The CSA SportCruiser is a two-seat, single engine,

tricycle undercarriage Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle ge ...

fixed-wing aircraft A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinc ...

that was introduced in 2006 by Czech Aircraft Works (CZAW), now named

Czech Sport Aircraft Czech Sport Aircraft, a.s. (successor of Czech Aircraft Works) is an aircraft manufacturer based in the Czech Republic. Czech Sport Aircraft company formally entered the market in 2009. In 2011 the company's aircraft line included the amphibio ...

.Kitplanes Staff: ''2008 Kit Aircraft Directory'', p. 73. Kitplanes Magazine, December 2007 Volume 24, Number 12, Belvior Publications, Aviation Publishing Group LLC.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011–12'', page 39. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015–16'', p. 41. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015. In January 2010, the SportCruiser was added to the

Piper Aircraft Piper Aircraft, Inc. is a manufacturer of general aviation aircraft, located at the Vero Beach Regional Airport in Vero Beach, Florida, United States and owned since 2009 by the Government of Brunei. Throughout much of the mid-to-late 20th centur ...

line as the PiperSport under a licensing agreement with Czech Sport Aircraft. This arrangement was terminated one year later in January 2011.

Design and development

The aircraft is of all

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

construction with a low wing configuration. It can be fitted with either a Rotax 912ULS or a

Jabiru 3300 The Jabiru 3300 is a lightweight four-stroke, horizontally opposed "flat-six" air-cooled aircraft engine produced by Jabiru Aircraft. The engines are direct drive and fitted with alternators, silencers, vacuum pump drives and dual ignition syst ...

engine. Approved propellers include the Woodcomp Klassic 170/3/R. The SportCruiser has an optional

Ballistic Recovery Systems Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc., doing business as BRS Aerospace (and commonly referred to as simply BRS), is a manufacturer of aircraft ballistic parachutes. The company was formed in 1980 by Boris Popov of Saint Paul, Minnesota, after he su ...

parachute,

auto pilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of an aircraft, marine craft or spacecraft without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator' ...

and Dynon or TruTrak EFIS. The aircraft is capable of cruising at with a range of . No wind, standard day gross weight takeoff is achieved in and landing in . The SportCruiser is designed to fit into the ultralight or microlight category in several countries as well as in the

light-sport aircraft A light-sport aircraft (LSA), or light sport aircraft, is a fairly new category of small, lightweight aircraft that are simple to fly. LSAs tend to be heavier and more sophisticated than ultralight (aka "microlight") aircraft, but LSA restrictio ...

category in the United States. Between 2006 and 2010, it was available either as a

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or as a fully built production model. The SportCruiser is accepted as a US FAA LSA, FAA homebuilt kit and the UK under BCAR Section "S".

PiperSport

On 21 January 2010,

announced that they had licensed a derivative of the SportCruiser and would market it as the ''PiperSport''. Piper CEO Kevin Gould said: "The PiperSport is an amazing entry-level aircraft that will bring new customers into Piper and lead the way for those customers to step up into more sophisticated and higher performance aircraft within our line over time." The PiperSport is a minimally modified version of the existing SportCruiser. The plan was that it would continue to be manufactured by Czech Sport Aircraft, with Piper's manufacturing operation playing no part in the construction, although Piper was distributing parts. The changes to the aircraft are stronger nosegear, a

parachute and leather interior both as standard equipment, a cockpit sunshade and modified pitch controls, plus a custom paint scheme. Previously the Sport Cruiser was available as a completed aircraft or a kit, but Piper offered it only as a completed aircraft, sold as a Special

Light-sport aircraft A light-sport aircraft (LSA), or light sport aircraft, is a fairly new category of small, lightweight aircraft that are simple to fly. LSAs tend to be heavier and more sophisticated than ultralight (aka "microlight") aircraft, but LSA restrictio ...

in the US. It was distributed by the Piper dealer network worldwide. Deliveries under the Piper name commenced with the initial customer receiving their aircraft on 13 April 2010 at

Sun 'n Fun Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo (officially styled SUN 'n FUN) is a nonprofit organization in Lakeland, Florida dedicated to the promotion of aviation education. It is best known for the annual week-long fly-in and airshow at Lakeland Linder Intern ...

. The aircraft was offered in three different trim and avionics configurations, with higher end models offering the Dynon Avionics D100

glass cockpit A glass cockpit is an aircraft cockpit that features electronic (digital) flight instrument displays, typically large LCD screens, rather than the traditional style of analog dials and gauges. While a traditional cockpit relies on numerous mech ...

and autopilot. All models were delivered with the

Rotax 912S The Rotax 912 is a horizontally-opposed four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, four-stroke aircraft engine with a reduction gearbox. It features liquid-cooled cylinder heads and air-cooled cylinders. Originally equipped with carburetors, later ...

powerplant of . Piper Sport N802PS LKL 29

Piper indicated that they had carried out extensive test flying on the SportCruiser before agreeing to add it to their line and that the aircraft's slow sales in the past had been related to marketing issues and not any deficiencies with the aircraft design. Piper planned to market the aircraft to flight schools as well as private owners. In analyzing the Piper decision to distribute the SportCruiser, instead of design its own LSA, AvWeb analyst Paul Bertorelli said: On 12 January 2011, after selling a total of 45 aircraft, Piper announced that the PiperSport would be discontinued. Piper CEO Geoffrey Berger stated: After the Piper announcement the PiperSport importer and dealer network indicated that the aircraft would continue to be imported under a new name. Importer U.S. Sport Aircraft CEO Don Ayres stated that said his company was engaged in "business as usual...aircraft will continue to be sold and supported". The aviation press reacted with skepticism as to Piper's explanation for terminating its arrangements with CSA. AvWeb editor Paul Bertorelli said, "In my view, we are not getting the full story on its decision to exit the LSA segment. In a tersely worded statement a week before the show, Piper said it was terminating its relationship with the Czech supplier of its PiperSport LSA, citing 'differences in business philosophies.' That phrase is code speak for a significant behind-the-scenes blowup. In my opinion, either Piper concluded the margins on LSAs weren't worth the trouble and it would rather focus on jets or its Czech supplier was doing something it didn't like. Or both." Czech Sport Aircraft reacted to the ending of the Piper deal by indicating that business would continue through the same distributor and dealer network and that the name of the aircraft would be changed back to SportCruiser. The company did indicate that the disagreement with Piper involved the geographical focus that Piper had put on marketing in the US to the detriment of the rest of the world. The company indicated that it will continue to develop the aircraft and planned revisions to the spinner, canopy, elevator, ailerons and wingtips in the immediate future.

Variants

;SportCruiser :Version built 2006–10 and 2011–present by Czech Sport Aircraft, available as a kit or completed aircraft and equipped with Rotax 912ULS or

engine. ;PiperSport :Version built 2010–2011 by Czech Sport Aircraft and marketed by Piper Aircraft, available only as a completed aircraft and equipped with Rotax 912ULS engine. Discontinued in January 2011. ;PS-28 Cruiser :Version built for EASA CS.LSA certification with 600kg gross weight limit.

Operators

The SportCruiser is operated by private individuals and

flight training Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

schools.

Specifications (SportCruiser)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Czech Sport Aircraft SportCruiser 2000s Czech sport aircraft Light-sport aircraft SportCruiser Piper aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Ultralight aircraft Aircraft first flown in 2006