Is Piper Done With LSA?

In a surprising announcement today, Piper issued a press release stating that they are terminating their relationship with Czech Sport Aircraft to market the PiperSport Light Sport Aircraft after only a year of production.

Piper CEO Geoffrey Berger said “We at Piper have a close affinity with this emerging segment of the marketplace and we have great expectations for the LSA industry. The LSA we were distributing is a good one and we encourage aviation enthusiasts to continue their support of this segment of the market.” The phrasing in the second sentence leads the reader to believe that Piper may be out of the LSA game completely, but there is no formal indication of that fact.

Piper stated on Facebook that “Because of the circumstances, we won’t have much more to say here formally, but will keep you up to date on transitional issues.”

If you are an owner of a PiperSport SLSA airplane, your service warranty is still valid according to another Piper quote from Facebook, “warranty/parts support for the PiperSport has always been directly through CSA, and that will continue.”