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Thank you Dave and Dave! I thought it was my browser. Was thrilled to check in and see the familiar icons and this thread. Much appreciated!

Shawn, as usual, is correct. N85PB is airframe 08SC115, which was previously registered as N797BS. It was involved in an off field landing in Casa Grande, Arizona in 2009. (https://www.planecrashmap.com/plane/az/N797BS/) Apparently the canopy was not locked down and an emergency off field landing was made near the wind sock where the left wing struck a scrub tree and partially separated the wing and broke the canopy glass.

Hi Jose, Welcome to the forum! I'm not sure what "problems" the first gen Sportcruisers (or pre-2010 CZAW Sportcruisers) have? I know that they are lighter (more useful load) and have some winglet and elevator differences versus newer Sportcruisers (2010 and up.) The older Sportcruisers also had the 1st generation nose gear, but if the owner followed the Service Bulletins, that should have been replaced with a 3rd generation nose gear. Other than a few issues trying to comply with factory Service Bulletins (due to minor differences in construction), the early Sportcruisers are awesome. Even more so if converted to E-LSA. As for the aircraft you're looking at, here's my thoughts, but there are more knowledgeable and eagle-eyed members here that can probably see other things I may have missed: N85PB: Looks like a nice aircraft. Very low hours. Not sure if the 496 is original, or if a 396 should have been in the panel. BRS needs to be repacked every 6 years, so it will be due this year (if not already.) Do not see a Garmin GTX-335 (which factory issued as a Service Bulletin for ADS-B compliance). N636SC: Nice looking plane, but not sure if one of the gauges was changed in the passenger panel with an un-authorized gauge. Older transponder as well. Same advisory as above about the BRS repack (should have been done last year on a 2007 aircraft) and ADS-b compliance. Custom leather interior likely performed without an LOA. N999VS: Already E-LSA, so that's nice. Pretty sure it's been repainted, but looks good. TruTrak EFIS is no longer made or supported, but is functional. 2nd gen nose gear should be updated. ADS-B compliance will be needed if you fly in Mode-C airspace. N413PS: Piper Sport - so newer generation plane. Looks like a nice plane. Engine is at half time. Good that it just completed an annual, but you may want to check logbooks. I don't think the 796 is original and believe the 696 was the original GPS. Not sure, but it looks like it's at KSFF (Spokane, Washington) and not Puerto Rico (otherwise getting it here might be a challenge...)

Hi Sue, welcome! I hope you are doing well and not affected by the fires or the smoke in NorCal. This is an awesome forum to find out more about the Sportcruiser, and the forum members are very helpful. Please ask any questions you may have! I'm in SoCal, but we have a few members in the Northern California region. But will definitely drop a line to say "hello" if flying up that way, or if we ever arrange a West Coast get together (whether a fly-in at a restaurant, or at one of the various aircraft shows).

Dave, thank you for pushing on the forum software team to get the changes made. Hopefully we won't need to resurrect any topics after 12 years!

I logged this is AM and it was the old look. Just logged in now and got the new look! Liking it, and very much appreciate all the hard work to keep this forum going, Dave! 😁

Outstanding - good to try and fly aircraft before you buy. But Shawn summed it up very well... early (CZAW) built aircraft are a little different than the 2010+ Sportcruisers. Main thing is weight. I have an early 2008 Sportcruiser without the parachute, but I have a good amount of useful load. I'm based out of KFUL. I'll drop you a line if I ever get out to KGEU. Summer and Monsoon season isn't the time to fly cross country to Arizona, but I may try to do it over the winter. Or in February for the Copper State Fly-In (https://www.copperstate.org)

Welcome to the forum! You'll learn LOTS about the Sportcruiser here. I too trained in a Remos GX. Pretty docile plane and a good training platform. I enjoyed flying it, but the Sportcruiser is just more fun in my opinion. And it certainly has better endurance (carries more fuel) and has much more useful baggage compartment (but make sure you check the Service Bulletin on revised W&B) That discovery flight will be a deal clincher. Well, maybe sitting in one was the deal clincher. But most certainly flying one will be. I loved how responsive the Sportcruiser was over the Remos, and how it more effortlessly got up to cruise speed. If I can ask, where are you based? It is not usual to find several LSA on a field for training, at least on the West Coast.

Outstanding!!! Considering there's about 600 Sportcruisers, we've got (hopefully) most of the owners on this forum! Way to go!

There is a trick to resizing images for iPhone, and it's free. Here's a link on how to do that: https://macmost.com/how-to-resize-photos-with-a-shortcut-on-your-iphone-or-ipad.html I too ran into a limit, so I deleted my large images by going to each post I made that had an image. That gave me some breathing room. I then setup this shortcut to "Resize Image" as part of my shortcuts. It puts the resized image into a folder on iCloud Drive (where I wanted to put it, you can pick where you put yours) and that made resizing and uploading photos much easier to the forum.

It was about 87 degrees at KFUL when I shot this video of a warm start on my plane (aka, "Maria") 🙂 I had performed the service bulletin (SB-SC-072) and, after a month of sitting, I took my time to warm her up before doing the mag check on the ignition switch (more of that in the appropriate thread.) As mentioned before, the new battery allows me to play with the avionics for 10+ minutes and won't cause the battery tender to go into "charge" mode like my old battery did. I noticed that the cold start of the 912 ULS seemed a little more energetic. But for sure the hot start (restart) works better as the engine starts up more quickly than before.

What noise does a guinea pig make? Not oink oink 🐷 obviously... but I guess I'll be the test subject for the group. 🐹 LOL. I swung by the hangar to check on the battery and the lighting (more on that in the Trail Tech thread.) With my old battery, if I turned on the EMS and avionics (EFIS, GPS, radio), the battery tender would go to yellow to begin topping off the battery. With the Full Throttle, I not only had the EMS and Avionics on, but turned on the wing light and landing light and had it one for a few minutes while I snapped some pictures. When I turned off the master switch, I was pleasantly surprised to the battery tender still showing a green reading. The Full Throttle Battery does indeed use 99.994% pure virgin lead plates.

I received the Full Throttle FT230 battery quickly from Battery Pete. I was pleased to see that the battery comes with bolts to thread into the teminals. Overall, the dimensions are close, but I noticed that the height of the battery was a little short and would allow the battery to slide up and down insde its mount during turbulence I ended-up cutting a strip of silicone from a sheet I had and sandwhich that between the lower battery mount (and on top of the cork that was there) and the top mount. This secures the battery nicely. I am thinking of cutting the silicone sheet to fit the top of the battery and use plastic zip-ties to hold it in place. This would be to protect the terminals from accidental contact. No start-up or flight time with the new battery as I put it on the trickle charger/battery maintainer to charge up fully. Updates in the near future. While I was in there and the battery was disconnected, I also started on SB-SC-072 and installed the diode on the starter solenoid. This required getting a little innovative to hold the nylock nut while using a 10mm socket and long extension from inside the cockpit to loosen and tighten. Good thing to keep that duct tape around! 😂 I'll work on the ignition switch itself this coming (long) weekend.

Ooof! Really?!? I thought 5 years would be the norm! I didn't realize our batteries required that frequent replacement! While my battery is working now, the fact that it's voltage is 11.7 volts while on a battery tender is concerning. I'd rather err on the side of safety than find out that on final, my lights and other items down power-up. I called Full River Batteries and they advised that the FT230L has the positive terminal on the left side rather than the common right side configuration. They don't stock many of those FT230L which is fine... I think we need the positive terminal on the right anyway. I ordered a battery online from BatteryPete dot com and they had free shipping. Will provide an update when it's installed!

Reviving yet another older thread... I sat in my plane yesterday checking some settings on the TruTrak Vizion autopilot (more on that in that thread.) As I turned on my EMS, I noticed that the voltage displaying as 11.7 volts. This is with the plane on a battery tender all week long. With the EMS, EFIS and Autopilot on, the voltage dropped to 11.3 volts while still hooked-up to the battery tender. I think my battery is on its way out. It is about 3 - 4 years old, and has suffered through long periods without being hooked-up to a battery tender in a hot Florida hangar while it was being serviced. I was looking at the available options and the strong reviews for the Odyssey PC680 battery. But then I came up on the Full Throttle FT230 battery (made by Full River Batteries. https://www.fullriverbattery.com/product/ft230/) It is the same dimensions as the Odyssey PC680, and same weight, but produces 230 cold cranking amps (vs 170 cca for the Odyssey.) On the interwebs, there's one review out of the UK where an aviator with a Rotax used this battery to start-up his aircraft in -3 Celsius (27 degree Fahrenheit) weather where other batteries failed to reliably do so. I'll check into this a bit more as the HQ for Full River Batteries is out here on the West Coast (Camarillo) and I'll give them a call later today.

Marshall, ditto from me! Congratulations on your son's success! HUGE achievement to attend Harvard! Kudos to him, and to you and your wife! Right, wrong, or indifferent, my son fits in the Sportcruiser far better than I do! Despite his height advantage, he gets his mom's Ukrainian genes for long arms and legs and he sits just fine in the cockpit. Me on the other hand... I just tried out a set of refreshed Bose X headsets that came with my plane. They work quite well (more on that in another thread), but I had to scrunch down in the seat a bit to not have my head contact the curved canopy, and still have about 1" clearance above my head. If I continue to use them, I'd want to put something soft on them to prevent damage/scratching to the canopy. Having said that, I agree with MikeOmaha... I too get a lot of compliments on the ramp, and I really enjoy flying the plane. I just took it up over the weekend and it was all sorts of fun to perform "vertical social distancing" 😜

Hi Marshall, LOL - well, actually one Rotax 912 ULS (about $18,800) and the $22K would cover the cost to have it installed and maybe do a rubber replacement. https://www.leadingedgeairfoils.com/rotax-engines-parts/new-rotax-engines/rotax-912uls-engine.html Yeah, F-cars have expensive maintenance. I've had two. Engine-out maintenance is expensive and required if you want to keep its provenance (and value). But the chassis tuning is exquisite. Lots of great aircraft coming out of Europe. The Czechs have a history with aircraft manufacturing and technology, so I think they do a pretty darned nice job. The Rotax engine is well proven and reliable, and it is quite fuel efficient. Looking forward to a PIREP on your thoughts and experiences with the Rotax!

Welcome BevanAir! That VL3 does appear quite handsome! I don't have any experience with it as it's not really Light Sport Aircraft (not with retractable gear and in-flight adjustable prop). The specs are impressive, however. It does seem the Czechs know how to design a plane! I am surprised that the DA40 didn't work out for you. I would imagine, given the weight, the VL3 would also be very susceptible to turbulence. I know almost all light sport aircraft get moved around in turbulence a greater degree more than it's heavier general aviation counterparts. I can tell you that I've flown my Sportcruiser through some turbulence that threw me up into the canopy... twice, and within 10 minutes of each other! Let us know how what you find out regarding the VL3. It's quite intriguing, and the price points are attractive too!

Hi Marshall! Beautiful 456 you've got there! FWIW, my 13 year old son is approaching 6'2" and has long arms and legs (he gets all the good genes from his mother!) and he fits comfortably in the Sportcruiser. Me, on the other hand, I'm 5'10" and have a long torso, so I'm the "tallest guy sitting." I fit in the cockpit fine, though my head is closer to the canopy with about 2 inches to spare. I don't think room will be a problem in a Sportcruiser. It actually feels pretty spacious compared to other LSA I"ve been in. As Shawn and Velocity stated, the Rotax is rated to 1,500 or 2,000 hours for Time Between Overhaul (TBO.) The extension of the 1,500 hour engines (early build) is about $40 in parts (oil pressure plug screw and spring). Rotax made a durable engine, and as Shawn stated, you can fly these engines "on condition." I believe that training in these aircraft require a flight school to adhere to TBO, but as an owner, you can fly "on condition." The Rotax has performed well beyond 3,000 hours with some owners. Welcome aboard! Bob

Many thanks for all that you do to keep this forum going, Dave! It truly is much appreciated! 🙂👍🏻

Congratulations Bruce! Beautiful bird you got! And thanks for the great write-up on the cross country trip! Looking forward to reading more about your flights around sunny and flight-friendly Florida! 👍🏻🙂

Here here, Dave! Agreed that we have a fabulous forum of individuals, and we should respect each other's opinions. And many thanks to all the knowledgeable people on this forum. Without all of you, I'd be in a world of hurt looking for parts, maintenance, and information about the Sportcruiser that isn't consolidated or easily found elsewhere.

Dave, what do you mean? On the internet, I see all sorts of T-shirts and mugs suggesting that Pilots are trustworthy, so it must be true! Look for yourself! 😜😂

Happy Holidays, everyone! 😁🌲🎁🎉🎊

Welcome Uropilot! Congratulations on your Piper Sport! Tell us more about you and your new plane!