Overview
CZAW is the FAA type-certificate name for the SportCruiser, a two-seat Light-Sport aircraft built in Kunovice, Czech Republic. The company began as Czech Aircraft Works, reorganised as Czech Sport Aircraft in 2009, and now trades as Cruiser Aircraft. It is best known for the SportCruiser, which it still builds and supports, and which is EASA type-certified in Europe as the PS-28 Cruiser. The company is active and in production.
Heritage
Czech Aircraft Works launched the SportCruiser in the mid-2000s as the US Light-Sport category opened, and early aircraft reached the American market under the CZAW name. After a 2009 reorganisation into Czech Sport Aircraft, the firm narrowed a broader early line, which had included the Mermaid amphibian and the Parrot, to concentrate on the SportCruiser. In 2010 it partnered with Piper Aircraft to sell the design as the PiperSport; that agreement ended in 2011 and the aircraft reverted to the SportCruiser name. Close to 600 SportCruiser and PS-28 airframes have been built.
Design Signature
The company’s signature is a single, well-developed platform: the CZAW SportCruiser, an all-metal, low-wing, Rotax-powered two-seater with a wide bubble-canopy cockpit and modern glass avionics. Rather than chase a wide catalogue, the firm has iterated the SportCruiser airframe across the US S-LSA and the EASA CS-LSA routes, the latter as the type-certified PS-28 Cruiser.
For Owners
The SportCruiser is one of the more widely produced Light-Sport designs, with an active factory in Cruiser Aircraft, a US sales and support presence built up over the PiperSport era, and a large fleet on the used market. Parts and factory backing are current. Owners should confirm a candidate airframe’s Rotax maintenance history, including rubber-replacement intervals and gearbox service, during a pre-buy, as with any 912-powered LSA.
