The FAA will discontinue the paper application for FAA medical certification. After Oct. 1, 2012, you must use FAA Form 8500-8 application, otherwise known as “FAA MedXpress.” That virtual form was introduced in 2007 and “has evolved considerably, streamlining FAA medical certification into a much more efficient and seamless process,” says the FAA. More than 400,000 pilots fill out one of these forms each year, so it’s understandable a digital system might save a few bucks.
Euro crisis be damned, interesting things are afoot in Austria and Slovenia. Rotax unveiled a fuel-injected version of the 100-HP 912 that powers the vast majority of LSAs. The engine is on the assembly line and will be shipping in several LSAs by summer. Fuel savings could be better than 20 percent in cruise over a carbureted 912. Diamond aircraft has reworked the diesel-powered (Austro) DA-42 to cruise at 185 knots burning under 11 GPH on both engines combined. The wide-body DA-50 airframe is also becoming a diesel twin called, logically enough, the DA-52. Pipistrel Aircraft’s Panthera should fly soon, so we’ll see if they will approach their goal of 200 knots on 10 GPH.
