Avionics
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Additional remarks
This Tomark Viper SD4 is a stunning new aeroplane, fresh off the line in December 2021. However the company is far from new having been involved in large-scale commercial vehicle production for almost 30 years, and now building on the great Czech & Slovakian traditions in aviation.
The Viper SD4 received an EASA Restricted Type Certificate in 2012 and the aircraft has proven to be robust in the primary flight training role. Let’s be clear, the Viper SD4 is here to eat up all the flight training Cessna 150/152/172’s, Tomahawks and other legacy aircraft just hanging on past their prime.
Tomark is using aircraft with over 2,500hrs as demonstrators for in-house training, and the type is especially suitable for rough grass strips unlike many of its competitors.
For the avoidance of doubt, it's an EASA type certified aircraft aimed at PPL(A) flight training.
OM-TOY is the demonstrator aircraft of the exclusive UK & Irish agent and is ready to fly away today for €149,950 (plus Irish VAT if applicable). Given the cost of AvGas in a standard Cessna 172 is roughly €114 per hour, versus just €37 per hour for EN228 Unleaded approved for the Viper SD4 any school who wants to make money and thrive in 2022 must look at its options. A standard legacy Cessna 172 will attract annual maintenance costs in the region of €8,000 - €12,000 per year, but the Viper SD4 will run for a fraction of that. If you took a busy Saturday as a relatable example, the aircraft will bring in €1,680 in 7 hours of flying and burn just €262 of fuel.
Old hands will need about 15 minutes in the aircraft before finally conceding that things have changed in flight training, and changed for the better. Once airborne you cannot say that this aeroplane would be better would a Lycoming engine. The engine note is constant, the engine parameters are colour-coded numbers on the MFD display, and the fact it’s a Rotax-powered aircraft never crosses your mind as the 3-blade propeller is only turning at 2600rpm even at full power.
Quick and instinctive take-offs happen in about 250m on grass, followed by a 900fpm climb at Max Weight and a 100-knot cruise burning 17L per hour. The range at a comfortable 4500rpm is roughly 460nm staying aloft for 5.5hrs with a 30 min reserve.
Quick and instinctive take-offs happen in about 250m on grass, followed by a 900fpm climb at Max Weight and a 100-knot cruise burning 17L per hour. The range at a comfortable 4500rpm is roughly 460nm staying aloft for 5.5hrs with a 30 min reserve.
Pilots can follow highways in the sky depicted as magenta boxes en route, see their Angle of Attack in all phases of flight and marvel at how any deviation from the norm becomes a colour-coded alert. As you would expect the aircraft has 8.33Khz and Mode S equipment fitted.
The safety factor of the GRS 600 Ballistic Parachute and 406Mhz ELT is hard to overstate. As part of the CS-VLA approval process, the Viper has demonstrated spin recovery unlike other aircraft at similar price points. Going flying in a Cessna 172 or PA28 that has been to the moon and back simply doesn’t feel like it’s worth €240 per hour. Going flying in the Viper SD4 feels like you’ve had an experience in something special.
