Effect of Czech Sport Aircraft Bankruptcy on Support for US SportCruiser SLSAs

[Siddhartha]

I'm thinking about buying a used Czech Sport Cruiser but am concerned about the effect of the bankruptcy of Czech Sport Aircraft (CSA) as it relates to factory support, as I'm not sure if there is any remaining US support. I've heard from some that the solution is to convert to E-LSA, but what about obtaining certain parts that normally one can only get from the factory? With the size of the worldwide fleet of CSA aircraft, I would think that someone would be interested in buying the company and keeping it going. I imagine in the interim that some airframe components could be made by an A&P in the field or a specialty aviation aftermarket parts manufacturer, but it seems to me that there are a number of parts that only the factory would be set up to make economically (e.g., with the use of special tooling, jigs, etc). And if aftermarket, who would certify the parts? I don't know if the factory is even operating these days. Perhaps this is a non-issue? After all, there are a lot of light aircraft orphaned from their former manufacturers. I'd just like to have a better idea of what I might be getting into. Thanks.

[Warmi]

Based on various posts from ShawnM ( probably most active SportCruiser owner on this forum ) SportCruiser LSA is a disaster of a plane to own - a seemingly endless stream of expensive service bulletins, owners being unable to obtain LOAs for anything ..factory support highly depend on when the plane was manufactured ...and now being a potential orphan...

Now ...if I really wanted to own a SportCruiser I would just go with ELSA and be done with it - chances are you will never need SportCruiser specific parts that cannot be sourced from places like Aircraft Spruce or a good metal shop.

[ShawnM]

Based on various posts from ShawnM ( probably most active SportCruiser owner on this forum ) SportCruiser LSA is a disaster of a plane to own - a seemingly endless stream of expensive service bulletins, owners being unable to obtain LOAs for anything ..factory support highly depend on when the plane was manufactured ...and now being a potential orphan...

Now ...if I really wanted to own a SportCruiser I would just go with ELSA and be done with it - chances are you will never need SportCruiser specific parts that cannot be sourced from places like Aircraft Spruce or a good metal shop.

Well almost, it's not a disaster of a plane to own at all, if you convert to E-LSA. I LOVE my SportCruiser. The factory, now they are a disaster. Don't expect any support from them at all.

I do own a legacy 2007 SportCruiser and LOVE the plane, perhaps I mentioned this already. I did convert to E-LSA several years ago to separate my plane from the gross incompetency of the factory. The factory is now in bankruptcy again and who knows the outcome. Will I miss them, absolutely not. They changed their name slightly last year to hide from creditors. There's no "company" to buy, I was told by another aircraft manufacturer on the same air field that they own nothing but the jigs and if any intellectual property to build SportCruisers. They lease everything else including the building they are in and have no real assets per se', other than intellectual property.

For me, buying a used SportCruiser would be great. I love the plane and it's a joy to fly. I get complements on the plane everywhere I go. First thing you'd do is go E-LSA as Warmi stated. I'm a "hands-on" kind of guy and and also have my LSRI certification for my SportCruiser. This means I can do my own annual condition inspections along with all the other maintenance and upgrades I want to, keep in mind it must still comply with LSA guidelines. This makes owning my SportCruiser VERY economical compared to a S-LSA. This may not be for everyone as I'm sure there are owners who can't/won't change their own oil. Your mileage may vary.

As for parts, it's an aluminum plane so there's no part on it I couldn't make or have made if the need arises. I am not even concerned about parts if the factory went belly up. The canopy and composite, main landing gear would be of concern to most but I have another source for both if I ever need them. As for making parts "economically" you ask, you do remember this is an airplane, right? But yes, parts can be made economically, also not an issue. You asked, "who would certify" any aftermarket part, no one because this is not a certified aircraft, it's an LSA, remember?

After this most recent bankruptcy the factory closed the sales and parts office in Sebastian Florida and moved only the parts sales to Bountiful Utah. I do not know of any "new" SportCruisers for sale or if they are making more at this time. They partnered with a flight school, FLT Academy, in Utah who has a large fleet of SportCruisers for training and they break them, often. So this partnership with the flight school there is more of a win for the flight school. You can order parts through them but you better check the lead time on that part as it could be a while.

I see your concerns as a non issue but only you can make that decision for yourself as you know the limits of your comfort zone. There are many other orphaned LSAs still flying today.

Come check out http://www.scflier.com if you want to know more about the plane.

[Warmi]

I know you love your SportCruiser and I don’t blame you ... clearly , with it being so popular , there is nothing wrong with the plane itself and it is one of the best looking planes out there for sure.

When I was originally looking for a plane for me, I did not go with a SportCruiser for reasons unrelated to support but back then I had no idea about all these factory/support issues outlined in my original post- this is the kind of “backstory” you can only learn from other owners so I do think indeed that with airing all of your “dirty laundry” related to ownership of this plane, you are doing valuable service to other potential owners.

[Siddhartha]

Thanks so much for your replies to my post Warmi and ShawnM. My specific concern with the aircraft that I'm looking at is that the owner said that he hasn't kept up with the factory Service Bulletins (SBs). My broader concern about this aircraft in general is that if the factory is no longer a going concern, who is going to generate future SBs and Safety Alerts (SAs) for the fleet? Right now there are a bunch at https://cruiseraircraft.cz/tech-publications/?tp=1.

[ShawnM]

When I bought my plane in 2013 I didn't know these things either, not a clue. This is my first aircraft and I was blinded by the looks and style of the SportCruiser and didn't bother to dig much deeper. I found one within my budget and I just wanted it. I just didn't know that much about online forums and the SportCruiser forum we have today wasn't even online in 2013. I joined that site a year later in 2014. Hindsight being 20/20 I would have still bought the plane but went the E-LSA route on day one. This would have saved me from beating my head against the wall so often.

It is good to get the "backstory" from owners of various aircraft, good, bad or indifferent. I like hearing from the SkyCatcher owners who are orphaned. They also seem to love their planes. This information does have value for sure. I've said it a hundred times, I LOVE my plane and hate the factory.

Back to the OP's topic question, this bankruptcy/restructure and the lack of stability in the company will for sure effect S-LSA owners. I am now hearing of long delays for parts. There was a very steep decline in new sales from 2015 to 2019 year after year and we haven't seen the numbers for 2020 yet but I can only imagine they are down even more given they filed for bankruptcy. This bankruptcy was in the works before COVID so they can't blame it on COVID. They started restructure (company name change) in February of 2020 and filed in June of 2020 so the writing was on the wall months before. Again, I'm certainly not shedding any tears for them, they have no one to blame but themselves.

As for the current SB's, not all SB's effect every aircraft. You have to go through them one by one and see which ones effect the plane in question. There are only a couple that are expensive but it's labor that makes them expensive. There's one that consists of about $4 in parts (hardware) and about $2000 in labor. There are 2 like this that I know of. Of course it's different for E-LSA owners. Going forward, it's anyone guess what will happen.