A visit to LSA America inc.

LSA America is the one of the few manufacturers of certified LSAs made in the USA. What is even more exciting for our EAA Chapter 1114 based in Apex, NC is that they are located in Littleton, NC just one and a half hour drive from the Research Triangle area. As the owners of LSA America, Doug and Betty Helmpstead are also the owners of my flight school, B-Bar-D aviation located at Sanford/KTTA. I had the privilege of a private visit to their manufacturing plant which opened in May of 2011. Accompanying me were fellow chapter members Chuck Borsuk, Terry Gardner and Niels Nielsen.
The current facility is located in the former " Littleton Industrial Building", an 54,000 square feet facility with plenty of room to spare:

The plans are to establish permanent production operations at the Halifax-Northampton Regional Airport. LSA America will create 34 new jobs and invest $400,000 during the next three years.
The State of North Carolina is helping LSA America through the "One NC Fund", other partners that helped with this project include: the N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Community Colleges, the Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC), the N.C. Rural Center, the Halifax County Economic Development Commission, Halifax County Business Horizons, Halifax County, the Town of Littleton, the Halifax-Northampton Regional Airport Authority and North Carolina's Northeast Commission.

The Allegro:
  Specifications:
                                    MTOW: 1,320 lbs
                                    Empty Weight: 622 lbs (average)
                                    Max Useful Load: 698 lbs
                                    Fuel Capacity: 17 U.S. Gal (102 lbs)
                                    Payload: 596 lbs
                                    Range: 500 miles

The Allegro LSA is available with either the 80 HP  Rotax 912UL  or the 100 HP Rotax 912ULS.

Optional Equipment: Floats, Skis, Banner and Glider Tow Kits

There are about 500 Allegros flying oversees (with 57 registered in the USA per the FAA registry as of September 2011), all but one have been manufactured in the Czech  Republic.

So far one Made in USA Allegro has been produced and delivered by LSA America. It is currently used by a flight school in Michigan.

Made in USA Allegro #2 close to completion:

The wings of #2:

Note about the Allegro's wings: they are double-tapered which is unusual in LSAs and explains, according to Doug, the superior performances of the Allegro. This feature is more visible on the following picture:

Made in USA Allegro #3 already started:

Currently when a plane is ready it is trucked to the Halifax-Northampton Regional Airport for its flight tests. This step will not be necessary when the permanent production facility opens there in about a year.
We visited a few manufacturing station:

Wing Jigs:

Composite Lab where a cockpit dashboard is curing:

Doug Hempstead is explaining, part in hands, his strategy of switching parts manufacturing from outside contractors to in-house to better control quality and availability of components:

Some prototypes in early R&D stage: the Vampire pushers (the double seater is the object of a study by NC State's Aeronautic Department to decrease the weight of its composite hull)

What's next?
Doug Hempstead has the objective to build one Allegro a week. When will he get there depends on a number of factors some he controls some he does not. For example he mentioned the difficulties he is facing with immigration laws. Currently the manufacturing expertise on the factory floor comes from former employees of the former Czech company that used to produce the Allegro. Doug is facing great difficulties getting appropriate visas for these specialists whose involvement is critical to restarting the manufacturing as well as training new employees. By lack of an adequate visa these employees have to be sent back to the Czech republic every few months which is very disrupting and costly. Despite all the difficulties he is facing in this starting phase Doug is optimist and confident in the value of his product that he dares everyone to compare!
See more at http://www.allegrolsa.com/dare_to_compare
For those members of our EAA Chapter 1114, if you are interested in flying an Allegro, visit B-Bar-D  Aviation at Sanford airport, they offer discovery flight and if you are a pilot you can rent an Allegro at a very attractive rate. You also can take flight lessons as B-Bar-D is a well appointed Flight School (Trust me, I learned to fly and got my Sport Pilot Certificate there!)