Czech SportCruiser, Custom-Designed for Americans

The nearly 46-inch wide cockpit offers lots
of panel space as well as elbow room. Dual
controls make the SportCruiser a probable
trainer, and leather seats give it a dressed-up
look for those seeking such embellishments.

The airplane fl own for this test fl ight is powered
by a Rotax 912S, 100-hp engine. The
Jabiru 3300 engine is an option.

A large baggage area can accommodate a signifi
cant amount of luggage/equipment, considering
the aircraft’s 600-pound useful load
and wide weight-and-balance range. The “T”
bar between the seats is a great handhold
during entry and exit from the aircraft.

Danny Defelici of Sport Aircraft Works attributed
the SportCruiser’s stall resistance to “a
combination of good airfoil and a wingtip design
that came from a French study done in
the 1970s that showed this tip confi guration
was one of the most effi cient, even more effi –
cient than traditional STOL-type droop tips.”

The forward-opening canopy assists entry
and exit from the SuperCruiser, as do steps
on both sides of the aircraft. Step up onto the
step, then onto the wing. Brace one hand on
the “T” handle between the seats, and step
inside.

Czech Aircraft Works (CZAW) began life in the newly
freed Czech Republic not long after the history-making
fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Tapping a wellspring
of aeronautical training and experience that became
available when the Soviets pulled out of the former
Czechoslovakia, American owner Chip Erwin started
CZAW in 1992. Using the highly trained but lowcost
labor force available, Erwin manufactured parts
for and assembled the CH 601 and CH 701 designs of
Chris Heintz’s Zenair Ltd. The young company found
a solid market in Europe for fully built CH 601s and
CH 701s. Each year it grew in size and built ever more
of the all-metal designs.

As CZAW increased its production
capability, it began to explore designs
of its own. It found success first with
its Czech Floats; many American
aircraft are fitted with this all-metal
amphibious system. Three years ago,
CZAW partnered with Sport Aircraft
Works (SAW) of Palm City, Florida,
led by Danny and Zaneta Defelici,
to pursue the development, sales,
and marketing of light-sport aircraft
(LSA). Erwin and Defelici waited to
see what the final LSA requirements
were, and then “we pulled the trigger
on development,” said Defelici.

Two years ago, CZAW introduced
its first design, the low-wing Mermaid
amphibian. I saw drawings of
the Mermaid at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
2003; by Sun ‘n Fun 2004, the
airplane debuted. Response to the
prototype was overwhelming. Many
refundable orders were taken even as
development continued.

Next came the Parrot, a highwing,
relatively sophisticated design
that uses flush rivets, which are timeconsuming
to install, and a stretched
aluminum skin that looks terrific
but also adds labor hours. The lowwing
SportCruiser, the subject of this
month’s review, followed.

With no less than three new designs,
it’s obvious the development
team at CZAW and SAW does not proceed
on a leisurely basis. The result is
the two companies have developed
and certificated three special LSA (SLSA)
in less than two years, giving
them a veritable fleet of LSA-specific
designs to make major inroads to the
U.S. marketplace. With plans to build
“an aircraft a day,” the companies are
positioning themselves to occupy a
leading role among LSA producers.
All are American-ready designs, offering
spacious cabins. “We have three
of the largest interior volume LSA on
the market,” observed Defelici.

The SportCruiser:A Simple Design

Some have suggested the SportCruiser
is a copy of the CH 601 XL, which
is now sold as an S-LSA by American
Manufacturing and Development
(AMD) of Georgia and in kit form
by Zenith Aircraft of Mexico, Missouri.
But, CZAW’s engineers said the
SportCruiser has “no interchangeable
parts with the 601.” The SportCruiser
represents an “evolved, completely
fresh design,” said Defelici. (Zenair and CZAW recently announced termination
of their license agreement
for CZAW to build Zenair aircraft. See
Flightline, page 17)

Compared to CZAW’s Mermaid
and Parrot, the SportCruiser is a
much simpler design and, therefore,
can boast more price flexibility. This
simplified construction also accounts
for its fast development. In fact, the
SportCruiser is already in its second
generation of development, thanks
to the flexibility of the ASTM consensus
standards for LSA. The refined SportCruiser highlights a lower,
smoother line to the canopy (the first
one bubbled quite a bit higher) with
a new composite canopy frame structure.
Seats were also lowered a small
amount, and cabin width grew from
41 to almost 46 inches. Not only do
occupants have more room than in
the prototype SportCruiser I flew but
also the instrument panel space increased.

Besides SportCruiser’s roomy cabin,
including a large baggage area
plus a hat rack, the new model has a
useful load of 600 pounds. With full
fuel (30 gallons), it has more range
than the average human bladder and
can hold two 190-pound pilots and
40 pounds of baggage.

A roomy cabin must also accommodate
a tall pilot, and SportCruiser
does so with adjustable rudder pedals
rather than adjustable seats. “We had
a 6-foot, 6-inch pilot weighing 280
pounds inside,” reported Defelici. He
stressed legroom as one of the Sport-
Cruiser’s great qualities.

Naturally, that’s not all that sets
the new low-wing model apart. The
controls are another way the new
plane shines, Defelici said. When he
and I flew together at his residential
airpark, Naked Lady Ranch, the airplane
exhibited easy and forgiving
manners, with stalls so docile as to be
uneventful. “SportCruiser is basically
stall resistant because of its wingtip
design.” Defelici explained, “The
SportCruiser’s handling is a combination
of good airfoil and a wingtip design
that came from a French study
done in the 1970s that showed this
tip configuration was one of the most
efficient, even more efficient than
traditional STOL-type droop tips.”

And you can land the SportCruiser
in a short space given its lowest operating
speed of 30 mph. Slow speeds
dramatically reduce energy in the
event of an upset. The SportCruiser’s
low-speed flying characteristics and
its thicker wing, which equates to
slower flying overall, makes it appropriate
for lower-time pilots.

Let’s Go Cruising

The SportCruiser’s cabin features a
forward-opening canopy that locks
via a dual side latch, with a center
handle between the seats. Entry, via
stepping up on the wing, is aided by
a steel step that helps you step over
the flaps. A handhold is built into
the glare shield to assist entry, as
does a strong “T handle” between the
seats-more so than the seat back.
“We listened to people’s comments at
air shows,” Defelici said about these
entry accommodations.

Dual control sticks with the throttle
mounted on a center console
make the SportCruiser a viable trainer,
and the nearly 46-inch wide cabin
means folks won’t be cramped. Fourpoint
seat belts hold you securely in
the side-by-side seats.

Once seated, you adjust the pedals
for your height (remember, the seats
don’t adjust).

Taxiing for takeoff means using
differential brakes to pivot a castering
nose wheel. While the nose gear
is 4130 steel, the main gear is built
of composite legs inserted into a
box. The good news about this system
is that you can spin around in
a tiny space once you become adept
with the brakes and castering movement.
For takeoff, set one notch of
flaps; an electric motor deploys the
surface 10 degrees. Lesser flap angle
deployments are possible because of
the efficient Fowler flap system. Even
on Naked Lady Ranch’s turf runways,
the SportCruiser left the ground energetically.
The factory states 420
feet, and I have no reason to doubt
this figure.

As with many LSA, climb is strong
given the light weight being lifted by
the potent 100-hp Rotax 912 engine.
Turns in the SportCruiser could be
done to shallow angles with no use
of rudder and without strong feelings
of slipping or skidding. “It took some
work,” said Defelici, “but the aileron
differential is just right,” referring
to the difference between aileron up
versus down angle, which is a popular
trick to achieve finer handling response
and reduce drag. “I’m a stickler
on controls,” he reported. “The prototype
SportCruiser’s control rigging
had a rather sensitive pitch response.
The ailerons were slightly heavier
than the elevator, and pitch wasn’t
slippery, but it was lighter than roll
control.” Defelici worked with the
designer to reduce these issues, proving
engineering can be aided by the
test pilot’s prowess in the final finessing
of such adjustments.

Adverse yaw in the SportCruiser
is modest; you generally won’t need
much rudder to fly the plane. Rudder
control response also received a close
eye from Defelici, and the yaw control
friendliness reflected well upon
his effort.

“Cessna 172 pilots go crazy in
many light-sport aircraft,” Defelici
said. He believes most general aviation
(GA) pilots find LSA too light in
control response. Hence, he made the
extra effort to get the SportCruiser’s
handling as predictable as possible.

Defelici may be right about the GA
pilot’s feel for controls in LSA, but
most GA pilots I’ve spoken with focus
on performance. And, the Sport-
Cruiser delivers well in this realm, yet
it also displays a demur side that newcomers
will appreciate.

I didn’t attempt spins in the Sport-
Cruiser even with a parachute on
board as the design had not undergone
such factory tests at the time of
my evaluation flight in April 2006.

Landings call for two notches or 20
degrees of flaps; a maximum deployment
of 30 degrees is available. When
you deploy flaps, the nose moves
downward a bit. When I tried a landing
without flaps, I found rotation to
be somewhat more abrupt. Using the
flaps made for smoother touchdowns
at various settings.

The SportCruiser’s flaps are effective
enough for most operations,
but if you want to make the steepest
possible approach, a deep slip can be
comfortably achieved. Defelici indicated
that doing so with full flaps creates
no control problem.

Generally I found the SportCruiser
to be a well-behaved aircraft. Even
when stalls are done fairly aggressively,
the wings don’t tend to drop,
except slightly in significantly accelerated
stalls. Despite the good behavior,
this is a new design without a lot
of field experience, so I was pleased
CZAW had installed an emergency
parachute system in the forward compartment
aft of the engine.

Most test pilots would likely say
the SportCruiser is a medium-performance
aircraft. However, in one common
measure of engineering skill, the
design can manage the magical 4-to-1 ratio from slowest to fastest speeds
(that is, the fastest speed should be
four times the slowest). To me the
real magic is this airplane flies slowly
well, probably inheriting some of
this prowess from its older sibling,
the Mermaid amphibian, which uses
a slower speed wing to make water
operations more efficient. Getting off
the water quickly is a prime objective
for floatplanes, and short ground runs
are an attribute of the SportCruiser.

Calling the SportCruiser a “medium
performer” is hardly accurate,
though. The design can maintain
125 mph (109 knots), which is only
11 knots below the LSA maximum
allowed speed at continuous power
(120 knots). Never exceed speed (VNE)
is a generous 160 mph, almost 30 percent
beyond normal cruise, yielding
a wide safety margin for over speed
situations.

The SportCruiser also has a “huge
weight and balance envelope,” Defelici
added, making its sensitivity to
aft center of gravity conditions low.
Weight and balance planning is always
paramount, of course.

A Cruiser of Your Own?

After a strong response to the Sport-
Cruiser at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
2006, it would appear the marketplace
thinks the low-wing, all-metal
LSA is a winner. Several orders were
reportedly finalized, and Defelici indicated
the first four SportCruisers
would be delivered by early fall. By
the end of the year, CZAW and SAW
think they can deliver around 40 aircraft.
Defelici said, “We are setting up
the factory to produce one aircraft a
day.” New, larger quarters for CZAW
will help the company meet that ambitious
production plan.

The standard base price for the
SportCruiser is $74,500, which includes
shipping to Florida and five
hours of flight orientation with a
flight instructor. Twenty hours of
sport pilot training are included in
the price of the aircraft for those
needing a pilot certificate.

For those seeking a lower-priced
aircraft, SAW will sell you an amateur-
built (51-percent) quick-build
kit starting at $35,500 less engine.
You can elect a Rotax 912S 100-hp
engine or the Jabiru 3300 120-hp, but
ask SAW for the latest engine price as
they vary depending on exchange
rate fluctuations. Under sport pilot
you cannot use an amateur-built aircraft
for compensated instruction or
rental, but if that’s not your goal, you
can have a lot of fun building and
save yourself thousands of dollars.
Kit prices do not include shipping
from the Czech Republic.

Other pilots may prefer more
equipment on board, and SAW is
ready to please, offering a feature-laden
SportCruiser for $87,195. Besides
its Rotax 912ULS 100-hp powerplant,
the deluxe SportCruiser includes:

Garmin GPS 296 color map with AirGizmo docking station
Full glass panel Dynon EFIS/EMS with analog backup gauges and fuel flow
King 97A VHF radio
Garmin GTX 320 transponder with altitude encoder
Standard instruments: airspeed, altimeter, tachometer, oil pressure, oil temp, cylinder head temp, and Hobbs hour meter
PS Engineering PM 3000 intercom
Three-blade Woodcomp ground-adjustable propeller with spinner
ELT with remote display controls plus two antennas
30-gallon wing tanks with gauges
Trim and radio transmit controls on pilot control stick
Electric aileron and pitch trim with position indicators
Electric flaps with position indicator
Four-point seat belt harnesses
Cabin heat | Wheelpants
Two-tone paint with accent trim stripes and matching upholstery
Corrosion protection

If you want more options, plenty
are available: parking brake ($275),
a night lighting package ($1,900),
leather interior upgrade ($950), metallic
paint upgrade ($1,350), and
a BRS soft-pack parachute system
($4,995). This list does not reflect
every potential option; contact
SAW for its up-to-date price sheet.

“We’re in full compliance with
the ASTM standards,” said Defelici,
and the SportCruiser is
ready to buy and fly for $75,000
to $90,000. To some pilots that
may sound like a lot, but general
aviation pilots perceive a bargain.
The SuperCruiser’s sales would indicate
that it’s off to a great start
with American consumers.