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We now have our Falke back with its Jabiru 2200
conversion and the aircraft is up to our expectations in all respects. We
have needed some minor adjustments and all without the usual VW oil
leaks.
We get an effortless 800 ft/min off the
ground and this aircraft will take a worthwhile 190kg pay load with 1 hour
of fuel
At this stage we have no plans to fit a glider
towing hook to this aircraft but will think about it for our second Jabiru falke
which will be when we have saved up the $A20000 for the conversion
This present conversion took Mike Burnes longer
than expected as we had the latest Jabiru Falke with bigger finning on the head
and larger carburettor. Thus cowlings had to be modified as did the sealing
of the top chamber as the previous Falke conversion was for Bob King in Tasmania
and used an earlier engine. This change by Jabiru has resulted in lower CHT
temperatures of 160 deg C even in the climb and oil temperatures can be kept
well below 100deg C so long as you do not do prolonged climbs. The best
way to really keep temps under control is to give it to it a bit of a rest at
1500 ft agl then it seems to be right from there on.
The only real problem has been our standard Jabiru
exhaust was a poor fit and too many gases were leaking out in the engine
compartment. I think when Rod Stiff of Jabiru sees my photos he will
realise we really did have a one off bad system. We plan to visit our local
aircraft welder for a relative minor mod which should make it better than
the original.
We did not receive the Jabiru tacho sender unit
through a missunderstanding. Mike Burnes adapted a pick up based on the
generator and thanks to a filter made by Bill Riley we have a perfect VDO Tacho
better than the stanard Jabiru installation. Also we did not use the
Jabiru regulator but chose the Power Mate by Claus Grimm which he designed
for the Rotax. Many years ago with our PIK20E I replaced the original Rotax $15
bit of junk regulator with Claus's unit and the result was the battery
immediately lasted 5 years instead of the previous one year and zero
electronics problems. Ignition noise using a Microair radio is absolutely
zero and is much better than most Jabiru Aircraft I have flown in. I am
trying persuade Jabiru that they should consider using these two mods on their
standard aircraft installations and they are
listening.
Recently I visited the Jabiru engine factory and
all I can say I was most impressed with what I saw. I have visited the
Sauer factory in Germany (they make very light weight B and C Falk engines based
on the 1991 VW transporter engine) and a friend of mine did 2 weeks
doing an engine course with Limbach in Germany. All I can say we lead the
Germans in both production techniques and quality control. When it comes
time for a new engine the fixed overhaul of $A2500 sure beats the German costs
of about DM140000 and I could only say I am impressed with my dealings with Phil
Ainsworth, Rod Stiff, Debbie Potter and all the Jabiru team.
My only criticism is the prop will only stop in the
one position (horizontal) and just can not be stopped in the vertical position
which is where I like to have it in the thermals - less turbulence on tailplane
and perceived better thermal climb.
Perhaps for the future a little more
thought could be put into the choice of prop as we have a fairly standard
propeller. Also recently I looked inside the cowl of Cessna 414 and I was
most impressed with the streamlined up side down airfoil section under the top
edge of cowl. I gather such a mod gives 10% to 15% or so increase to
airflow through the engine. This possibly should be thought about on all towing
aircraft as knocking 5 deg C off the CHT can only help as most damage to
aircraft engines is done from shock cooling from high to medium
temperatures.
Regarding motorgliders for training I think it is a
great way to go because people get into the air without delay and are doing up
to 6 or 8 circuits an hour at a cost of a winch launch. Within our club we
are getting more people wanting to learn gliding than we can cope with.
Thus we encourage the people we want in gliding rather than the people with
money without skills. It is good to have 15 year olds going solo with
about 45 flights and costing them (or Coles-Myer as they work at BiLo) less than
$1000.
Anyhow there you have it on the Falke-Jabiru which
I could recommend.
Ian Mc Phee
Box 657 Byron Bay NSW 2481 Australia Tel (61) 266 847 642 (Fax 942) [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.mrsoaring.com for radios xponders microphones instruments and much more |
