Jabiru

[Ex-Ascot]

OK, waiting for the spec and details but does anyone have knowledge or experience of this aircraft. We have never heard of it.

https://www.jabiru.co.za/

It is sitting here on the tarmac for sale. Looks like exactly what we are looking for. Yet to see it. Seen photos. 1,196 air frame hours 196 engine hours since company rebuild whatever that means.

Just got e-mail: My aircraft is the J250 which is the same as a J430 but with rear seats removed.

Answers on a post card please.

[Cacophonix]

OK, waiting for the spec and details but does anyone have knowledge or experience of this aircraft. We have never heard of it.


It is sitting here on the tarmac for sale. Looks like exactly what we are looking for. Yet to see it. Seen photos. 1,196 air frame hours 196 engine hours since company rebuild whatever that means.

Just got e-mail: My aircraft is the J250 which is the same as a J430 but with rear seats removed.

Answers on a post card please.

Haven't flown the Jabiru, but if you are looking in this kind of market I recommend a look at the South African produced Bushbaby as well. The BB is the most fun you can have with or without your jodpurs on, I can vouch for that having flown one. Can use Jabiru engine(s) which are well considered by the way.

http://kitplanesforafrica.co.za/




See here for some good partisan gen. and comparisons etc.


https://www.avcom.co.za/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=24247


Caco

[Ex-Ascot]

Caco, Many thanks but the question is availability here. I have contacted many S.A. companies about 172s but they have not replied. This thing is sitting on deck here. The owner is an engineer who we know quite well. He is Rhodesian. He says that it is very easy to maintain. Me not good with spanners but he says that he can do it for us. Just need to know if it is an OK aircraft. Will probably see it next week then obviously need to fly it.

[ExSp33db1rd]

I recall some problem with the Jabiru engines here in NZ many years ago, but regret that I can't recall the detail, and there aren't that many around, the Tecnam and Alpi models came along around the same time and were more popular. The engines in question came from Oz. Think it was something to do with how the prop. was bolted on ?

[Cacophonix]

I recall some problem with the Jabiru engines here in NZ many years ago, but regret that I can't recall the detail, and there aren't that many around, the Tecnam and Alpi models came along around the same time and were more popular. The engines in question came from Oz. Think it was something to do with how the prop. was bolted on ?

Report on Jabiru reliability

Jabiru riposte/comment

A friend flies a Bush Baby with one of the Jabiru engines and is very happy with it but one, like with all aircraft, needs to keep abreast with AD's and maintenance checks etc.





Caco

[Woody]

Not sure where you’re going to fit the missiles and cannons to take out any locals playing “ jungle bunny “ music on the lagoon sah!

[Cacophonix]

Personally, if I were Ex-Ascot, I would buy a Robinson R22 to wage war on the natives....

So much easier for getting in and out quickly!

Caco

[Cacophonix]

Personally, if I were Ex-Ascot, I would buy a Robinson R22 to wage war on the natives....

So much easier for getting in and out quickly!

Caco

An old school colleague who runs a sky-diving school outside Cape Town flies (and instructs) in one of these...

Easy to fly an ideal for a quick conversion for a fixed wing wallah like Ex-Ascot. Mark is a superb fixed wing stick and rudder guy, safety officer for SA parachuting and flies his own Cessna's etc. at the drop zone as well.


http://www.sagpa.co.za/learn-to-fly/gyro-instructors

Super fun running at low level down Bloubergstrand Beach at 50 foot looking at the peaches on the beaches...




Ex-Ascot what does an ex RAF chap like you say to the RAF2000 gyrocopter? You can even fit missiles to supress the natives... (vide. Ken Wallis)…






Caco

[k3k3]

I don't understand why car engines can go for 100,000 km needing only oil changes and possibly a cam belt change, but lightly stressed aero engines fall apart in next to no time.

[Cacophonix]

I don't understand why car engines can go for 100,000 km needing only oil changes and possibly a cam belt change, but lightly stressed aero engines fall apart in next to no time.

Of course some aircraft do use car engines, like the RAF2000 gyrocopter, pictured above, which uses the horizontally opposed Subaru engine to drive the prop at the back.

Truth is the average light aircraft engine, like the Lycoming for example, is very reliable and is built to be light, unlike car engines that can be a little overengineered and slightly heavier and more rugged (but not much these days) than an aero engine. Aviation manufacturing regulations and certification standards are higher and maintenance frequencies stricter for aircraft. It is not as if you can just stop in the air, like you can in a car if some minor engine niggle intrudes during flight.

Aircraft engines are also designed for constant running at a relatively constant load as opposed to car engines which operate using a much broader torque curve for stopping, starting and accelerating etc.

Caco

[Cacophonix]

I think that a nice thing about the Jibaru is the tricycle gear. The Bush Baby requires more finesse to land as a tail dragger and the ground loop always waits although the aircraft has good rudder authority.

Here a Jibaru pilot in New Zealand shows how not to take off after having landed on a beach after "engine trouble"...,




Caco

[k3k3]

Caco

It is the fact that aero engines are used in such a controlled environment that makes me wonder about their relative reliability, they are never started and thrashed from cold, as you say once in the cruise they are normally run at a constant load which should improve reliability. The report on Jabiru engine through bolts failing is something that would be scandalous in today's motor industry, 500 hours at an average of 40mph is 20,000 miles.

As for Subaru, the smoothest running engine I ever owned was 3 litre flat six in a Subaru Legacy, with the bonnet open the only sound you could hear was the auxiliary belts zishing round, I sold it at around 300,000 km, I still regret it even though the steering wheel is on the wrong side for where I now live.

[Cacophonix]

Caco

It is the fact that aero engines are used in such a controlled environment that makes me wonder about their relative reliability, they are never started and thrashed from cold, as you say once in the cruise they are normally run at a constant load which should improve reliability. The report on Jabiru engine through bolts failing is something that would be scandalous in today's motor industry, 500 hours at an average of 40mph is 20,000 miles.

As for Subaru, the smoothest running engine I ever owned was 3 litre flat six in a Subaru Legacy, with the bonnet open the only sound you could hear was the auxiliary belts zishing round, I sold it at around 300,000 km, I still regret it even though the steering wheel is on the wrong side for where I now live.

The highlighted point is a fair one and does beg questions about the Jabiru engine(s) k3k3.

As for the Subaru engine, on the day that I was given a flight in the RAF2000, the engine was being fettled beforehand and I was amazed to see a simple plastic tie being used to organise the electrical cabling to the EMU, where I would have expected a heat resistant aircraft grade metal component but overall the engine was smooth and very quiet as you say. The owner said he had never experienced any issues.

Caco

[ian16th]

Modern Jap-Crap car engines are made by computer controlled machine tools, to tolerances not even dreamed of in the 1960's.

This gives reliability of a level also not even dreamed of in those days.

[Ex-Ascot]

Thanks for the inputs guys. OK I have the spec now. Again answers on a post card.

I have attached some photos of my plane which is modeled as a Jabiru J250 same body as a J430 but no rear seats.

Manufactured in George South Africa in 2004, total time 1196 hours, engine and propeller 196 hours since factory rebuild and general refurbishment.

Registered in Botswana under experimental category which allows owner to do their own maintenance which is a fraction of the cost of a commercial aircraft.

Flies on "mogas" 95 octane at cruise - 100 knots burning 25 liters an hour with 5 hours endurance. (longer with auxiliary tank)

Instruments include standard VFR " steam" gauges with Fuel flow monitor, 6 channel EGT and CHT monitor, Garmin 196 GPS, Garmin avionics including transponder, GPS type ELT, two way intercom with music input.

Comes with a fresh permit to fly.

Reason for selling - investing in a 6 sleeper houseboat!

Asking P280,000 (two hundred and eighty thousand) no VAT.

This is about 20,000 GBP

[Cacophonix]

Thanks for the inputs guys. OK I have the spec now. Again answers on a post card.

I have attached some photos of my plane which is modeled as a Jabiru J250 same body as a J430 but no rear seats.

Manufactured in George South Africa in 2004, total time 1196 hours, engine and propeller 196 hours since factory rebuild and general refurbishment.

Registered in Botswana under experimental category which allows owner to do their own maintenance which is a fraction of the cost of a commercial aircraft.

Flies on "mogas" 95 octane at cruise - 100 knots burning 25 liters an hour with 5 hours endurance. (longer with auxiliary tank)

Instruments include standard VFR " steam" gauges with Fuel flow monitor, 6 channel EGT and CHT monitor, Garmin 196 GPS, Garmin avionics including transponder, GPS type ELT, two way intercom with music input.

Comes with a fresh permit to fly.

Reason for selling - investing in a 6 sleeper houseboat!

Asking P280,000 (two hundred and eighty thousand) no VAT.

This is about 20,000 GBP

Sounds like a good deal Ex-Ascot. Get a registered engineer to check her out. Check the paperwork, fly the little beauty and if it all checks out, offer him about £2000.00 less than the asking price and let the fun and haggling begin.

Good luck. I am envious.

Caco

[Ex-Ascot]

Thanks Caco. Going to look at it on Thursday. Have got two aircraft engineers lined up to look over it. One licenced one not.

[k3k3]

Can it be used to drop things that go bang on the NR who's causing you grief? If the answer is yes, then buy it.

[Ex-Ascot]

Can it be used to drop things that go bang on the NR who's causing you grief? If the answer is yes, then buy it.

Good idea, his ugly girlfriend who used to work/steal/laze around for us. If she hit the ground on her face a terminal velocity there would be no change in her features. Perhaps she was born in an air ambulance and shot out of the door.

K3, you are not 'the' K3 are you? Initials GW. If not I may have to PM you with the significance. I am PDR.

[k3k3]

Sorry but no, I think GW was the other injun.