Czech Sport Aircraft

Czech Sport Aircraft

Industry	Aerospace
Founded	1934
Headquarters	Kunovice, Czech Republic
Products	Kit aircraft
Website	www.czechsportaircraft.com

Czech Sport Aircraft, s.a. (formerly Czech Aircraft Works) is an aeronautics manufacturer based in the Czech Republic.^[1]

The company's aircraft include the amphibious Mermaid, the SportCruiser and the streamlined Parrot.^{[citation needed]}

CZAW manufactured Zenair's Zenith STOL CH701 aircraft under license until the agreement was concluded in December 2006.^[2]

CZAW has 130 employees and ships over 150 aircraft per year. Many of the aircraft fall within new sub-categories of certified aircraft. E.g. the EASA VLA (very light aircraft) rules in Europe and LSA rules in the USA.^{[citation needed]}

History

The company was founded in 1934 as a small workshop in Kunovice, Czechoslovakia for manufacturing gliders. It was absorbed into Avia in 1936. That company had its facilities confiscated by the Luftwaffe after the German invasion of 1938 and was used as a repair and overhaul facility for Junkers and Arado Flugzeugwerke aircraft.^[1]

After the Second World War the company was re-established and manufactured many different aircraft types, including the Let L-200 Morava, Zlín Z 37, and Aero L-29 Delfín. After 1968 the company became part of LET Aircraft, who produced the LET L-13 Blaník glider.^[1]

Today the company has two facilities, the main plant in Kunovice and Way Industry Inc in Slovakia.^[1]

In 2009 the company was acquired by Slavia Capital who terminated distribution contracts with their US distributor Sport Aircraft Works.^{[citation needed]}

In January 2010, the company's SportCruiser aircraft was added to the Piper Aircraft line as the PiperSport under a licencing agreement. The stated plan was that CSA would still produce the aircraft and Piper would market it worldwide, as well as supply parts to customers.^[3] In January 2011, the licensing agreement with Piper was abruptly ended with Piper CEO Geoffrey Berger saying "the company has a different business perspective and approach to the market than Czech Sport Aircraft". The PiperSport distributors then formed a dealer association to ensure the continued sales of the SportCruiser and support of both the SportCruiser and PiperSport in the US. ^[4][5]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Czech Sport Aircraft (2009). "About us - Czech Sport Aircraft Team". http://www.czechsportaircraft.com/about-us/. Retrieved 2009-09-30. 
2. ^ Zenair Ltd and Czech Aircraft Works Terminate License Agreement.
3. ^ Niles, Russ (January 2010). "Piper Unveils PiperSport LSA". http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/PiperUnveilsPiperSportLSA_201878-1.html. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 
4. ^ Niles, Russ (January 2011). "Piper Terminates PiperSport Relationship". AvWeb. http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Piper_TerminatesRelationshipWith_PiperSport_CZASportCruiser_203944-1.html. Retrieved 13 January 2011. 
5. ^ Piper Aircraft (January 2011). "Piper to Terminate PiperSport Distibutor Business Relationship". http://www.piper.com/pages/PipertoTerminatePipersportDistributorBusinessRelationship_01122011.cfm. Retrieved 12 January 2011. 

External links

• Official website