What can you all tell me about this plane? I have a friend that is going Light Sport and there's one for sale on Barnstormers with an O-200. He's been slow shopping for one with some horsepower behind it due to where we live. From what I gather this plane would do okay...it's no Super Sport Cub though...but neither is the price tag.

My Avid is an earlier version of the MKIV. It has the same wing. An O-200 is pretty heavy for one though and probably has some ballast in the tail unless it's been stretched. They were built to be a STOL airplane and when built light they really perform. I looked at the one on Barnstormers. It looks to be pretty nice. Price is a little steep.. the ones with 582's are only going for 10-14K right now. An O-200 should not add 10grand to the price. My biggest question to the seller would be what the empty weight is. Gross weight varied on them but should be in the ball park of 1050.

AvidFlyer wrote:My Avid is an earlier version of the MKIV. It has the same wing. An O-200 is pretty heavy for one though and probably has some ballast in the tail unless it's been stretched. They were built to be a STOL airplane and when built light they really perform. I looked at the one on Barnstormers. It looks to be pretty nice. Price is a little steep.. the ones with 582's are only going for 10-14K right now. An O-200 should not add 10grand to the price. My biggest question to the seller would be what the empty weight is. Gross weight varied on them but should be in the ball park of 1050.

Thanks. The issue my buddy has is horsepower at this altitude, he wants to have plenty in the LSA he ends up with. He wants that new Super Sport Cub but they are way out of his price range.

What's his price range you think?

emflys wrote:What's his price range you think?

Right in that area of $25k or less. We've even chatted about us partnering on one as we both want the same thing basically..taildragger for backcountry fun. The roadblocks are that he requires LSA and it seems most of the LSAs on the cheaper end don't have the power to work that great at 7k MSL.

My old S7 MIGHT be for sale from the current owner in WY. Not sure. But I think it would go for $50K or so. PM if you want me to look into it. I think he said he would sell this summer.

Avid, what's the ceiling of yours? It doesn't take much to get density altitude around 10,000ft+ field elevation around here.

Nice plane by the way.

Pic.

emflys wrote:My old S7 MIGHT be for sale from the current owner in WY. Not sure. But I think it would go for $50K or so. PM if you want me to look into it. I think he said he would sell this summer.

Well about the only way that might work is if I give up on getting my own plane and partner with him...oh and that I don't have enough cash to split that yet.

He liked the idea of this Avid because from what we understand it's wings fold and he could keep it in his barn and take off and land on his dirt road. Plus he has a trailer that would fit the plane as well to take it other places if needed. And it has a bigger engine. He just didn't know much about the plane and I'm pretty stupid when it comes to LSAs.

Tadpole said:

He just didn't know much about the plane and I'm pretty stupid when it comes to LSAs.

The key is does the airplane meet the definition of an LSA? It must for him to fly it under Sport Pilot rules. Here's one place to start http://www.flysportusa.com/lsa1.html

You will get confused in a hurry if you get involved in an internet discussion of what an aircraft must be to be flown under sport pilot rules.

tcj wrote:Tadpole said:

He just didn't know much about the plane and I'm pretty stupid when it comes to LSAs.

The key is does the airplane meet the definition of an LSA? It must for him to fly it under Sport Pilot rules. Here's one place to start http://www.flysportusa.com/lsa1.html

You will get confused in a hurry if you get involved in an internet discussion of what an aircraft must be to be flown under sport pilot rules.

Ya that's why I'm not trying to...and why I'm letting him figure it all out. He's the one that needs LSA, not me...yet. I still intend to buy my own certificated airplane, I'm not super interested in any partnership. Like I said in the beginning, he's just basically window shopping and came across this 100hp Heavy Hauler and asked me what I knew about them. I said nothing, but that I know where to ask!

If you could find an Avid with a run-out engine, put a Rotax 914 in it. That's 115 hp with a turbo. It'l fly like mad at 10K. The 115 hp 914 would weigh less than the light sport 200. I haven't seen prices on the 914, lately, but it should be in the 25K range.

tom

Tadpole an Avid with a 100HP 912S would fly circles around one with an O-200 simply because of the weight issue. A Kitfox model IV is basically the same airplane. There are 4 or 5 really nice ones with 912's on Barnstormers right now in that price range. On these little light sport airplanes horsepower is nice but only if you can keep them light. I can't stress enough how much 100 extra pounds will kill a little plane that only weighs 600lbs empty. While it makes a big difference in all planes my little plane is TWO distinctly different animals when the tanks are full vs empty simply because it's heavier. You asked about ceiling... During my Phase I testing I took mine from 120ft msl to 10,000ft at near gross weight in 26 minutes. I was still climbing at 3-400fpm at 10K. I don't have a mixture control on mine and it was running slobbering rich and not putting out near max power. I suspect it would get up to 12-14K and I just have the little 582cc 65hp two stroke. My bird only weighs 533 empty though.

Tom a new Rotax 914 costs as much he's looking to spend on the entire plane..only downfall to the Rotax series they are outragously expensive!!

Thanks for the info guys, I'll pass it on to him.

I did notice his budget would pretty well be wiped out by the 914, but at 10K, the 914 still has over 100 hp, and over 90 at 15K. Wouldn't that make a sweet high altitude flyer? Oh well, a guy can dream.
tom