N408EV is a 2005 Evektor SportStar - the very first light sport to come to the USA from Czechoslovakia.  It was owned by Joe from Plainwell Michigan.  Joe bought 408EV when the model was introduced to the US in 2005. 

 

I was lucky to find this airplane.  Joe was the closest thing you can imagine to "the little old lady who only flies on Sundays."  He flew it little, but kept it well maintained.  As I indicated on the home page, I wanted this model because of the integral fuselage tank, making it much more maneuverable than later models.

 

I put the airplane on leaseback at Pilot's Choice, in Georgetown.  The first year went well, but we constantly had issues with the brakes, and their mechanic was often diverted to address them.  In December 2017 the FBO owner told me she just couldn't afford the maintenance focus, and it came off leaseback.  She graciously allowed me to keep it in her hangar (thank you!)

 

I took it to another mechanic who found that the calipers had collected water and were corroded at the lowest point.  New calipers and -- The brakes are good!   But, they were still small, and many components were original.  So, failures in other areas continued to occur.  In June 2019 we replaced the brakes with Matco upgrade, which is a very strong brake and hopefully will eliminate the problems we experienced.