Local Attorney Larry Roach Talks About His Lifelong Love Of Flying And His LSU-Themed Light Plane • By Karla Wall
“I try to fly at least once or twice a week,” says local attorney and light sport plane pilot Larry Roach. “I fly for business and pleasure, to relax and unwind. (Flying is) serene and calming. You forget about your cares as you become one with the plane and the sky.”
After a surprisingly smooth takeoff in Roach’s beloved light sport plane, an Allegro LSA Allegro 2007, I begin to see why light sport aviation is so addictive to Roach and thousands of other enthusiasts. For someone who’s flown only in commercial jets (akin to riding in an automobile), this is an eye-opening experience.
On this summer morning, the weather’s calm, so the ride is as smooth as silk. The cockpit is covered in a special Plexiglass to afford maximum visibility, and it’s clear from just below my seat to above my head, offering a practically 360-degree view of blue sky overhead and in front of me, and familiar landmarks below, seen from such a different perspective that it takes a few minutes for me to get oriented and recognize the landscape and landmarks below me.
Peaceful doesn’t begin to describe it.
The headphones Roach and I are wearing cut out much of the engine noise. They’re geared with microphones, so conversation is as clear and easy as it would be face-to-face on the ground, and as we level off and head toward the coast from Lake Charles Regional Airport, Roach points out the ship channel, the Intracoastal Waterway, boats on Big Lake, the Cameron Ferry, coastal erosion deterrents placed along Holly Beach, and the LNG facilities.
He points out possible landing spots in the marsh below us, telling me, “you always look for possible emergency landing spots.”
I never said I didn’t experience a moment or two of nerves.
We skim the coast all the way to the Port Arthur area at 110 mph, then head north to follow I-10 back to Lake Charles, where, flying now at 140 mph, we get a bird’s-eye view of the Cove Lane interchange project, the Golden Nugget Casino construction project, the Civic Center and the McNeese stadium.
As we approach the runway back at the airport, Roach warns me, “Okay, we’re coming in a little bit fast, so I’ve got to do a little maneuver here. Don’t be scared — it will feel a little funny.”
The wing on my side of the plane dips so far down I can hardly see it. The nose of the plane dips down, as well, and the plane tilts to my side so much that I’m looking straight down at the ground. The plane drops smoothly and slows, and Roach straightens it back up a bit before repeating the maneuver again. Far from nervous, I’m again amazed at how smooth the plane flies — at the fact that there were no abrupt drops, as you feel when a commercial plane hits turbulence or changes altitude.
I was disappointed when we reached the airport and landed.
A Lifelong Passion
Roach isn’t just a casual pilot. Flying has been a lifelong passion for him, having grown up in and around planes.
“I started flying when I was a teenager,” Roach says, “and my father owned several airplanes.”
He did his first solo flight in 1975, at age 16.
When his father sold his planes, Roach, who was in law school, quit flying to “devote my finances to education and supporting my wife and family.”
He became an attorney, and has practiced in Lake Charles for 20 years. A few years ago, with a successful practice keeping him financially secure and his children grown and “off the payroll,” as he puts it, he began to revisit the idea of flying.
“I had the spare time and the money, and I wanted to fly again,” he explains.
He did some research, and decided that, instead of a regular private pilot’s license, he would take advantage of a fairly new licensing option: a “Light Sport Pilot Certificate,” which allows a light sport pilot to become certified with 20 hours of training, as opposed to the 35 or so hours a regular private pilot’s license requires.
There are some restrictions to the sport license, however. Pilots must fly VFR, or visual flight rules, Roach says, with strict rules about minimum visibility, and distance below and above clouds. Sport pilots may fly with only one passenger, at no more than 10,000 ft. above sea level; and only from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset.
Aside from the training time, Roach says he went the light sport route to avoid the medical restrictions and numerous medical forms required for a private pilot license.
“You can use your driver’s license to satisfy the FAA’s medical certification requirements,” Roach says. “That lets you avoid an FAA medical. That opens the door for older pilots, and those with underlying conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes.”
High Tech Ride
Roach also did extensive research on light sport planes, and settled on the Allegro 2007, which he purchased in October of 2012.
“It’s the most economical, capable and advanced light sport plane, in my opinion,” Roach says.
And Roach’s plane offers some high-tech features most light sport craft don’t.
The plane’s lightweight aluminum and composite construction makes for a light yet strong plane, weighing in at only 640 lbs. I watched Roach pull the plane out of the hangar himself, as if he were pulling a garden wagon.
The plane’s aluminum wings are more easily repairable, Roach says, “and a plane is most easily and most often damaged on the wings.”
The wing’s dual-tapered, gull-shaped wings (curving underneath) make for better performance, as does the tapered Kevlar propellers.
“The props are very high tech, and allow for maximum efficiency and more power,” Roach says.
But it’s inside that the high-tech really shows. The instrument panel includes two video-game like displays, one showing a regular analog readout — dials showing speed, direction, etc. The other is a vehicle GPS on steroids. With the switch of a toggle, Roach can see a display showing an icon of the plane and a colored line showing his position and direction; icons for nearby airports; information about each of those airports; obstacles (and distance from those obstacles); navigational charts; a graphic of the terrain below; a radar-like display showing current weather and weather forecast; and more.
There’s also a rocket-propelled parachute that’s designed to gently bring the whole plane down in an emergency.
Flying (LSU) Tiger
Roach loves flying so much that it’s one of his goals to introduce others to the hobby. One way to do that is to generate conversation about his plane, and Roach’s plane is definitely a conversation starter.
“When I bought the plane, I had planned to paint it in McNeese colors, but my kids, two of whom graduated from LSU and one of whom is still there, insisted I paint it in LSU colors.”
Roach says he quickly found that people, no matter where he goes, recognize the LSU colors and want to talk about the team, his plane and flying.
“I promote light sport flying everywhere I go, and the LSU theme draws attention and starts discussions,” he says.
The plane’s decked out in LSU colors, painted by the manufacturer, with gold wings, and white fuselage with purple and gold stripes. But that’s just the backdrop.
Roach had local airbrush artist Dave Fare, aka “Big Dave,” paint an LSU game ball on the “prop spinner,” which attaches the propellers to the plane and turns them. He also painted an LSU helmet worn by a rather fearsome looking tiger on the wheel fairing, the aerodynamic covering on the front wheel.
A decal depicting a flying tiger (an homage, Roach says, to both LSU and the famed Flying Tigers WWII air group commanded by Lt. Gen. Claire Chennault) adorns one side of the nose of the fuselage; a similar decal, this one of a fighting tiger, decorates the other side of the nose.
The cockpit seats are upholstered in purple and gold. Uniformly Fit of Lake Charles embroidered flying tigers on the headrest. There’s an LSU Tigers pillow resting between the seats.
“I’ve always been an LSU fan, and I frequently fly to games,” Roach says.
Try It Out
Roach loves sharing his passion for flying, and bringing new people into the hobby. So much so that he opened a business, Light Sport Aviation, to promote light sport flying.
“(The business) is for those who want to learn to fly in a light craft. Through the business, I can sell light sport planes, help people get instruction to fly, and help people who want to join a flying club,” says Roach.
For more information on light sport flying, visit eaa.org or aopa.org, and call Roach at 337-540-4953.
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