Sport Pilot Talk

New toy! I just acquired this aircraft:



You may already have seen this picture on the cover of various aviation magazines. It was the first TDO in the country, and the dealer's demo aircraft. Now I just have to learn how to fly it. I haven't been taildragger current in years, so I'm pretty much starting from scratch. I've been in South Carolina all week, found a really good tailwheel instructor (Todd Givens, Ace Basin Aviation on KRBW), and will require quite a bit of additional dual before I'm ready to fly it home to PA. Meanwhile, here's the teaser page on my website:

http://avsport.org/acft/tdo.htm

Got to be one of the, if not THE coolest Light Sports on the planet!

Congratulations!

I'm soooo jealous

Very, very nice! Congratulations!

If it is convenient stop by KBUY (Burlington, NC) on your way home. I'd like to meet you in person and check out the new plane!

Congratulations, Paul!
Beautiful airplane.

Dave C wrote:If it is convenient stop by KBUY (Burlington, NC) on your way home. I'd like to meet you in person and check out the new plane!

I'd love to meet you, Dave, but I don't know if it can happen this time. Between a tight training schedule and some weather concerns... but, we'll see. Thanks for the invite. If not now, then maybe next trip.

Very cool. A modern Globe Swift.

Not in the market for a new plane - I still love my Sky Arrow - but if you ever DO decide to sell your new baby, I hope you call me first.

Nice! I'm planning on getting a Bristell NG5, maybe TDO as well. Do tell us how it is from the perspective of a SportStar owner!

Otto wrote:Very cool. A modern Globe Swift.

Exactly! My profile picture on this forum shows me pulling gees in a Globe Swift a couple of years ago.

fatsportpilot wrote: Do tell us how it is from the perspective of a SportStar owner!

A little more difficult to fly - it's very pitch and trim sensitive. I'm still tending to overcontrol it. It's also faster, since they got rid of that draggy nose gear. And, it is much lighter, since this one has the optional carbon fiber fuselage, so better useful load. The cabin is also about 2 inches wider than the already wide SportStar.

fatsportpilot wrote:Nice! I'm planning on getting a Bristell NG5

You'll love it! If you end up buying a new one, please be sure to tell them I sent you. (I hear that present Bristell owners get a referral fee.)

drseti wrote:

fatsportpilot wrote: Do tell us how it is from the perspective of a SportStar owner!

A little more difficult to fly - it's very pitch and trim sensitive. I'm still tending to overcontrol it. It's also faster, since they got rid of that draggy nose gear. And, it is much lighter, since this one has the optional carbon fiber fuselage, so better useful load. The cabin is also about 2 inches wider than the already wide SportStar.

I took a test flight in one with the US distributor and I loved it but I also found it easier to fly for whatever reason (but it was also nose gear not TDO). Seemed more stable and less "squirrelly", and needed less rudder. Landed more gently too. But that only came from the perspective of a 30 minute trial flight and not from an owner. Evektor cabin width is 46" and Bristell is 51". That's a lot more than 2 inches! It was very comfortable with premium Bentley seats. I wish I got more than a half hour to fly in it.

Bristell is already a very fast plane. How much faster is it without the nose gear? Significant enough to be worth the downsides of tail draggers? I know they make you better pilots but the risk of ground looping scares me. I guess it also has better useful load if it's lighter without the nose gear.

Bristell.com says the TDO has a shorter wingspan (26.8 vs 29.95 ft) than the Bristell LSA so is it still LSA class? But I guess they just placard the limitation to make it LSA. Apparently this is called "performance wing" but stall speed still doesn't go above 45.

The so called performance ( shorter ) wing is another option available for Bristell LSA planes.
Bristells with 912 ULS/IS are not particularly faster or slower than your typical “fast” LSA like Flight Design , Sting or Tecnam etc.

Frankly , it would have made for a very nice LSA if it weren’t for a absolutely ridiculous price that is being asked for another mostly metal LSA that doesn’t do anything better than half a dozen other LSAs - what exactly do you get for $ 220k that you cannot get with, say $160k Sling 2 or a Flight Design ?

The taildragger version looks pretty awesome though and I remember it being offered for quite reasonable price so I am surprised it lasted so long on the market - I guess people (including me ) are afraid of taildraggers...