Monday 9 July 2018

CZAW SportCruisers of New Zealand (1) - 2006 to 2008 Aircraft

The SportCruiser was designed by Jiri Konecny and was built by Czech Aircraft Works (CZAW).  It first flew in 2006.  CZAW went bankrupt in 2009 but production was continued by Czech Sport Aircraft a.s., and it is still in production in 2018 with several hundred flying worldwide.

The aircraft is a low wing tricycle design with a very roomy side by side cockpit.  Construction is all aluminium.  Its length is 6.64 metres (21 feet 9 inches) and its wingspan is 8.6 metres (28 feet 3 inches) with a wing area of 132 square feet.  Empty weight is quite heavy at around 388 Kg (855 pounds) and MAUW in New Zealand is 544 Kg (1200 pounds).  It can be registered as a LSA.  With the 100 HP Rotax 912ULS engine cruise speed is around 110 mph and the stall speed is around 40 mph.

We have had 14 SportCruisers in New Zealand to date, the first lot of 2006 to 2008 aircraft is as follows:

Our first SportCruiser was ZK-CZR2 (c/n 06SC020) which was registered to Aerosport Aviation Ltd of Cambridge on 29/11/06.  Aerosport Aviation are the Australasian for the SportCruisers and have sold around another dozen or so in Australia.  On 13/7/07 ownership changed to Motueka Recreational Flight Training Ltd of Motueka and it is photo'd is in their ownership on 17/1/09 at the 2009 Wings Over Wairarapa airshow.  More recently ownership transferred to Perry Shephard of Christchurch on 5/2/14.

ZK-JBZ2 (c/n 07SC034) was registered to John and Julie Bubb of Paeroa on 18/7/07.  It is also photo'd above at the 2009 Wings Over Wairarapa airshow.

The very colourful ZK-CSR2 (c/n 07SC033) was registered to the Gudsell Family Trust of Hamilton (Andy Gudsell) on 3/8/07.  It is photo'd above on the 2012 Northern Microlight Club's Poker Run on 14/4/12.  The paint used changes colour according to the viewing angle. and you can see that in the above photo.


ZK-YDD (for Yankee Doodle Dandy, c/n 07SC075) was registered to Richard C Batchelor of Blenhiem on 29/11/07.  It is photo'd above at the 2009 SAANZ flyin at Ashburton, on 7/2/09.

The next SportCruiser to be registered was ZK-CXY2 (c/n 07SC074), which was registered to Aerosport Aviation on 7/12/07.  It was used as a company demonstrator and on 26/11/08 it was sold to Aerohire Ltd of Tauranga, and the registration changed to ZK-DAR.

ZK-DAR is photo'd above at the 2009 Wings Over Wairarapa airshow, on 17/1/09.  On 2/3/12 it moved to Aerohire Ltd of Whakatane (Dave and Peter Rutledge), with whom it is still current.

ZK-CSC2 (c/n 08SC110) was registered to Lindsay Brown of Waihi Beach on 14/4/08.  It is photo'd above at the 2009 SAANZ flyin at Ashburton, on 6/2/09.

Another SportCruiser at the 2009 SAANZ flyin was the locally based ZK-DEC2 (c/n 08SC109) which was registered to Ian G Begbie of Ashburton on 22/4/08.

ZK-VCP2 (c/n SC700158), was first registered to Vehicle Chip Protection NZ Ltd (Jack Schaake) of Hamilton on 11/7/08.  This is the second ZK-VCP to be owned by Vehicle Chip Protection with their first being a Zenair CH 601 XL in the same colours.  The above photo of ZK-VCP2 was taken at its Te Kowhai base on 2/11/13.

And registered on the same day, 11/7/08 was ZK-WGK (c/n SC700157 - these last two c/ns seem to be a different pattern from the other SportCruiser c/ns).  It was registered to the IL and RM Manderson Trust of Whakatane and is photo'd above at the 2009 Black Sands flyin at Raglan, on 7/11/09.


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