Rotrax 915iS, Massive Fowler Flaps, and Leading Edge Slats Make This A STOL Beast

During Jim Campbell’s recent escape to the MidWest LSA Expo, he managed to con SportAirUSA’s Bill Canino into a quick eval flight to get a feel for the Zlin Savage Norden STOL bird. 

While not the time or the place for a full-fledged flight test, the 35 minute flight turned out to be an exceptional event. Obviously; the beast is meant to be a STOL contender, up against the Carbon Cubs and Legends that have gone before. 

Powered by a Rotax 915iS, the bird offers spiffy performance due to nearly 150HP under the cowl, but the real news comes from the aerodynamic refinements lavished on the ZSN. Electrically operated leading edge slats and a massive set of fowler flaps are accompanied by beefy ailerons that are not treated like a poor step-child -- offering lots of response with a surprisingly low workload.

The aircraft boasts excellent overall control profiles with exceptional linearity in response rates and pressures, and a VERY manageable set of behaviors when put into a fully STOL configuration, everything hanging in the breeze and flitting along, quite controllably, at speeds in the 30s. 

The fit and finish are quite good, maybe not in the Carbon Cub category, but at a considerable difference in cost of acquisition -- about half... no kidding. 

The overall impression is a very good one and we look forward to a more aggressive flight test ASAP. If you’re a STOL fanatic, this bird deserves a very close look -- and yes... it was a ball to fly. Much more info to come.

FMI: https://sportair.aero/