Loehle Sport Parasol ultralight aircraft, Loehle Sport Parasol experimental aircraft, Loehle Sport Parasol experimental light sport aircraft (ELSA), Lightsport Aircraft Pilot News newsmagazine.

The Loehle Parasol has a small side door to offer entry/exit ease, and a small windshield does bug-battling duty in front of a surprisingly roomy cockpit. Have you ever inhaled a Junebug at 60 mph? Not my idea of haute cuisine, and I don't think the Junebug is too thrilled either. Taxiing is done with a minimum of muss and fuss,
since visibility over the nose is not nearly as bad as others of this genre, and the rudder pedals dominate the tailwheel nicely without getting the slightest bit twitchy.

Hit the power, and with a Rotax 447, you're in for some fun. There is plenty of rudder to counter torque, and the Parasol hits the skies with a vengeance at over 800 fpm and 45 mph. The run up to 1,000 feet went quickly where the Parasol revealed a well behaved stall at 24 mph that was announced with plenty of aerodynamic warning and a mild break that offered no drop-off to either side without first receiving a shot of rudder.

Full power, the 447-powered Parasol gets going at 75 mph, tops, but cruises quite nicely at 60 mph and only 5,000 rpm. The entire effect is not the least bit marginal, as you might think you'd get for such meager bucks. Heading in, I kept 50 mph on the downwind and worked my way down to 40 mph over the fence, where the Parasol floated nicely to the threshold and responded to a bit of slip as though I had thrown an anchor over the side.

This thing slips well. In both two and three point attitudes, the Parasol offers excellent ground tracking and a few one-wheel touchdowns in the calm air showed there was plenty of aileron to counter future crosswinds. Landings seemed to terminate in well under 500 feet, and a little practice showed that I could cut that much further. Nice.
All in all, the extremely affordable Loehle Parasol (a scrounger could build one for as little as $4K) is a big hit here at the Zoom Family Ranch.

I expected a very pleasant flyer with adequate power and handling and instead, found it to be both pleasant to fly but still possessing a spirit that was as playful as some birds with more rowdy reps. Funny thing, though, I'd have absolutely no problem letting loose any recently soloed taildragger pilot in this thing, no dirty tricks, no bad habits. Full flight report in the works. This one may be one of the best new birds at this year's show. Rave review -- and I don't normally get my kicks from birds like this, I kid you not.

Story courtesy of J.R. "Zoom" Campbell

Loehle Sport Parasol ultralight - experimental lightsport aircraft

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