The aircraft, a successor to the Extra 330SC, features a wider cockpit, shorter fuselage, redesigned cowling, increased control stick clearance, and improved headroom compared to its predecessor.

• READ MORE: EAA AirVenture Reports Attendance Boost

Extra said the 330SX model is much easier to fly, allowing pilots to achieve higher scores in aerobatic competitions.

“The introduction of our high-performance aileron package delivers superior roll authority,” Extra said. “It ensures that both at a competition level and on the air show stage pilots will benefit with crisper maneuverability at all airspeeds.”

Competition aerobatic pilot Bob Freeman was the first U.S. customer for the aircraft and was scheduled to fly one during the daily airshow at AirVenture.  

• READ MORE: Donation Expands Bob Hoover Academy Fleet

“We were thrilled to officially unveil the Extra SX to North America, showing our prototype SX001 and the Freeman Airshows SX!” Extra said in a social media post.

According to Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assocation, the aircraft has a retail price of $550,000 and deliveries take about a year to fulfill. Extra has sold 10 of the 330SX models and produced five so far.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.

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The new division, Extra Aircraft USA, will provide factory-authorized maintenance and spare parts services for all Extra owners based in North America. It will also be the receiving point where company staff members will perform pre-delivery checks on new Extra aircraft entering the continent from the German factory. 

AOG and Spares Support

“I am very pleased to continue our success in the USA and announce this new Extra facility for our North American customers. We will provide AOG and complete spares support from DeLand backed up by the factory in Germany,” Extra said. “We will also grow our service offerings for scheduled maintenance such as annual inspections and the 1,000-hour inspection as well as unscheduled maintenance,” he added.

The company named Duncan Koerbel, a longtime aerospace executive and aerobatic pilot with 1,000 hours in Extra aircraft, as general manager of its new U.S. unit. Koerbel will work with Walter Extra’s sons, maintenance manager Eric Extra and production manager Marcus Extra, “to position the new factory-direct model to support the fleet well into the future,” the company said.

“It is safe to say I have a working knowledge of our customer base,” Koerbel told FLYING, reflecting on his six years of aerobatics competition and working through the ranks, from primary to advanced, of the International Aerobatic Club.

A T-34 Mentor to an Extra 300S in the Championships

He said his first experience with aerobatics came in a T-34 Mentor while he was working at Beechcraft in the 1980s. He was hooked, but had to wait a few decades until what he called “a unique set of circumstances,” which included his children graduating from college, allowed him to get serious about competing.

• READ MORE: Extra Aircraft Secures FAA Certification on Extra NG

He said he looks forward to flying his Extra 300S to the U.S. National Aerobatic Championships, which begin this Sunday in Salina, Kansas.

Extra began building aerobatic aircraft in the 1980s and through years of development gained the rare distinction of producing machines that are essentially off-the-shelf contest winners. Pilots who are serious about competition tend to fly Extras.

“We have an excellent order backlog and continue to be pleased with the demand for our new NG as well as the 330SC which was just flown to its eighth world championship in Poland,” Marcus Extra said. The new operation in DeLand “will allow us to be even closer to our customers.” he added.

Eric Extra said the USA facility will be operational late this year to support the delivery of the next Extra NG and begin spare parts and maintenance operations.

“We have initially leased hangar facilities in DeLand but are exploring a purpose-built option for the long-term future. Marcus and I are excited to continue to grow the company our father founded forty years ago,” he said.

The post Extra Aircraft Opens New Facility in Florida appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Fox and a longtime friend, International Aerobatic Club president Jim Bourke, were flying in separate aircraft enroute from Keystone Heights Airport (42J) in Starke, Florida, to Northeast Florida Regional Airport (KSGJ) in St. Augustine.

According to FlightAware, the pair were flying as a formation flight of two, departing from Keystone Heights at about 4 p.m. The flight would cover a straight-line distance of approximately 38 nm.

When the aircraft were about seven miles west of St. Augustine, Bourke contacted air traffic control to report that Fox’s aircraft had developed engine trouble and was trailing smoke.

According to LiveATC.com, Fox declared an emergency moments later.

Bourke tried to help Fox during the approach, advising her to put the aircraft into a slip because she was coming in too fast during the straight-in approach to KSGJ. Fox’s aircraft went off the end of the runway, coming to rest upside down in a swamp.

Fox was pulled from the wreckage alive but succumbed to her injuries a few hours later at a local hospital.

Fox was from the Pacific Northwest. She lived in Corvallis, Oregon, where she owned a successful clothing store called ReStyle Resale. She joined the International Aerobatic Club in 2019 shortly after earning her private pilot certificate. She started competing in aerobatics in 2020. In 2021, she placed first in a Northwest Regional Series competition.

According to a tribute posted on the IAC website, Fox volunteered at various events, including serving  as the contest director for the 2021 Corvallis Corkscrew aerobatics competition.

“Adventurous, charming, intelligent and caring, Marianne inspired those around her,” the tribute said. “Her enthusiasm for aviation and aerobatics was infectious. She delighted in the close company of her innumerable friends and her amazing family.”

According to the club, arrangements are being made for a funeral near her childhood home in Oregon.

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