Adam that does seem an attractive, low time, quite new specimen. Is the type an orphan? an American entrepreneur, Ken Keith, acquired the business and was going to re start production in Colorado.
As this one was built in 2013 it sounds as if he succeeded, but I can’t find a company website, other than for the original aerobatic German business of Walter Extra.
In email from Extra Business Aircraft I’ve heard the type certificate has been sold to “foreign investors” and they’re planning new production somewhere in Europe or US. I think Extra still supports the ones they made, but the one to ask is @Paolo here, he owns one.
With just a little extra attention from a new owner (pun intended), this could be a great aircraft. It needs a new avionics system. It needs some mods to the landing gear to make it a little more all terrain – bigger wheels and a bigger wheel wells, get rid of the doors hanging down when gear is down – they’re almost scraping the ground etc. In an ideal world, it should probably also get a newer power plant, like a GE H75 or the TPE331-10 for better high altitude performance. They’re a little too powerful for the airframe, but there are no real alternatives in the lower power region. PT6 would not be right for this as the fuel burn is too high. The RR250 that’s in it is a solid little engine and very cheap to run, only problem is it has bad thermodynamic rating and loses poop up high quickly.
A Swiss-registered 500 for sale. I wonder how much they want for it?
AdamFrisch wrote:
A Swiss-registered 500 for sale.
It’s the plane that @Paolo posted about in this very thread. I wonder why it is for sale?
We have had our Extra 400 for a year now. We have resolved the issues with Continental and they are selling us Parts. We just had our engine rebuilt with no issues at all. We have put 200 hours on our plane and it has been nice.We love our New paint job
That’s very nice, it really puts the plane under its best light. I’ve always had a soft spot for the E400/500’s look. I realise I’m not necessarily in the majority there but hey… It’s in the eye of the beholder.
@ImAV8or wrote:
We have had our Extra 400 for a year now. We have resolved the issues with Continental and they are selling us Parts. We just had our engine rebuilt with no issues at all. We have put 200 hours on our plane and it has been nice.We love our New paint job
@FlyingFish should get in touch with you if he isn’t already… He’s had a number of issues with the engine.
We are in frequent contact and my own E400 is also very satisfying lately – paintjob is not yet scheduled because of some aerodynamic work in progress.
Engine is running fine and I am flying 25 hours per month.
Liquid cooling is a great solution for IFR arrivals at busy airports. No shock cooling means one can desend as fast as needed and cut power very aggressively.
I think the E400 is very similar to the 500 in climb performance despite the initial power delta: mine gets to FL200 in 20 minutes. And it is faster in cruise.
Love this plane AND engine
I think that plane looks so capable, especially in that paint scheme!
Just bumped into an Extra 500. Talked with the pilot (who was not the owner) and he gave me his impressions and some data points.
He did not like the plane, said it was not very useful due to no FIKI certification (!) and modest performance. I inquired more about the numbers.
Climb rate is 1’200 ft/min to 5000 ft and then tapers rapidly to 300 ft/min above FL200.
Cruise speed is under 200 knots, more like 185-190.
For comparison: my 400 will do 1000 ft/min all the way to FL200 and maybe 7-800 ft/min to FL250. It will cruise at 185-195 KTAS on 55% power and 215+ high up at max cruise (don’t know exactly because I only use max cruise for brief speed tests, so as to preserve the engine and also rarely fly above FL200)
So, much to my surprise, despite its 100 extra shp, climb performance of the 500 is not even a match to a healthy Extra 400, and the 400 is fully FIKI certified and faster.
Only advantage of the 500 is the shorter take off run and beta for landing. And yes its nose looks MUCH nicer, no question…
What a disappointment… The 500 could never have made a dent in Piper’s domination with this engine despite the fantastic airframe. A big design mistake…
