Sport Pilot Talk

Corsair Ace · Joined: 24 Mar 2006 Posts: 49 Location: Atlanta, GA

Has anyone here flown the Evektor Sport Star? If you have, can you please give me a Pilot Report on the plane, or provide one from someone else if you know someone that has flown one. I'm trying to help a friend that need a PIREP on this airplane, she is thinking about flying one and wants to know what to expect before flying it. Thanks in advance.

Lee

oldsportpilot · Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 59

I have about 55 hours in Sportstars, both the model with the fuel in the fuselage, and the newer "plus" model with the fuel in the wings and an extra 55 lbs of useful load.

The Sporstar has no real vices. It accelerates fast on takeoff, and requires attention to right rudder to keep it on the centerline. A climbing left turn needs some right rudder to keep the ball centered. Landings are straightforward, although be careful about the advice in the POH to use 48 kts on final with a 50 degree flap setting. In this configuration the Sportstar glides about like a grand piano and you must be vigilant to avoid getting into a very rapid rate of descent. I found it easier to use 55 kts and 30 degrees flap. I know of two flight schools that recommend 55 kts on final as a routine.

Another thing to watch for is braking after touchdown. The wheels are close together, and it is easy to skitter about the runway with uncautious braking. On final, add to your mental checklist the phrase "feet off the brakes".

Crosswind landings are easy in the Sportstar because visibility in the flare is so good. I prefer staying in a wings-level crab on final and establishing the slip to align with the runway only at the last second. The winds a few feet off the ground, in my experience, are usually (not always) rather different from those a few hundred feet up. YMMV.

The Sportstar is a great airplane. Its reactions to control inputs are predictable and rapid, and it is great fun to fly. Enjoy!

PS: I am not a Sportstar dealer or CFI.

Corsair Ace · Joined: 24 Mar 2006 Posts: 49 Location: Atlanta, GA

Thanks oldsportpilot.

Lee

Jim Stewart · Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 47

My first 50 or so hours of instruction were in a Sportstar. Ditto everything that oldsportpilot said. A very good pilot report. As old said, the brakes are a bit tricky and require some thought in order not to abuse them. The bubble top can get very hot in the summer. Workmanship appears first rate, and from what I could pick up from my instructor, minimal to no mechanical problems other than repairing student brake abuse.

The Sportstar is the only plane that has ever given me the almost mythical feeling of being on the back of a giant bird, holding it's reins. Kind of corny, but a very neat feeling.

I currently own a CTSW, which I really like for a different set of reasons, but I will still always have a good feeling for a Sportstar.

flyboyjim · Joined: 27 Jan 2008 Posts: 4 Location: Northport, NY

I have about 16 hours in the Evektor and have taken all my lessons in the upgraded version with the wing tanks. I also mirror the comments previously made on the list. A very predictible handling airplane with a nice cruise - about 115 kts. Incredible visability from the bubble cockpit and quite a bit of headroom. I am 6' 4" and fit comfortably. The plane flies like it is on rails. the nose wheel steering is a bit twitchy on landing and requires very little input. Overall a nice airplane.

mikeproctor · Joined: 03 Dec 2006 Posts: 13

I've got a little over 50 hours in the sportstar. I really like it but it's the only plane I've flown so I don't have much to compare it to. I found this last night and tried it in FSX. I didn't spend much time with it but it seems cool. Here's the link, look for EV97 (should be the first file):

http://files.fsnordic.net/Flight_Simulator/Aircraft/General_Aviation/index.php

westwindsportstar · Joined: 20 Aug 2006 Posts: 32

I have owned a Sportstar for over a year and have been a Evektor Flight Center. We have about 600hrs on our Sportstar and it is used in a flight school. I have flown and worked on and off for 15ys as a commercial pilot and CFI and have flown most GA aircraft. I have found that this is one of my all time favorite airplanes.

The closest aircraft that I can compare it to for flying qualities is probably the Gruman Cheetah. It is a very nice flying aircraft. It has a decent roll rate and is just a joy to throw around the sky, requires very little rudder to keep the ball centered and the controls are for the most part nicely balanced, although the pitch is a bit more responsive than the roll. I have flown quite a few of the new LSAs and find this to be one of the better handling aircraft out there.

While the airplane can be very fun to throw around the sky it has very forgiving flight characteristics, as I said we use it as a trainer and and it takes ham-fisted student abuse and never does anything suprising. I find that if anything it is easier to learn to fly in than the good old Cessna 150.
Stalls are a bit more pronounced than in the Cessnas which I find to be a good thing as a stall in a Cessna is pretty much a non-event, and something a bit more pronounced tends to teach the student better. While not approved for spins here it has been spin certified in the U.K. so I don't worry too much if a student does spin it.

Slow flight is great, ailerons are still very effective, and in fact work very well down into the stall as well. Flies around in Steep turns like its on rails.
Landings are pretty nice as well, very easy to get the nose up into that nice full stall attitude for touchdown. She will tend to float a bit on landing if your speed is a bit high, (that wing is awful close to ground, so any excess speed will really cause a lot of float). Easy to remedy though, just use full flaps and keep it no faster than 55kts.

For short field landings full flaps and 55kts on final slowing to 48kts over the fence. If you get much below 48kts it will pick up a bit of a sink rate but nothing like the old Cherokee 140s. The gear is a bit stiff though so you will work a little harder to get that really smooth greaser type landing.
Handles crosswinds very well which is a bit of a surprise since I think the rudder could be a bit more effective. I am more comfortable flying this in a nasty x-wind than I am in our 172 or 150 for sure.

Take-offs are very quick, it seems like your only on the ground for about 7 seconds. Climb rates will of course vary wildly with tempture and weight, but at gross wt in the summer we see an honest 650-800FPM, lighter weights and or cooler temps will see in the 1000FPM range.
Cruise speeds are around 100-105kts, maybe a little more if your light.

Workmanship is as good as anything on the market, and that includes Cessna & Piper. It is very easy to work on, our mechanic was doing 100hr inspection in 5-6hrs. Cockpit layout is very nice, with most buttons laid our similar to what you would find in a standard American GA aircraft. We have no problem for renters and students going back and forth between this and our Cessnas.

Cockpit is roomier than our 172 or 150, students love the great visibility with the canopy, which I do not find to be any hotter than our Cessnas in the summer.(That little sun shade works like a charm)

Anything I don't like? I don't like the electric trim (I mean its a 1200lb airplane not a Cessna 421). The carb heat knob is over on far left side of the panel which requires you to switch hands off the stick to use it. The nose wheel steering is just a bit more sensitive than I would like.

Thats all that I can honestly complain about as far as the design gos. It could be a bit faster but its as fast as our 160hp 172 and easily outclimbs it, so that is really not that bad for a 100hp engine.

Problems that we have had with the Sportstar, minor brake issues, replaced a trim relay and the SB on the Fuel Pump for the 912 last year. Oh yeah the tires and tubes are not so great, have replaced all three.

So yeah I must admit to being a bit biased towards the Sportstar because I own one and its been a great airplane and has held up well to our flight training abuse. The other nice thing about it is that there are more of these out there in flight schools than any other brand and I would be willing to bet there are more hours on the Sportstar fleet than any of the other LSAs so its easy to track down the people using them and find out what the deal is and how well they are holding up.

Anyone who would like more info on our experiences can feel free to e-mail me.

westwindsportstar · Joined: 20 Aug 2006 Posts: 32

Pictures of our Sportstar
[img]
http://s121.photobucket.com/albums/o202/nwsportplanes/?action=view&current=newcamerapics065.jpg[/img]

Spatch8199 · Joined: 29 Mar 2008 Posts: 1 Location: Ft. Worth, TX

I only have 37 1/2 hours of flight time toward my private pilot's license all in the Evektor SportStar. I have found it to be very forgiving in the air.

However when landing make sure you KEEP YOUR FEET OFF THE B R A K E S UNTIL YOU GET IT UNDER CONTROL!! !! !!

I didn't one time and we almost made a right angle left turn into the fueling pumps. That made my instructor very unhappy. Fortunetately we were able to keep it on the runway and slow down and turn around to get back to the hanger. With the close coupling of the wheels you really need to have a light touch. Other than that, I love flying the little beggar. I also love the Rotax 912ULS engine and wish they would make bigger engines for Cessna, Piper, etc.