here is a link to the preview to the documentary.... http://vimeo.com/21946586 , donated by Rex and Melissa Pemberton, watch out especially for the Zenith across the setting sun and rising sun pictures.... we had a great time shooting this, but…

Although I am still in Afghanistan, I ordered my rudder kit and reserved my rudder workshop space for the June session. A few months ago I order the rudder DVD from HomeBuiltHelp.com and have watched it numerous times at my base when I was off duty.  I am eager to return to the United States, meet other Zenith owners, build my rudder at Zenith in June, spend a few more days at American Light Sport Aircrafters down the road from Zenith (maybe building the stabilizer or anything else), then…

We are happy to host Frank Pisz officially as

American Light Sport Aircrafters Builder Assist & Assembly Center's

first in house customer.

Craig assisting Frank back drilling the slats.

Frank drove in from Texas this week and will spending quite a…

• Here are the paint scheme submissions (photo gallery).

As we're completing our new CH 650 B demonstrator plane, we're…

In this issue you will share in the experience of building wheel penetration skis currently under construction by Bob McDonald. Caleb at the Zenith factory discusses loads on the aircraft front wheel axle and a CH701 builder shows how he installed a communication speaker in the cavity below the passenger seat!

This issue's included DVD features some vintage…

After the January workshop I am now the proud parent of a bouncing baby rudder! It may not be cosmetically perfect, but I would be willing to fly with it.  I learned a lot at the workshop, and had a chance to fix some mistakes w/o it being a disaster.  The basic skills were easy to pickup, and it was helpful to have the Zenith folks nearby for questions. I pretty much feel like I can build a Zodiac 650B.  The biggest challenge is probably clearing & heating the garage and setting up a…

Opening Day finally arrives.

Thursday, Jan 27, we officially opened the doors to our new Zenith Kit Assembly Center.

The photo at the left shows my wife Diane, our son Craig and I, in the AmLSA front work area just…

I'm sure that everyone knows that the Zenith crew are attending the Sebring Show in Florida this week where they are displaying the Zenith Fleet of Kit Aircraft.

Meanwhile back here at American Light Sport Aircrafters (ALSA) Builder Assist Center in Mexico, MO., we are still hard at it preparing everything for our long anticipated opening. We have finally completed everything here, passed all of the inspections and have been issued all of the permits and licenses…

American Light Sport Aircrafters (ALSA) here in Mexico, MO, will be holding a tail empennage workshop giving participants the opportunity to complete the horizontal stabilizer and elevator for their airplane in a comfortable, relaxed, climate controlled atmosphere.

The Zenith workshops are normally over with by noon, if not sooner on Friday and the ALSA Stabilizer/Elevator Workshop will begin where the Zenith Rudder Workshops end. This way persons in attendance would not find…

I've just returned from a short trip to Brazil to visit the Zenith Aircraft dealer AVIAÇÃO Brasileira Ltda.

One of the highlights of my trip was the opportunity to fly Waldomiro's recently completed …

Hey Everyone,

We spoke with so many of you both at the Zenith Workshops and at their Annual Open Hangar Day this year that I wanted to update you with what’s happening with our New Builder Assist Center.

It’s been unusually cold here in Missouri, home of Zenith Aircraft. The temperature this past weekend was 1 with the high of 12. Not exactly the best weather to be out in the garage building on your project.

Until now the only choices for…

One of the fun things about owning and building a plane is that it is an on going maintence project. Some planes are famous for the amount of ground hour to flight hours. For example the F15 eagle and other fighters had a 4 to5 to 1 ratio! Meaning 4 to 5 hours of maintenance to 1 hour of combat flight time. With our trusty Zodiacs, I find it to be the inverse 4 to 10 hours of flight hours to 1 hour of ground required maintenance. Now that is value! Now ground…

Dear friends and fellow builders,

The summer flying is over, the lawn mowing is done, the garden veggies are in the freezer and the leaves are raked and hauled away. Winter is setting in once more in Pennsylvania so its time to tuck my 701 safely away.

Its been two years since…