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Super Legend HP: Another Titan Hot Rod

A decade ago, when the FAA and ASTM were dickering over what became the light sport aircraft rule, limitations on weight and performance-but not power-bubbled to the top of the discussion. The airplanes were supposed to be less expensive, light and simple, but the rule didnt say they couldnt have neck-snapping power-to-weight ratios and thus the era of the 180-HP LSA is upon us.

Paul Bertorelli
Verified

A decade ago, when the FAA and ASTM were dickering over what became the light sport aircraft rule, limitations on weight and performance—but not power—bubbled to the top of the discussion. The airplanes were supposed to be less expensive, light and simple, but the rule didn’t say they couldn’t have neck-snapping power-to-weight ratios and thus the era of the 180-HP LSA is upon us.

The latest is the Super Legend HP, which is essentially the Super Legend airframe fitted with Continental’s increasingly popular 180-HP X340 Titan engine, a stroked version of the Lycoming-style O-320 that has proven a mainstay powerplant for 60 years. This engine has found wide acceptance in the experimental market and when CubCrafters jollied it through the ASTM approval process, it became the first such engine of its type to find practical application in LSAs.

Paul Bertorelli

Paul Bertorelli is Aviation Consumer’s Editor at Large. In addition to his valued contributions to Aviation Consumer, his in-depth video productions on sister publication AVweb cover a wide variety of topics that greatly contribute to safety, operation and aircraft ownership. When Paul isn’t writing or filming, he’s out flying his J3 Cub.