On the Aerosport Aviation stand at the SAANZ Flyin at Tauranga was this CZAW Sportcruiser ZK-SXY. There are 11 of these aircraft in New Zealand but this one is different, as it is now badged up as a PiperSport. This is because on January 21 2010, the Piper Aircraft Company bought the rights to the aircraft and will add it to its product line as a Light Sport Aircraft competing with the likes of the Cessna 162 Skycatcher.The PiperSport will only be offered as a complete aircraft with a Rotax 912S motor and a ballistic recovery parachute. It will still be built in the Czech Sport Aircraft factory in the Czech Republic.
Watch this space!
There's a few videos from Piper (and others) about the launch of the PiperSport on Youtube, just search it. The official launch was at Sebring, although there were rumors that it was happening for a while.
ReplyDeleteI think it will be quite popular, although would be better if they could knock a few thousand off the price, it's a slightly more expensive if you compare to the 162. Potentially a better aircraft, tried and true now, and in my opinion, looks much more substantial and "aeroplaney" (very technical term) but still...
The SportCruiser traces it's lineage to the Zenith 601 somewhat (the guy who designed the SC spent many years before then building 601s under licence) although there are obvious large differences both stylistically and in terms of construction.
The SC construction, particularly the wing spar and it's attachment is I understand is substantially beefier (no bad thing considering what the 601 has been doing with wings falling off at inconvenient moments and such).
Piper aircraft company added this product line in January 2010 as PiperSport in NZ to compete Cessna. This is one of the best aircraft in this industry.
ReplyDelete