Originally Posted by
Jan Olieslagers
Sorry for side-stepping. But I am intrigued (sp?) that the C42 is so omnipresent in UK. It is only one of several very similar machines, yet the others seem to be scarcely present. Examples: the French Guepard, Eurofox from Slovakia, Italian Tecnam P92 (though I found this latter one rather unpleasant to fly, it felt like a truck), and the much copied Zenith C701. Has the C42 good support, perhaps, from an active importer/distributor?
The C42 was one of the first 450kg microlights to be approved in the UK for training, and along with the other aeroplane very much in that space - the EV97 Eurostar, rather captured the market when the UK manufacturers failed to exploit the new rules in the late 90s quickly and well. C42 now has excellent product support from The Light Aeroplane Company, alongside their own British designed aeroplanes. The Zenair family are approved in the UK, but not for training (the difference is mainly about the manufacturing approvals rather than the aeroplane itself). The Eurofox is also approved, and can be used for training, but it came along many years after the C42 so missed its opportunity to capture the market. So far as I know, nobody has ever tried to get the Guepard approved in the UK.
G