Howdy from TreasureCoast of Florida

[FabricGATOR]

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am Kurt and I am in Stuart, Florida, "The Sailfish Capitol of the World" or so they say...

I am an A&P and a Rotax iRMT. I am looking at a Piper Sport Cruser in the WPB area.

I am curious how I am going to be able to maintain the S-LSA certificate, that is a concern. Being an A&P, I can 'fix my own' but what about the availability of acceptable parts?

I look forward to reading about these aircraft and discussing these maintenance issue with you all. 

Cheers!

[Kevin]

Welcome to the forum Kurt. There are a lot of very helpful folks on here. I haven’t been in the LSA community but a couple of years now but from everything I see parts for the Sportcruiser can be difficult in the US. Mine is E-LSA and I’m sure you will get told to go that route.

Again, Welcome, best of luck, and keep us updated.

[ShawnM]

Hi Kurt and welcome to the forum. I’m over in Clearwater, home of the best beaches in the US, or so they say. 

Are you looking at a PiperSport or a SportCruiser in West Palm? I ask because the PiperSport is going to be a 2010 only and the SportCruiser could be as new as a 2019. I can possibly see why you’d want to keep a newer SportCruiser S-LSA as maybe you want to keep it and use it for flight instruction. If it’s a 2010 PiperSport then you will definitely want to convert it to experimental to be able to make some needed upgrades. Every piece of avionics in that airplane has been discontinued and you’d be better off as E-LSA for those upgrades.

As for parts for either of the airplanes, you could be waiting many, many months, if not years for crucial parts if you order from the factory. I’m not trying to scare you away from the airplane because it’s an amazing airplane rather just letting you know the hard truth about the factory and parts orders. It’s been extremely difficult over the last few years getting any response or parts from the factory for this airplane. I’m also a member of the European SportCruiser forum and they are having a difficult time just getting email responses from the factory, how hard do you think it’ll be getting parts?  The dealer here in the US will tell you they can get parts but how long will you have to wait?

All that said, the aircraft rarely needs factory specific parts. Anything for the engine you can get right here in Florida at Lockwood. As you know, it’s an all metal airplane and with your skill set there’s nothing on it you couldn’t fix/repair. There are procedures in the maintenance manual for making repairs.

I’ve owned my 2007 SportCruiser going on 11 years now and have not ever needed a factory specific part. I converted to E-LSA maybe 5 years ago to be able to make my SportCruiser safer and easier to fly. It was the best thing I did. You’ll have some people tell you that it will decrease the value but those people are dead wrong.

Good luck with your decision and if you need any more info about the SportCruiser it’s all here on the forum. We have a great bunch of guys on here with an abundance of knowledge to help answer any question you might have about it. The last thing I’ll say is if you decide to buy one have it looked over by someone who is familiar with the SportCruiser. And of course don’t let the seller recommend someone to do the pre-purchase inspection.  There have been some critical service bulletins over the years that you need to know about and other details to look out for. If you buy it right and cheap enough then none of those really matter as you’ll have money left in the bank to do those service bulletins as some of them are rather pricey. Again, good luck in your search.

[ShawnM]

Hi Kurt,  I was hoping to get a response from you on the plane you were looking at. I did some poking around for PiperSports for sale in West Palm. I like to know what's for sale in and around Florida to help stay on top of the market and current prices.

If you are looking at N458S for sale in West Palm by Scott MacDonald Aircraft Sales that's not a 2009 PiperSport. It's a 2009 SportCruiser. There's no such thing as a "2009" PiperSport as the only PiperSport aircraft are 2010 aircrafts. The fact that it's being marketed as a PiperSport is not accurate if this matters to you. The owner may be trying to inflate the market value of this plane with some cheap vinyl decals. Or maybe he's a poser.

I have first hand knowledge of this airplane as I personally flew this "SportCruiser" when I lived in Orlando when they were doing demo flights with it in Florida. Look at the FAA registry, it's even listed there as a "SportCruiser" with a 2009 serial number. 

Here's a pic of me in the pilots seat flying this "SportCruiser" in October of 2009 when it was new out of KISM airport. There are no "PiperSport" decals on it.....because it's not a PiperSport.

If this is the plane you are looking at PLEASE do you due diligence and inspect EVERY tiny detail on this plane. If you are not that familiar with the SportCruiser please find someone who is to look at it with you. It was a demo aircraft and it has nearly 3000 hours on it. She's got to be tired.  

Lastly, it's still a S-LSA aircraft and it's being listed with a Uavionix Echo UAT device for ADS-B out. This is not an approved device by the aircraft manufacturer and there is no LOA for this ADS-B box to be installed in this aircraft. There never will be so "legally" that installation voided the airworthiness certificate for this SportCruiser. Whoever signed off on the install and subsequent annual condition inspections doesn't know LSA aircraft and has no business doing condition inspections on LSA aircraft.

Buyer beware.