Hi,
Our club is looking at buying a new one of these to replace a 172M. I was wondering has anyone here any first-hand experience with this model?
https://www.evektor.cz/en/sportstar-rtc
You can get a steam gauge one for €108k plus vat or the one with the Garmin G3xTouch for €128k plus the vat. I would have thought 20k was a small premium to pay for all glass.
This flying school in Germany uses one for PPL training and rentals. No direct experience. I have only ever flown the ultralight version.
There is at least one Aeroclub in Sweden using the Sportstar for flight training that I know of.
www.nsf.se
They even sold the one they had to give place for a much newer one so they must be satisfied with it. And the Eurostar(UL version) seems to very popular for flight training as well.
However, if EASA now allows kitbuilt aircraft fin flight training, I would investigate that first since you will save a lot of money on maintenance and certified parts.
A few clubs have some in France, usually to replace 150s. Some bought a second one so it must not be bad.
There are a few in the US too. Some videos on Youtube.
Flight 4000 in Denmark has an Evector and has used it for primary training for 3-4 years. www.flight4000.dk
It looks like another underbuilt aircraft that will not be robust enough for flight training………… I guess it’s time to refurbish another Cessna 152.
A_and_C wrote:
I guess it’s time to refurbish another Cessna 152.
We could. I have worked out it would need €60-70k to do all that is needed to “relife” the 172. I could get €40k for it the way it is, so that brings you close to the price of one of these. I would have agreed that many, if not most of the Rotax powered 2 seat trainers are fragile. However, in this case, we have had an EV-97 factory-built microlight and the pretty heavy-handed folks I’ve watched flying it have not managed to break it.
Also, there is the chance to offer glass cockpit PPL training, which might hook more of the younger people into training. Which is what most clubs need. I’ll happily fly with no radio’s in the back of Cub looking out the window for Nav but I am a minority these days.
It doesn’t look underbuilt to me – in fact it looks like what the training environment needs: something that looks and feels and flies like something made in the 21st century, not an immediate post-war design with a nosewheel strapped on (much as I love the Cessna 140, from which the 150/152 was later derived).
A friend of mine got one for an aeroclub at Fes-GMFF to replace rusty C150/152 this year, they plan to import another one next year as it already had a quick success !
Few of them around France as well (missed the chance to try one in Beauvais-LFOB), also that avionics upgrade is by far the cheapest one can get when moving from legacy to glass (just 600h of rental?)