Sport Pilot Talk

Hi;

I was wondering if anyone has experience with the Aerotrek A220 or A240 as an owner and/or pilot. They seem to be well built, have a good useful load and are at a reasonable price.

jjfjr

jjfjr wrote:Hi;

I was wondering if anyone has experience with the Aerotrek A220 or A240 as an owner and/or pilot. They seem to be well built, have a good useful load and are at a reasonable price.

jjfjr

If it were me I'd find a nice Avid Flyer, and get the same airplane and pocket the $80k difference.

All the Avid Flyers were licensed as E-AB. That means, unless you were the original builder and met the 51% rule, your annual inspection must be done by an A&P. One great advantage of building an ELSA version of the AeroTrek is that you can get a repairman certificate for it, by taking just 16 hours of training. And, an advantage of the SLSA version is that it can be used in flight instruction for hire. Otherwise, they are identical aircraft.
I maintain and occasionally fly an A220. Great flying aircraft, and easy to work on. If a taildragger made any business sense for my flight school, I'd probably have one on my flight line.

drseti wrote:All the Avid Flyers were licensed as E-AB. That means, unless you were the original builder and met the 51% rule, your annual inspection must be done by an A&P. One great advantage of building an ELSA version of the AeroTrek is that you can get a repairman certificate for it, by taking just 16 hours of training. And, an advantage of the SLSA version is that it can be used in flight instruction for hire. Otherwise, they are identical aircraft.
I maintain and occasionally fly an A220. Great flying aircraft, and easy to work on. If a taildragger made any business sense for my flight school, I'd probably have one on my flight line.

I don't disagree, but you can find a less than 51% completed Avid kit if the repairman certificate is important to you.

$80k will buy a lot of annuals.

drseti wrote:All the Avid Flyers were licensed as E-AB. That means, unless you were the original builder and met the 51% rule, your annual inspection must be done by an A&P. One great advantage of building an ELSA version of the AeroTrek is that you can get a repairman certificate for it, by taking just 16 hours of training. And, an advantage of the SLSA version is that it can be used in flight instruction for hire. Otherwise, they are identical aircraft.
I maintain and occasionally fly an A220. Great flying aircraft, and easy to work on. If a taildragger made any business sense for my flight school, I'd probably have one on my flight line.

I'm sure you know this, but your wording was to clear. To apply for the repairman certificate you don't have to build 51% of the airplane. 51% of the airplane must be built for the purpose of education or recreation. To apply for the repairman certificate you must be the primary builder, but the FAA does not specify a required percentage.

MrMorden wrote:If it were me I'd find a nice Avid Flyer, and get the same airplane and pocket the $80k difference.

Care to explain how you came up with this number? The sticker price of Aerotrek is close to $90k. That implies that your mythical Avid is only $10k. That sounds very far-fetched to me, unless we're taking a beater with Rotax 582 -- I was able to find one of those for $12k. There's no way, in my experience, to find an Avid with a 912, even an 80 hp one, for anything less than $25k.

zaitcev wrote:

MrMorden wrote:If it were me I'd find a nice Avid Flyer, and get the same airplane and pocket the $80k difference.

Care to explain how you came up with this number? The sticker price of Aerotrek is close to $90k. That implies that your mythical Avid is only $10k. That sounds very far-fetched to me, unless we're taking a beater with Rotax 582 -- I was able to find one of those for $12k. There's no way, in my experience, to find an Avid with a 912, even an 80 hp one, for anything less than $25k.

My buddy bought a used Avid for $12.5k, it has been a great airplane. Yes, it has a 582 on it. Add $20k for a brand new 912ULS and you are still ahead by $57.5k. I'm assuing the $90k you quoted is base price, the one I saw at Oshkosh was over $100k.

My analysis stands, even if the numbers are slightly off it's not by enough to change the situation. Using your $25k number I'm off by $5k-$15k. If you buy a mostly built airplane not quite flying, I bet you could close that gap quickly. IMO the Aerotrek is significantly overpriced for what it is.

I've owned one since 2007. I like it. Admittedly, my sticker price was a lot less than $80K they want now, but what other SLSAs are out there for roughly that same amount?

The ICP Savannah.

comperini wrote:I've owned one since 2007. I like it. Admittedly, my sticker price was a lot less than $80K they want now, but what other SLSAs are out there for roughly that same amount?

Probably few or none. If you want a "factory" airplane and want it new, you are going to pay for that. I was just noting that the Avid is functionally identical for much less money, IF you are willing to accept words like "amateur built" and "experimental" when applied to your airplane.