The use of carbs is not too much of a surprise. The Rotax injection system has been imminent for about 4 years and has still not surfaced. The two surprising things to me are the use of mags, which is crazy as solid state ignition is vastly better, and costs much less to maintain. Secondly, according to the figures on the cess pit site the engine will be burning 23.3lph which is 28% more than the Rotax for the same power.
It will be very interesting to see how the cost of ownership will compare between the Cirrus and the SkyCatcher. The main reasons given in the UK for switching to VLA’s for training is the fuel burn and the “new aircraft” image advantage to new potential pilots. The Fuel burn on this will be the same as a 150!
Rod1