And good luck putting a CTLS on skis, as owner Pete Burns has done with his Champ If operating costs alone are considered, light sport airplanes look attractive against both legacy airplanes and definitely any new standard-category aircraft.ĬOMPARED TO WHAT? The venerable Aeronca 7AC Champ, is the hands-down best value in legacy LSA’s. So, are LSAs cheaper to own than equivalent legacy airplanes? The answer depends on how you crunch the numbers, but if investment costs are tallied, the answer is no. But only relative to new, standard-category airplanes and not compared to any of dozens of legacy two- and four-place airframes with similar or greater capability.
Light sport airplanes were supposed to be simpler to build and certify-they are-and although the original design brief didn’t specifically say so, it was assumed they would be cheaper to buy. Two decades later, has the experiment paid off? When the light sport aircraft idea first broke ground 20 years ago, the idea was a new class of airplanes bridging between so-called “fat ultralights” and standard-category airplanes whose inflated prices made them unaffordable save for the wealthy few. 'Amazing overall eat cruise and very roomy. South African owner Kai Neckel's Flight Design CTSW.
