Originally Posted by
Shoestring Flyer
The Aero AT3 is another lightweight beast that doesn't stand up well to the rigours of student bashing in training but then again why would it.
The AT3, the Sportcruiser, the Eurostar are all basically >600kg MAUW lightweight aircraft that were/are not designed for this type of role but due to the sales churn greed of the aircraft manufacturers are being pushed into this role.
It never ceases to amaze me that anyone would expect them to be and then does a type bashing saying they are not as sturdy as a C152.. just unbelievable and obviously shows a lack of understanding of the design role of this type of aircraft.
The sportcruiser was never a very good aeroplane - Piper took it on board without properly assessing the airworthiness themselves, and eventually regretted it and dropped their association with it.
The Eurostar is a different beast - at-least in the UK it's had to go through the rigorous microlight airworthiness system which we have in Britain. Whilst it is complained about quite a lot, it does ensure pretty good aeroplanes. A lot of UK microlight schools are using the Eurostar pretty heavily without significant problems.
Is there a problem with the AT3? I've heard community scuttlebut about it not being a very good aeroplane, and the web shows a handful of accident reports which mostly seem to originate in mishandling - is there a real problem with it?
G