Ultimate Extra

Well not quite – we have yet to test the all carbon composite NG – but the LX represents Extra’s original steel-tube 300 series in its most highly developed form

- Bob Davy

At first glance, the Extra 330LX looks pretty much like all the other two-seat Extras out there: a sturdy and effective series of aerobatic tourers penned and constructed by none other than Mr Walter Extra himself, and pretty much identical to the original 300. Internal avionics upgrades aside, they do all look pretty similar until you start looking harder−for instance the ‘L’ in the name denotes that this is a low-wing model, as opposed to the mid-wing, purist aerobatic Extras that you can’t actually see out of (on the ground, anyway). The tail feathers are subtly different as is the amount of carbon in the structure, the X also referring to the fact that this aircraft has a power boost too, from 300hp to 315hp, the original extra 300’s AEIO-540 engine replaced by an AEIO-580 (AE for aerobatic, I for injected, O for opposed and 580 cubic inch displacement). Multiplying 580 by 2.54 cubed converts cu in to cc−which makes it, yes, 9.5 litres folks. That’s just about as big a light aircraft engine as you can get these days.