Evektor Harmony
Price as flown (Dynon SkyView):	approx. $168,000
Base Price:	approx. $125,000
Wingspan (ft.):	30.3
Cabin width (in.):	46.5
Fuel capacity (gals):	31.7
Engine:	Rotax 912 ULS
Output (hp):	100
Max Takeoff Weight (lbs.):	1320
Empty Weight (lbs.):	683
Useful Load (lbs.):	637
PERFORMANCE
Takeoff roll (ft.):	620
Rate of climb (fpm):	1020
Landing roll (ft).):	590
Service ceiling (ft.):	15,500
Max cruise (kts.):	120
Cruise (kts.):	110
Vne (kts.):	146
Vs (kts.):	45
Vso (kts.):	40
Source: Evektor Aircraft: www.evektoraircraft.com AB Flight: www.abflight.com

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I stand by the Evektor SportStar Max at the 2nd Annual Midwest LSA Expo in Mount Vernon, Ill., talking with a gentleman (let’s call him Gary), who epitomizes the typical “hot prospect” to buy a high-end S-LSA. Around 55, approaching his retirement years, Gary can afford any LSA on the market. Though he has never flown, he knows what he wants: When I suggest a variety of LSA types, including a lower-priced cage-and-fabric model, he shakes his head.

“No, I don’t want an ’ultralighty’ type, I want something like this,” he says, sweeping his hand toward the Max, “that looks like a real airplane.” I nod my head and ask about his profession. “I’m an engineer.” I nod again. Having just shared nine straight hours in this beautiful, solid, refined Max with another lifelong engineer, Evektor’s northeast regional “partner” Art Tarola, I understand his attraction: The Max is an airplane any engineer would love.

In the air all the day before, Art and I had winged west from Allentown, Pa., toward a storm front. Smooth and beautiful as we cruised above the long glacial ridges of Pennsylvania, the flight turned gnarlier by midday. We were forced to overnight in Dayton, Ohio. But the flight afforded a perfect opportunity to know an LSA in a way I rarely do—by flying it all day in a variety of conditions.

The many virtues of the Max became evident the more we flew and the more I talked with Art. He wrangles his AB Flight full-service LSA operation, (www.abflight.com) in Allentown, and is as knowledgeable and experienced in recreational flight as anyone out there. And being an engineer, he appreciates not only the things you see, like refined (remember that word) aerodynamic construction and high-quality fit and finish, but the things you don’t see, too.

Design And Construction

Art’s hyperenthusiastic engineer’s brain kicks into overdrive when discussing the Max. After telling me at least 20 times that Czech Republic’s Evektor has designed and built quality aircraft for 40 years—it becomes a running joke between us—he describes how it manifests in the airframe’s composite and metal construction. It’s not only bonded with space-age adhesives but also riveted the way GA aircraft have been for decades.

“This is one strong and solid airplane,” he says, eyes all a-twinkle. “On the IFR version, every piece is electrically bonded to every other to eliminate any chance of a spark from lightning strikes.”

God In The Details

The company’s designers and builders love to constantly tinker with the airplane. “That’s something guys like me really appreciate,” says Art. “They’ve been building airplanes for!how long?”

“Forty years,” I shoot back.

“Who told you that?”

“Can’t remember.”

Case in point: The airplane’s redesigned interior reflects Evektor’s commitment to refinement that transcends routine periodic upgrades. The current Max represents several iterations down the line from the original SportStar—the first S-LSA certified and sold in America.

Changes include a new, graceful stick; a center console with reclining armrest; automotive-style, upholstered side panels that run to the firewall and sport handy map pockets; another map pocket; a cup holder at the front base of each seat (great for Art’s malnourishment bags of Nutter Butters and chocolate-chip cookies) and a redesigned panel trim package.

The day before, he had quipped: “I keep waiting for the flight attendant to come forward and ask us what we want to drink.” Indeed, if it were LSA-legal, someone could almost curl up in the ample 6.2 cubic feet of cargo area behind the seats. Just big enough to fit a golf bag, max baggage weight is 55 pounds, better than many LSA.

The upgraded cockpit features the latest Dynon SkyView avionics, plastic trim, extended side panels, new control sticks and a center console with an armrest.

Weathering The Ride

Midway through our second two-hour leg in challenging turbulence, the Max had demonstrated its winning handling personality. The bird evokes classic Piper and Cessna metal birds in that there are no surprises. Benign nonstalls give gentle warning but require only relaxing the stick forward or a touch of power to neutralize. Crank-and-bank work (Work? Naw, fun!) required losing my newly acquired J3 Cub rudder skills—they’re not needed. The wing exhibits so little adverse yaw tendency that turns require almost no rudder input.

Control feel? Harmoniously balanced and firm but responsive, thanks to all-pushrod linkage—no cables or compensating springs to muddy up the feel —and an overall sense of solid, honest feedback. Gradually increasing pressures, such as when rolling into steep banks, let you sense what the airframe “feels.”
In fact, everything about the Max feels solid but responsive. Cruising at 6,500 feet, we enjoyed the spot-on sophistication of the TruTrak EFIS GP with built-in two-axis autopilot. It linked inputs to the Garmin GNS 430W GPS course and altitude settings with unwavering accuracy. When we knob-dialed changes, TruTrak’s autopilot responded with sublime smoothness.

This is my third flight in a SportStar over two years; the breed never fails to impress with its all-around, superb performance. Two examples: “Riding the waves” through strong turbulence, Art had me prioritize my tasks as I hand-flew the course for an hour.

Rolling and pitching through the bilious bubbles, I worked at holding between 80 and 90 knots, mindful of the max convective maneuvering speed (90 knots), whilst holding altitude and course as he deftly twiddled the precision vernier throttle in and out—he’s an engineer, after all.

I won’t pretend comfort in the bumps that bounced from 1,000 fpm up to 1,000 fpm down, but I was impressed with the sense of security Max imbues to your efforts. Its inherent aerodynamic stability makes negotiating such conditions a confidence-building experience.

All LSA are light airplanes. The Max tips the scales between 680 pounds and 740 pounds, depending on equipment, so it won’t power-plow through trash like a Boeing 777. But it does adapt to conditions with certainty and stability as it wiggles its way through: You never feel it’s going to get away from you.
That’s important in an IFR-capable platform. The Max can be configured for full IFR flight and flown by an appropriately rated pilot into—or out of—inclement weather.

“The IFR version,” Art says, “also has dual, heated pitot tubes, and the navigation instruments are all FAR Part 23 certified. It’s legal and fully capable of IMC.”

Aiding the biological side is the gently reclined seating. I’ve never been more comfortable in any LSA. For long trips, Art boosts the attractive upholstery’s comfort with a thin back/seat cushion. We flew for six hours, and I never once squirmed in my seat.

Many Joys, So Little Time!

I’m out of room long before enthusiasm and superlatives, so let’s wrap up with closing thoughts: Evektor is a big company with a small shop’s commitment to the design-refinement process. We should hope it stays on the scene for the long haul. Its U.S. presence has stumbled a bit in the challenging economy and will likely have evolved by the time you read this into several regional “partners” like Art Tarola, rather than one central distributor. Each will import, sell, teach and service local customers.

Every Max is custom-built to owner specifications, which takes about 60 days. Evektor doesn’t believe in sticking dealers with “shelf” airplanes. Options such as ballistic chutes or IFR capability are built into the basic airframe and need choosing upon ordering.

Max’s wing top-vortex generators bring the clean stall speed down from 44 knots to 37 knots. This in turn allows the LSA-maximum legal gross weight of 1,320 pounds. The VGs also lower angle of attack at cruise to give a max level cruise of 115 knots and 110 knots at 75% power. We saw consistent 100-plus speeds at around 65% power with a fuel burn of around 5.5 gph. In calm air, a trimmed-up Max flies as if it were on rails.

More examples of Evektor’s refinement process: widened main wheel stance, dampened steerable nosewheel sensitivity, enhanced brake access for maintenance, beefed-up canopy frame and redesigned latching mechanism. An endemic design philosophy of ensuring upgrades are retrofittable to all earlier models, whenever possible.

The split flaps afford an actuating mechanism that’s simpler but still highly effective. “I can descend with full flaps,” says Art, “at 1,600 fpm and hold 62 knots all the way down to landing.”

Art believes the Max’s biggest selling point is its quality and design maturity. “There are no collapsing nosegear problems, no cracks in weak parts. They’ve had!how many years to figure things out?” “Forty,” I answer. “That’s right,” he says with a smile. “You’ve been talking to the right people.”

And in hardworking, committed U.S. reps like Art Tarola and Ohio colleague Steve Minnich (www.midwestsportplanes.com), who flew a SportStar SL alongside us to the air show, Evektor has found the right people to bring a message to a resurging LSA market: Here’s an airplane, a company and a support network deeply committed to growing recreational flight into the major aviation sector it always had the potential to become.

The post Evektor Sportstar Max: An LSA For All Seasons appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

Evektor Sportstar Max
Price, base:	$97,000
Price, IFR equipped:	$160,000
Engine make/model:	100hp Rotax 912 UL
TBO (hrs.):	2,000 hours
Wingspan:	28 ft. 5 in.
Cabin width (in.):	46.5 in
Useful load, std. (lbs.):	640
Useful load, optionally equipped (lbs.):	520
Fuel capacity (gals.):	31.7
PERFORMANCE
Vne (kts.):	146
Vso (kts.):	40
Cruise at 75% power (kts.):	110
Best rate of climb (fpm):	1020
Service ceiling (ft.):	15,500
Takeoff ground roll (ft.):	690
Landing ground roll (ft.):	590
Maximum range (nm):	710
Source: Evektor

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Photo By: Mitch Bowers

Below, the greening, lake-dotted checkerboard of central Florida stretches in every direction. It’s a beautiful day to be flying a beautiful bird. Color me happy!

But it’s the view overhead that has my attention right now. Cruising out from our afternoon takeoff from Sebring Airport, it feels like someone tossed us up into a big blue fishbowl. I ease the center-mounted stick left, and the Evektor SportStar responds like it read my mind. This is “dreamflight.”

Throttling up the Rotax 912 ULS and easing back on the stick, the SportStar climbs creamy smooth, with pitch pressures light as whipped butter. The super-sensitive electric trim button on top of the stick makes adjusting pitch quick and easy.

Rolls left and right, slow flight, approach and departure stalls—oh yeah. The SportStar couldn’t be more solid—or more responsive. Stick and pedal feedback? Ditto. Controls are light yet not oversensitive. What more can you ask of a recreational airplane?

Every sky bird has its own personality, and Evektor’s SportStar SL is no wallflower. I’ll remember it most for the comfortable, light but balanced control feel, near-top-of-class performance (110-knot cruise, 45-knot clean stall) and clean, friendly curves.

But that open-sky fishbowl feel, courtesy of the clear, bulbous canopy, comes back to me now. You don’t get that sensation in even the most generously windowed high-wing aircraft. Not to knock high-wingers, but airplanes like this one deliver the same visceral context as skinny-dipping at a country pond: Yep, a little exposed, a little daring, but way cool. You become a part of the sky.

The SportStar SL’s forward-hinged bubble canopy offers pilots buckled into the low-wing LSA excellent visibility.

Much of that derives from your high perch on the wing. First, the cowl slopes away in front to a panoramic forward view. The clear canopy line drops to where your arms rest. And the canopy also bulges out and away before rounding overhead, bestowing 46.5 inches in width—nearly four feet of wiggle room. It’s a real room with a view, and what a view.

Headroom is generous for pilots up to about six-foot-two. And since useful load (basic configuration) is 591 pounds, and fuel capacity is 31 gallons, you’ve got more than 400 pounds of cargo available. Stowable baggage limit is 55 pounds, leaving 345 pounds for people and full fuel. That’ll work.

Feelin’ Groovy
Flight reviewers describe the SportStar as a “five-minute” airplane. The notion: There are flivvers in which you feel at home right away, while others take half an hour or several flights to dial in. Place the Evektor SportStar SL firmly in the first category.

Of course, as in life, there are tradeoffs. Due to the low wing and its dihedral, vision is blocked looking straight down or low out to the sides, a sight-line restriction you don’t experience in high-wing birds. But that’s what turns are made for, right? When you bank a low-winger, the world below opens up. That’s actually helpful for runway views in the pattern, a plus for training.

The debate has raged since the early days of flight, but there’s no clear winner in the eternal debate between high-wing versus low-wing aficionados. My demo flight host, Barry Pruitt, who works with Evektor Aircraft Inc., the U.S. HQ for North and South America, puts it this way: “It’s a personal preference. For example, low wings generally do better in moderate crosswinds, while high-wing trainers tend to cover up a myriad of errors in technique.”

One challenge endemic to all bubble-canopy low-wingers is the blazing sun. You can fry your noodle in a clear-canopy airplane, so keep those hats and sunglasses close by. The silver SportStar SL I flew had an effective optional sliding curtain to filter out the objectionable intensities of midday.

By The Numbers
The SportStar SL is the current iteration of the very first LSA to pass ASTM certification (back in 2005). It has enjoyed steady U.S. sales since then, consistently ranking in the top five as it moves close to 100 total U.S. registrations. And it’s a fitting endorsement to Evektor’s training-role marketing strategy that 43 of those aircraft, nearly half, went to flight schools.

Walking around the airplane, you’re impressed with the quality of the metalwork and finish. The sturdy spring tricycle gear lends validity to the training role. Build-wise, the aluminum airframe and skin feature riveted—and bonded—construction for long fatigue life.

The 46.5-inch-wide cabin offers generous headroom for tall pilots and can be outfitted with optional TruTrak EFIS displays, a Garmin GPSMAP, a ballistic-parachute rescue system and a sliding curtain to shade the clear bubble canopy.

And that big forward-hinged bubble canopy is more than just eye candy: Designed to handle a ground rollover, it meets all the crew protection requirements of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Joint Aviation Requirements-Very Light Aircraft (JVA-VLA) regulations. There’s even an open/closed idiot light on the panel for people like me who forget to latch canopies.

Standard seat belts are four-point. A ballistic-parachute rescue system is offered as an option, which I personally consider a must-have. Armrests, adjustable rudder pedals, eyeball air vents, a center-console-mounted fuel selector and other quality interior features make the SportStar one of the nicest finished LSA out there. What student, or fun flyer, wouldn’t want cabin time in this beauty?

My only knock: I’d prefer a little more cushion in the “sitz” part. Lots of pilots add their own pads for long flights anyway, so consider this a minor quibble.

Speaking of long flights, SportStar has good range: 700 nm. Service ceiling is 15,500 feet, which gets you over the higher mountains without hunting for low passes. And you’ll get there with a solid 4.6 gph fuel burn at 75% cruise. Barry Pruitt has more to say on that subject.

“I read 5.2 gallons per hour on the readout with amazing regularity,” he says, “but the actual rate is lower. I’ve calculated burn from more than 2,200 coast-to-coast hours over the last three years: It’s 4.6 gallons per hour. I could easily recalibrate the display, but I like that additional cushion of 0.6 gallons per hour.”

Almost forgot to mention the rudder: You don’t need much to center up the ball in climb or power back descent. And landings are a breeze. Settle in over the fence at 55 to 60 knots, round out at about five to 10 feet, and the SL floats along in ground effect, then settles right on.

Keep ’Em Flying
There’s nothing like having a beautiful new airplane replete with new tech bells and whistles to take you where you want to go. But life can serve up unexpected bumps. Repairs from mishaps are a fact of life, which is why the customer-support infrastructure is the second leg upon which the LSA industry will continue to march forward—or stumble.

Mindful of the need to quickly respond to his many flight school customers, Pruitt addressed a recent evolution in his company’s support profile: standardization of stock parts.

“From now on, all SportStars and replacement parts will be white—with customizable graphic markings by Air Graphics LLC. That allows us to get parts out quickly for schools so they don’t have much downtime in their revenue stream.”

In 2005, the SportStar SL became the first LSA to pass ASTM certification; since then, it has consistently ranked in the top five for U.S. LSA sales.

Because parts are made in the overseas factory, Pruitt was concerned that custom-color orders were delaying some repairs for weeks.

“Spares have been a problem for every manufacturer. Now, I can have them hanging on the wall ready to go, so my only question is, ’Overnight or UPS ground?'” Pruitt also went to American-made Matco wheels and brakes, replacing the European system.

To The Max
In the works as you read this is an update to the SL—the SportStar Max. Famed aircraft speed-mod maker LoPresti Speed Merchants, notorious for its aerodynamic wizardry in conjuring extra knots per hour out of stock airframes, is working with Evektor-Aerotechnik of the Czech Republic on the mods. LoPresti designed a sleek cowl and wheel pants that add four knots to the SL’s maximum cruise, raising it from 115 knots to 119 knots. Wing vortex generators are also in the works.

“The Max raises the design’s maximum weight from 1,268 pounds to the full LSA spec of 1,320,” says Pruitt. “We were worried that the vortex generators would slow the airplane down, but once the LoPresti cowl and wheel pants went on, we ended up just below the LSA legal top speed of 120 knots.”

When final fitting and test-flying are done overseas, the Max will have a useful load of 640 pounds, among the highest in the industry. Economy cruise will also bump a bit, to around 114 knots.

Choice Of An Ace
You know you’ve got something good when veteran pilots pick your airplane out of the madding crowd. At Sebring, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Paul Hissey, who flew a P-38 in combat in World War II. Mr. Hissey bubbled over with enthusiasm, for good reason: He had just taken delivery—on his 87th birthday!—of a SportStar SL loaded to the gills with TruTrak EFIS displays, Garmin 496 with weather, Mode S transponder and more.

“I’ve got more avionics in there than I had in my Cessna 182!” he crowed.

Part of Mr. Hissey’s purchase deal was to fly from Florida to his hometown Hawthorne Airport near Los Angeles International—with Pruitt riding shotgun to show him the airplane’s finer points.

“Mr. Hissey seemed to have a great time,” Pruitt reported later. “We made several stops along the way to see friends and family.” May we all serve, and endure in our love of flight, as well as Paul Hissey. Happy birthday, sir! By the way, most of the trip out west was flown below 2,000 feet AGL. And the fuel burn? Yep—right at 4.6 gph.

The post The Big Blue World: Evektor Sportstar SL appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

EVEKTOR SPORTSTAR SL
Digital night VFR-equipped price:	$130,000 (with TruTrak EFIS/EMS)
Digital IFR-equipped price:	$155,000–$160,000 with TruTrak EFIS/EMS
Engine make/model:	Rotax 912 ULS (VFR aircraft), Rotax 912S (IFR)
Horsepower:	100
Max takeoff weight (lbs.):	1320
Empty weight, fully equipped for night VFR or IFR (lbs.):	745
Useful load, std. (lbs.):	575
Cabin width (in.):	46.5
Overall height:	8 ft. 2 in.
Overall length:	19 ft. 7.5 in.
Wingspan:	28 ft. 5 in.
Baggage compartment volume (cu. ft.):	6.2
Baggage capacity (lbs.):	55
Wing tanks capacity (gals.):	31.2
Design load factors:	+6/-3 G’s
PERFORMANCE
Vne (KIAS):	146
Vs (KCAS):	45
Vso (KCAS):	40
Max speed (KCAS):	115
Cruise, 75% power (KCAS):	110
Range (nm):	700
Total endurance (hrs.):	8.5
Best rate of climb, SL (fpm):	1020
Service ceiling (ft.):	15,500
Takeoff ground roll (ft.):	620
Landing ground roll (ft.):	590
Source: Evektor Aircraft Inc.

The post 2009 Evektor SportStar SL appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

Evektor was established more than 35 years ago, specifically to build motorgliders and autogyros, and the company’s fortunes have since expanded to include production of a variety of aerospace components. Gross sales in 2004 topped $50 million, and the company has some 450 employees.

Like all the other LSAs, the SportStar mounts two seats and is restricted to 137 mph. Unlike many of the others, however, the airplane has the distinction of having been the first LSA certified in the United States. The Eurostar, Evektor’s European version of essentially the same airplane, has been selling overseas in 30 countries for years, and there’s a fleet of nearly 500 airplanes already in the air.

Little surprise there. The airplane is built hell-for-stout, constructed on a production line in Eastern Europe that also produces fully certified, normal-category aircraft. The SportStar isn’t an aerobatic airplane (though it looks as if it should be), but it’s nevertheless built to withstand acro G loads of +6/-3.

Evektor disdains composites, preferring to build the SportStar primarily from all-metal materials, mostly Alclad 2024 Duralumin alloys. The fuselage, wings and empennage are constructed mostly of aluminum, with the occasional use of other metals—galvanized steel on the firewall, for example. (Inevitably, the airplane does incorporate a limited amount of composites in those areas where they make sense—wheel fairings, wingtips, gear legs, etc.)

The SportStar features riveted, nearly all-metal construction, but despite its use of metal, it’s hardly a conventional machine. The engineers at Evektor were well aware that rivets tend to work and loosen over time, so surfaces and structures are attached with a combination of rivets and bonding. This holds the rivets firmly in place and helps provide a stronger airframe and wing.

The SportStar has a definite look of a sport plane with its low wing and bubble canopy. In this case, “bubble” is definitely the operative term. The airplane’s most prominent feature on the ground is that large, bulbous expanse of Plexiglas. The canopy actually bulges as it rises from elbow height, providing additional width at shoulder level. The good news is that visibility is excellent in every direction except straight down. The not-so-good news is that the bubble is so all-encompassing that it acts like a greenhouse and heats up in summer. Fly high.

The airplane’s cabin is a surprising 46.5 inches across, wider than most other four-seat singles, much less two-seat sport planes. The glass bubble also is large enough to accommodate pilots as tall as 6′ 2″.

Gross weight is set at 1,212 pounds, and Evektor suggests a standard airplane goes out the door at an empty weight of 668 pounds. That leaves a useful load of 544 pounds. Subtract a full service of fuel, and you’re left with 358 pounds for people and stuff in the baggage area (stuff can weigh up to 50 pounds). A pair of 180-pound pilots will bring the airplane to gross. Fortunately, the SportStar’s configuration provides a CG envelope that’s wide and forgiving.

Pilot and passenger ride high in the SportStar, elevated enough to allow a clear view straight back at the vertical tail. A number of military fighters feature the same seating configuration, actually positioning the pilots above the top fuselage line to help them spot threats from their six. The large, tinted canopy hinges at the front and folds forward via two gas cylinders for entry/egress, so it can’t be opened in flight.

Looking out from the left seat, you’ll note a smooth, simple, functional wing design, nearly rectangular in shape with a single spar at center chord, no taper and no noticeable dihedral. The wing is somewhat reminiscent of a Tiger’s airfoil in appearance, if not in technical description. The wing features split flaps, so the top surface is uninterrupted during flap operation. Standard flaps are manual a la Cherokee with a center-mounted Johnson bar lever, and they provide 15, 30 or 50 degrees of deflection. Electric flaps are an option, with infinite flap positions. Deploy those huge lift enhancers, and stall drops to less than 40 knots.

The trapezoidal empennage is relatively conventional in design and construction. One Evektor option is a tow mechanism directly beneath the tailcone that allows glider or banner towing.

Out on the pointy end of the airplane, the propeller is a two- or three-blade tractor, ground adjustable for cruise, climb or any setting in between. The SportStar’s motive force is a four-cylinder, four-stroke Rotax 912ULS, cranking out 100 hp at the max-rated 5,800 rpm and spinning the prop through a reduction gearing system. METO (maximum except takeoff) power after five minutes is 5,500 rpm, and cruise is recommended at 4,800 rpm, generating about 71 hp. Redline for takeoff is 2,700 prop rpm, and cruise is recommended at 2,150. The Rotax’s cylinder heads are water-cooled, while the cylinders themselves utilize more-conventional air-cooling. TBO is 1,500 hours.

(Incidentally, the SportStar is also available with an 80 hp version of the same engine. Only climb suffers with the derated engine, as it’s approved for operation at the same max cruise setting of 4,800 rpm, again worth 71 hp.)

The aircraft’s ground handling is excellent, with a turn radius of less than 30 feet. If you can drive a Cherokee or Skyhawk around the ramp, you should be right at home in the SportStar.

With its current gross weight of 1,212 pounds and the “big” engine, the SportStar boasts a climb rate of 840 fpm. That’s a reasonable number for only 100 hp. Better still, service ceiling tops 13,000 feet. This is no ultralight. Sometime down the road, SportStar may opt for a higher gross weight, as the LSA limit is 1,320 pounds, still more than 100 pounds away.

Choose to cruise at a typical 6,500 to 7,500 feet, and you’ll see reasonably good speed. Evektor recognizes that cruise is conditional upon a dozen factors that aren’t always controllable, and for that reason, they set the max cruise number at a variable 100 to 110 knots. Economy cruise is pegged at 95 knots.

The SportStar isn’t strictly about speed, however. The cabin is large and comfortable, vibration is minimal, and the noise level is reasonable, so the airplane should make a good platform for cross-country transport. Fuel capacity is 31.5 gallons. Burn is about 5 gph, so you could reasonably plan four- to five-hour trips without stretching reserves. In no-wind conditions, that means you could fly cross-country legs as long as 550 nm—Los Angeles to Albuquerque, Dallas to Denver or Chicago to Atlanta—in one hop.

In-flight handling characteristics are pleasant without being super quick. Roll rate is on the order of 40 degrees per second, and pitch authority is well harmonized. Unlike some other LSAs, the SportStar manifests a reasonable amount of adverse yaw. That means you’ll need to relearn the use of rudder to coordinate turns greater than 10 degrees of bank.

Power-off glide at 50 knots results in a sink rate under 500 fpm. If the Rotax stops unexpectedly and you’re 7,500 feet above near-sea-level terrain, you’ll have about 15 minutes to find an appropriate parking spot. Stalls are fairly benign, with little tendency to spin. Published dirty stall is 39 knots, and in combination with effective brakes, that translates to good short-field characteristics, well under 700 feet for both takeoff and landing.

Landing characteristics don’t present any special challenge. It’s easy to rotate the nose to a comfortable, high angle of attack for touchdown on the mains, then lower the nosewheel to the asphalt. Braking is with standard toe brakes.

The airplane I flew was out of Sport Planes West in Hemet, Calif., one of five American dealers. The folks in Hemet’s suggested base price for the standard SportStar is $104,950 with an operational stack of VFR radios and instruments. Add most of the options that majority of pilots would normally select (including an autopilot), and you’ll have a fully operational cross-country machine for about $113,000.

Light-sport aircraft have become a force in general aviation in the last two years, and as the first certified LSA, Evektor’s SportStar is one of the leaders of the pack. It’s a little more expensive than some other models, but if you’re looking for a big cabin, good performance and economical operation, the SportStar may be an ideal ticket to ride.

SPECS: Evektor Sportstar

The post Evektor SportStar: Czech Mate appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

2007 Evektor SportStar
Base price:	$104,950
Typically equipped price:	$113,000
Engine make/model:	Rotax 912ULS
Horsepower@altitude:	100@SL
TBO hrs.:	1500
Fuel type:	100/100LL (car gas)
Propeller type/diameter:	FP/two-blade/three-blade
Landing gear type:	Tri./Fixed
Max ramp weight (lbs.):	1212
Gross weight (lbs.):	1212
Landing weight (lbs.):	1212
Empty weight, std. (lbs.):	668
Useful load, std. (lbs.):	544
Useful fuel, std. (gals.):	31.5
Payload, full std. fuel (lbs.):	355
Wingspan:	28 ft. 7 in.
Overall length:	19 ft. 7 in.
Height:	7 ft. 8 in.
Power loading (lbs./hp.):	12.1
Seating capacity:	2
Cabin width (in.):	46.5
PERFORMANCE
Cruise speed (kts.):
75% power:	100-110
Fuel consumption (gph):
75% power:	4.5-5.0
Dirty stall speed (kts.):	39
Best rate of climb SL (fpm.):	840
Service ceiling (ft.):	13,100
Takeoff ground roll (ft.):	560
Landing ground roll (ft.):	540
Source: Manufacturer’s Website

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