Cirrus LSA ?

[Bill Greenwood]

While cleaning up my stack of magazines, in the Jan. 2009 issue of SPORT AVIATI0N, there is an ad by Cirrus for their new LSA called an SRS. The photo of one flying looks good, but it may be photoshop and not a real airplane in flight.
It is a sleek, nice looking plane, especially compared to some of the boxy high wing designs.
No specs are given, and sadly Cirrus soon announced they were not going to continue production, one problem was the price at around $130,000 I guess.

I'd never buy one with that silly side stick control thing, but otherwise if I was going to buy a junior version of an airplane, it would likely be something that looked good like this, or maybe the Piper Sport.

Does anyone know if any of these were ever built and if they ever flew and how well?

PS as far as cleaning up goes, I have gotten rid of perhaps 150 magazines and you can even see the furniture now, like a real house.

[Matt Gonitzke]

I think it was a development of a European design called the Fk14 Polaris. The Cirrus version did fly- they had one at AirVenture around that timeframe. According to Wikipedia, the Fk14 is still in production.

[Floatsflyer]

Not long after Cirrus entered the LSA market with the SRS, they "suspended" its development. They said suspended rather than cancelled, perhaps thinking they might resume development. It was a nice looking low wing. There was a lot of hype about it around 07-08 and they proudly exhibited it at their long standing large exhibit space just off to the right of the main entrance at Oshkosh. It was yellow and white as I recall and I sat in the prototype. I think it was a clean sheet design or more likely was based on a Polish design. Matt mentions the German FK14 but that supposed deal between them never came to fruition. I don't know if the prototype actually flew before development was halted. The creation of a Cirrus LSA program was nevertheless in answer to compete with Cessna in that market segment.

As to why they quit the LSA market, I only have opinion based on events unraveling at the time:

--The recession was in full swing and Cirrus was having serious financial problems leading to the layoff off of hundreds of employees.
--There were major internal management squabbles and disagreements about Cirrus's direction which eventually led to the break-up of the founding brothers.
--It was taking vital but scarce resources away from their pet VLJ program.

Anyway, Cirrus is back in the LSA biz once again. They have a partnership agreement with Icon to manufacture most of the parts for the A5.

You mention the PiperSport. That was the result of a licensing and branding agreement with Czech Sport Aircraft. The plane was the CSA Sport Cruiser with a Piper nameplate attached and about 55 were sold under the agreement which was cancelled by Piper one year after it began. The Sport Cruiser continues in production by CSA and its U.S. partner Sport Aircraft Works. Owners and LSA reviewers liked it.

The U.S.major certified aircraft manufacturers have not fared well in the LSA market. Being big with a long standing pedigree does not ensure or guarantee success so it appears.

[zaitcev]

Being big is probably a detriment, and so is having a legacy airpline family. Some Euro companies manage, such as Evektor, but they are exceptions.