Sport Pilot Talk

The flight school I'm looking at - Tailwheels Etc, Winter Haven FL - has an Elitar Sigma that they will be bringing online soon. I'm going to propose I get to train in it.

Talk about a strange looking bird!! Its the egg under a highwing style like the CTLS and the REMOS. But it has it's engine mounted in the middle of the highwing facing forwards.

Its Russian. I see where it made a minor splash at AirVenture 2005 but not much else on the web.

Anyone know anything about it?

http://www.vvv-avia.ru/sigma2/

Ten months and not a single reply...must not be a popular LSA. I found this forum when Googling the Elitar Sigma looking for some information myself, and this thread came back as a hit. Hopefully the OP is still lurking about here.

I'm in training at Tailwheels in WH myself. I've been flying the Aerostar 1, but am going to see about switching to the Sigma...I like the looks of it a lot better and would like the better ground view it offers.

If you are still around, have you been flying the Sigma? Have you completed your training?

For those of us training in Winter Haven it appears we will get our chance to experience "the egg" firsthand. The Aerostar 1 I have been training in has been sold and the other LSA online is the Sigma. I have not had the opportunity to fly the Sigma yet but will get my first chance this weekend. My instructor informs me that it is a fun machine to fly with a tremendous climb rate but tends to be a little touchy on the ground. If the weather holds I will take my first flight in "the egg" Saturday afternoon. I will post a thread afterwords and let everyone know my thoughts.

i thought my ctsw was an egg, this is an egg!

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Did you get to take the Sigma up? I'm looking forward to your review.

After having an opportunity to pilot the Sigma I am here to deliver my review and opinions of the oddly shaped machine. Understanding that opinions may vary, this is just my observation of "the egg".

1) Definitely odd shaped that puts you as close to the ground as you care to be. Being 5"10 and 215lbs it felt like I was in an egg. The adjustable pedals are nice, but still were not efficient enough to allow complete and free movement of the stick. Maybe I just need skinnier legs. If you are at all uncomfortable with tight spaces, probably not the plane for you. The cramped interior, along with the overhead wings makes it seem like a very close environment.
2) Taxis very quick and likes to run. This is not a slow paced machine so when you fire it up, be ready to move. Given the placement of the engine, it tends to vibrate quite a bit at low RPM speeds and moves quickly when given a little throttle.
3) Takeoff was smooth but the Sigma is definitely touchy in the pedal department. Another thing to remember when taking off is to get pressure off the nose gear and hold it steady without applying too much pressure to lift off early. Feels like you are dragging your butt down the runway given the close proximity to the ground.
4) Once airborne, WHAT A RIDE! Very quick response, climbs like a homesick angel, and is a blast to fly. Outstanding views with the overhead wings and clear doors. This baby will turn on a dime and give you change.
5) Landing was uneventful even in a slight crosswind. A couple of bounces and we were down, ensuring to keep the pressure off the nose gear until our speed slowed dramatically.

The Sigma was a blast to fly, very interesting aircraft with it's unique characteristics, but definitely not a machine I will run out to purchase.

Fortunately for us Winter Haven newbies it appears the deal fell through on the sale of the Aerostar and she will be back in the lineup for now. I enjoyed my Sigma excursion but look forward to my return to the Aerostar.

I still might make it back to try out the Sigma sometime. How's the Aerostar training going?

I have been on sigma elitar on a few occasions and enjoyed the ride, and its odd looking egg shape , thinking about getting one, there is a web site that I looked at that sells these planes, good deals, www.sigmaelitar.com

Does anyone know what has happened to N222RU specifically? The certification expired in 2007, but what about the actual airplane? Scrapped? Shipped back to Russia? Sold? If yes, to whom?

It went back to it's owners in Russia.

The Phoenix S-LSA motorglider is one of the newest light sport aircraft on the market. Check it out in Melbourne (MLB) for something completely different and fun! www.phoenixairusa.com

Thanks for the link

That is pretty cool looking, too bad its so small, but it might make a great single place for me one day.

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Theres Money in Aviaition, I know, I put it there!

The Ultralight News posted a video that features N222RU:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bryvUceKT5E
So, it did not go back to Russia. Instead, it's basically a demo airplane for the new distributor, and it visited the Oshkosh.

Meanwhile, I learned a few things since Elitar Sigma went on sale for the first time.

First, I flew a range of various airplanes, including Remos GX and FD CTLS. I found that visibility is a problem for me in high-wing airplanes, especially in busy airspace, and I have to rock the wings quite a bit. This has something with my neck being unduly long. It is going to be an issue in Elitar Sigma, although perhaps not as bad as in GX. I observe that the "egg" is somewhat removed from the wing in it, which helps. Still, I think Sky Arrow would be a high-wing for me, because its pusher configuration moves the pilot clear of the wing.

Second, I found the importance of having a strong support, unless you are one with local EAA chapter and built airplanes from plans, perhaps. It's inevitable for issues to arise, and poor part availability may ground you for months. The support for Elitar Sigma is very much unproven. I think that issues with GX in particular made me think more about it. I suppose I could fly with a piece of plywood instead of the top window, but I could not fly without a pressure sender, and most importantly without an airframe-specific remote pressure sender.

Finally, I learned a few things about the genesis of the airplane, and some operational experience in Russia. I must note, however, that there was nothing too bad about it. I would not hesitate to fly it, even knowing what I know.

The airplane was designed by Mr. Ignatiev, currently leading OOO "Virazh" in Voronezh, and it was called "Sigma-4". Apparently, VVV-Avia entered into an agreement to produce Sigma-4 under the name "Elitar Sigma". In Russia, they used to make a strict distinction between "experimental production" and "series production", with the former being done by a "design bureau", like the one ran by Mr. Ignatiev, and the later undertaken by a large aircraft factory. Elitar and VVV-Avia are in an unspecified relationship with a large factory in Samara, and thus they were supposed to make Sigma-4 in numbers.

Unfortunately, Samara people were good at making airplanes, but inept at selling them. Prospective buyers report tales of woe and delays, if they even manage to hear from Samara at all. In the end, a large part of operational fleet in Russia ended made in the small shop in Voronezh, because they were more open to customers. The airplanes made in Voronezh this way are sold under the name "Sigma Classic". If the "new" distributor in New York imported Sigma Classic, or had some kind of working relationship with "Virazh", I would be much more at peace about the availability of spares.

Operationally, the airplane has some small issues. The biggest is that something was wrong in the original design of ailerons in Sigma-4, so when flaps were deployed to 40 deg., the motion of ailerons was significantly restricted, which caused some problems for crosswind landings. Apparently this was rectified on Sigma Classic without restricting the flap travel range. However, I do not know if Elitar Sigma has this change applied or not.

Users also complain about a couple of small problems. One is that the takeoff performance on the tall grass is very poor, because the airplane drugs its belly in the grass and that creates a lot of friction. Another is that if parked on a smallest incline, it would flop on its tail because of the position of main gear. I don't think that either sounds like a great problem for operations in America.

Interestingly, Mr. Ignatiev's next airplane, Sigma-5, uses a pusher configuration, although, unlike Sky Arrow, it is a low wing design with twin-boom layout. I'd really like to fly it, but unfortunately, it does not comply with LSA definition. For one thing, it has a retractable gear.

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