In this issue

More SportStar options from Evektor
- Rotax 914 115hp engine
- high-backed seats
- painted canopy top
SportStar SL or MAX?

More options for the SportStar

Evektor-Aerotechnik have announced several new options for the SportStar.

First, the Rotax 914 115 hp turbo-charged engine is available as an option for the first time. This choice will suit those who regularly fly 'hot and high' as the turbo helps to maintain full engine power irrespective of altitude and temperature.

Contrary to common belief, the 115 hp Rotax 914 is in fact a turbo version of the 1,211cc 80 hp 912UL engine (not a 'blown' version of the 1,352cc 100 hp 912 ULS). The higher stressing on the engine components on the 914 reduces the TBO (time before overhaul) from 1,500 hours on the 912 engine to 1,200 hours on the turbo. Nevertheless, the 914 is an excellent engine which - at a price - will give you the power you need both at sea level and at high altitudes.

For information - here is a list of the various versions of the Rotax 912/914 series engines:
- 912ULS: non-certified 100 hp - green valve gear covers
- 912S: FAR33-certified 100 hp - green valve gear covers
- 912UL: non-certified 80 hp - black valve covers
- 912A: JAR22-certified 80 hp - black valve covers
- 912F: FAR33-certified 80 hp - black valve covers
- 914UL: non-certified 115 hp - red valve covers
- 914F: FAR33 and JAR-E certified 115 hp - red valve covers

SportStar high-backed seats

Second new option is a pair of high-backed seats, aimed at those who regularly travel long distances in their SportStars. Personally, I have flown SportStars from Brisbane to Perth and back a couple of times, as well as collecting from Perth for delivery to customers in Victoria and have never found the standard seats to be uncomfortable. Maybe I have more padding in the critical areas than most but even so, there is so much room in the cockpit you can move about and stretch your legs on a long flight.

Addition of the high backed seats does make luggage access slightly trickier but reaching into the back of the SportStar was very easy in the first place, so there's no real problem. In flight, you can still reach your refreshments under the net behind the seats.

SportStar painted canopy top

Finally, there are some new colour schemes - predominantly based on white, with added decals. The aim is to keep the cost of original paint and repairs low, particularly for hard-used school and club aircraft, which are more prone than privately owned SportStars to collect 'hangar rash' and other small dings.

To complement the white schemes, there is also now an optional painted canopy top - which can replace the retractable sunshield inside the canopy. Although headroom in the SportStar is among the best in class, if you are very tall in the body, removal of the retractable sunshield will give you a little more headroom. While offering permanent cover from the sun, the painted top also changes the look of the aircraft, making it look more 'GA-like' in appearance. Something some will love, others will loathe, but the choice is now yours.

SportStar SL or SportStar MAX?

Quite a few existing owners and potential customers have called me to ask about the difference between the SportStar SL, which we have been selling in Australia, and the SportStar MAX, which appears on USA websites and is sold in the States.

Well, as with everything aviation, the answer is a little complicated. But here goes:

The SportStar SL is the new shape SportStar, which went on sale worldwide in May 2008. As the USA has driven the Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) market, the SL was designed to meet the USA LSA standard specifications. LSA weight limit (for land planes) is 600 kgs Maximum Take Off Weight (MTOW).

In addition, there is a requirement in the USA for a stall speed under 42 kts 'clean' - no flap - at MTOW. After all the calculations and flight testing, Evektor found the SportStar stalled 'clean' at 600 kgs at around 42kts. So although the actual airframe of the SportStar SL is strong enough to handle well over 600 kgs, to ensure a safety margin on the stall speed (owners are known to overload their aircraft occasionally) Evektor put an MTOW of 575 kgs on the SportStar SL.

Keep going, it gets clearer!

However, from a marketing standpoint, a 575 kgs MTOW aircraft does not look as attractive as a 600 kgs MTOW aircraft and Evektor found themselves under some pressure from distributors worldwide to rectify the situation - particularly as the airframe is more than capable of handling 600 kgs. So Evektor responded by adding Vortex Generators (VGs - they are the little 'fins' along the top of the wing in the picture) to the wing to reduce the 'clean' stall at 600 kgs to well under the American 42 kts limit. In this way the SportStar 'MAX' was born - so USA customers can legally use the maximum LSA 600 kgs MTOW.

Here comes the twist for Australia - and it's a good one.

The Australian LSA stall speed limits are higher than those in the USA. Why this happened is open to conjecture but was probably due to heavy lobbying from manufacturers whose aircraft could not already meet the USA 'clean' stall speed limits. So in Australia, the MTOW stall limit is 45 kts in landing configuration - ie with flap. This is very good news for us, as the SportStar SL can easily meet this limit - stall at 600 kgs with flap is around 36-38 kts. So we can buy a 600 kgs MTOW LSA SportStar in Australia without the need for VGs on the wings!

The end of the story is that, to keep things simple from a marketing standpoint, Evektor now makes all SportStars as the 'MAX' model - in the USA they have VGs, in Australia we don't need them. But the aircraft and options are otherwise identical.

Simple....?