LSA Trial Flights

Mark Barnett - DDAC Director • September 28, 2020

Slinging into action!

For a couple of decades I enjoyed the opportunity to fly fast jets as a pilot in the Royal Air Force. Including test flying various new fighter aircraft. But that was a long time ago. I no longer have the opportunity to burn a tonne of kerosene a minute at Her Majesty’s expense and I’ve slowed down a LOT! My current aviation joy is a 100 knot, 115 horsepower Victa Airtourer. An ideal little, all-metal, vaguely aerobatic, two-seat trainer, the Airtourer is sadly no longer manufactured, so when assessing the current crop of trainers it wasn’t an option!

The parameters were simple – DDAC is a progressive organisation, so its new trainer needed to be RAAus compatible, easy-to-fly, reliable due to the encroachment of suburbia on our ’field, preferably all-metal, with good range, excellent build quality and most importantly, the durability to put up with the day-to-day rigours of bashing the circuit in Toowomba’s notoriously gusty, bumpy conditions.

Several candidates are on the market and we looked at a few of them – different Tecnams, the Brumby, Aero Bristell and the Sling 2. After discounting the Brumby due to the fact there are hardly any of them out there and the Bristell due to ongoing issues with CASA, it came down to either the Tecnam P96 and Astore/2002 or the Sling 2. With regards to the Sling 2, we flew two different aircraft, one with a carburetted and one with a fuel-injected 912ULS Rotax engine, one in RAAus and and one in VH- configuration. These flights were not just any test, every pilot was required to fill out an extensive test form which enabled them to highlight every good point, every bad point, and everything in between.

So, what won? It was an easy choice for us, unanimously the Sling 2. It’s a delightful aircraft to fly, with good control response, fantastic visibility from the cockpit, an excellent climb rate for a 100 horsepower aircraft and a massive 150L fuel capacity. With its average fuel burn of 18 litres per hour from that ultra-reliable, twin carburettor Rotax, this little beast goes a long, long way cruising at a comfortable 110-115 knots – it’s just as well it’s comfortable, has excellent ergonomics and is fitted with a great set of Garmin glass instrumentation in its well laid out instrument panel. It’s also great to fly in the training area and the circuit, coping well with lumps and bumps, cross winds and clumsiness – I’m a fan, so much so I recommended the club buy one – as did every other pilot invited to test fly it. So, DDAC did, and it’s almost here!

Mark Barnett - DDAC Director
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