The Sparker, a MOSAIC-ready light-sport aircraft (LSA), made its debut at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024.
Designed, engineered, and manufactured by TL-Ultralight in the Czech Republic, the Sparker is distributed in the U.S. by TL North America. It joins other aircraft from TL-Ultralight, including the Sting, Sirius, Stream, and Stream Turbo.
According to company officials, the Sparker’s cockpit is one of the widest in the category and can accommodate pilots as tall as 6 foot 5 inches.
Powered by a Rotax 916iS engine, the two-seater features three Garmin G3X Touch flight displays, with the option for two hideaway info-tables that hold smart phones or tablets, according to company officials.
The Sparker airframe is built with Carbon and Kevlar fibers and features a ballistic parachute recovery system.
For more information: TLSSportAircraft.com
People always complain about price. GA airplanes if maintained correctly will last decades. Let the market get flooded with cheap inferior airplanes and they start crashing with high frequency. The people that complain about the price will always be the first ones to complain about the quality. It cost money to fly.
And THAT is why the RV series of airplanes is SO popular and SO many have been produced! What pilot wouldn’t want a small, good handling little hotrod like this? But when the big price for ‘instant gratification’ shows up … interest fades. At THAT point, MORE usefulness has to become a part of the decision making.
For me — personally — I love the Rotax “modern” engine technology which allows unleaded mogas (where available). So this airplane has that going for it. But price / seat … not so much. Still, I wish them luck in the (hopefully) soon to be revealed new market.
Where’s my electric plane (with usable range – doesn’t gave to be 4 hours, but how about 2?)?
T Boyle is right on!!PP 40 years!
Just what we need… yet another overpriced Kevlar and Carbon slow LSA. I just wish someone would build a fiberglass EXPERIMENTAL with a reasonable price. Knowing the market is key.. and there are A LOT more average people who are pilots that would love to have an affordable aircraft and a family life too.
The cruise speed is supposed to be 150 kt or so. They’re assuming that MOSAIC will remove the 120 kt limit. So, kevlar, carbon and expensive, yes; but slow, not so much.
I agree with you that airplanes are FAR too expensive. On the other hand, there are relatively affordable LSAs out there, and they’re not big sellers, which suggests there aren’t as many of us budget pilots as we thought.
However, it may be a price/value issue. That is, airplanes with Piper Cub-type capability simply aren’t worth $90k, even to budget fliers. There might be much better uptake for 150+kt 4-seat airplanes with decent useful load and range, for under $150k. Clearly, no-one knows how to do that, today. Riveted metal requires too much labor; we’ll never get there with steampunk airframes. Composites are also very labor-intensive, in small production runs, but automated fiber placement or something might help there. Fiberglass is cheaper than carbon fiber, but it’s quite a bit heavier, requiring bigger wings, bigger engines, more fuel and all that vicious circle so I’m not sure how much it would help. It would take something like molded structures with very few parts, lightweight geared engines (like Rotax, but preferably able to burn Jet A), and solutions that take 90% of the labor out of installing the systems. For a start.
Check out Dark Aero. Price not yet known, but it should meet your other needs.
I agree it’s a rich man’s hobby