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News & Media New ultimate: Extra 330SX debuts

New ultimate: Extra 330SX debuts

Successor to a perennial winner

July 7, 2023 By Dave Hirschman

The single-seat Extra 330SC has dominated international aerobatic competition for more than a decade, and now Extra Aircraft has introduced a successor: the 330SX.

The Extra 330SX has a shorter fuselage to enhance tumbling, and a little more stick clearance. Photo courtesy of Extra Aircraft.
The Extra 330SX has a shorter fuselage to enhance tumbling, and a little more stick clearance. Photo courtesy of Extra Aircraft.

The new Extra made its first flight on June 6 in Germany, and deliveries to customers are scheduled to begin in mid-2024.

The single-seat 330SX has a steel fuselage, carbon-fiber wings and tail, a 315-horsepower Lycoming AEIO-580 engine, MT prop, and 220-knot top speed like its predecessor. Changes include redesigned ailerons that promise roll rates in excess of 400 degrees per second, and a shortened fuselage to enhance gyroscopic tumbling maneuvers. The cockpit is slightly taller and wider with greater control stick clearance, and a Garmin G3X primary flight display is standard equipment.

The 330SX is slightly lighter than its predecessor, but company officials didn’t say how much.

Pilots flying Extra 330SCs have won eight World Aerobatic Championships since 2009, making the design rated for plus or minus 10 Gs one of the most successful in aerobatic history.

Photo courtesy of Extra Aircraft.

 

Dave Hirschman

Dave Hirschman

AOPA Pilot Editor at Large
AOPA Pilot Editor at Large Dave Hirschman joined AOPA in 2008. He has an airline transport pilot certificate and instrument and multiengine flight instructor certificates. Dave flies vintage, historical, and Experimental airplanes and specializes in tailwheel and aerobatic instruction.
Go to Dave Hirschman's Profile
Topics: Aircraft, Extra Aircraft

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