The Sam LS
The Sam LS
From dream to reality By Tim Kern
Author's Note: I have followed this project for years and—
full disclosure—have written some press releases for the
company, but I have refrained from making any qualitative
judgments in this piece, restraining my writing to the information as presented by the company and the test pilot.
French pilot Thierry Zibi always loved the look of the
Golden Age of Aviation military trainers. One day he
started thinking, "What if they had the resources then
that we have now?" In 2007, he decided to find out.
Modern materials, engines, props, and avionics, he
figured, would make a simple machine not only safe and
fun to fly; they would yield a truly practical, comfortable, economical, and easy-to-build machine. So, why
not give it a try?
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Vol.2 No.10 / October 2013
A particularly appealing design of the era, the Ryan ST, was
the practical inspiration for the overall look and proportion of Thierry's design. Modernizing this design for manufacture, making it accommodate modern-size pilots, and
powering it with a modern engine would be Thierry and his
engineers' task.
Interestingly, the tandem seating of the original ST created a
huge and comfortable cockpit and allowed a streamlined and
efficient fuselage. More on that later.
Thierry's plan included three configurations: a light-sport
aircraft (LSA)-qualified model with a 28-foot, 6-inch wingspan; a cross-country (CC) model with a shorter (25.3-foot),
higher-speed wing for speedier cross-country dashes; and
Photography by Jean-Pierre Bonin