Originally Posted by Len

Hi Wayne,
I ordered an Avanti XS without landing gear back in March when it was announced. I was told by a fellow at JR Americas, who are the latest US distributor, that the plane was due in April. I was told the same thing for the next 3 months and then that SebArt was not building them, or rather having them built, until the 3rd quarter of this year. I can't blame JR as they are only able to tell us what SebArt tells them and SebArt's delivery history and production history is fraught with issue after issue delaying things almost interminably.

The last communication I had, a couple of weeks ago, with JR Americas was that they expect the Avanti XS planes now in mid to late November. While I am not exactly pleased about the delays, I have flown the heck out of a Mini Avanti on a P-20SE this summer and I just LOVE it! So I am willing to wait for the XS. In fact I bought the engine (a Merlin 100XBL), which still sits in its box awaiting the plane.

My sense of this is that if the XS flies half as well as the Mini (and I actually expect it to be twice as good) it will be well worth the time I've waited. I am personally switching my aircraft over to electric landing gear slowly, so I did not order the SebArt pneumatic gear. I have an agreement with Xoel at Electron to send him the measurements and he will make gear, struts, wheels, and brakes for this unit. A friend has a set of Electrons in a xXx and they perform extremely well so I thought I'd try them too. Xoel says he should be able to do up a set for me inside a few weeks max. His gain is that he then has the ability to sell the set to others of course. I really liked his gyro stabilized brake system controller too. Anyway that's the scoop so far as I know at this time.

Len