Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

Hey everyone,

 

I was flying a Jabiru last Friday at Caboolture when I saw one of those incredible Sling aircraft taxi past me! Does anyone at Caboolture know who owns it, and if it owned as part of an aero club that I can lease it from? I've always wanted to fly a Sling.

 

Cheers.

 

 

Posted

Brilliant looking aircraft. I would test fly Errols at Hecks but I cannot afford one so I don't want to waste his time.

 

 

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

A couple of weeks back I shouted myself a flight with an instructor out of Caboolture. An hour or so over Bribie Is in the Sling made for a magic afternoon. If it looks good, and it is, it flies great! It feels solid as a rock in the air. Handles brilliantly whether you want slow and steady (as I do) or fast and exciting.

 

Instructor John was brilliant. Funny bloke with a great teaching manner and some great insights. It was a real pleasure and a fun learning experience.

 

Do yourself a favour and give it a go. They have another one at Caloundra if that's closer to you.

 

764124702_SlingStbdQtr248515.jpg.8bbf1b132c7e66bb004fe4a22b7ab5a3.jpg

 

 

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

Highly recommend the sling and gofly. John is a great instructor with some amazing experience to draw on.

 

In fact all the instructors are brilliant there.

 

Only problem with the sling is weight limitations for those of us who are a bit more portly.otherwise a gorgeous aircraft to fly.

 

 

Posted
Highly recommend the sling and gofly. John is a great instructor with some amazing experience to draw on.In fact all the instructors are brilliant there.

 

Only problem with the sling is weight limitations for those of us who are a bit more portly.otherwise a gorgeous aircraft to fly.

240kg is a little tight with 2 "real" pax and some fuel. This aircraft would do well from a RA-AUS weight increase to 700MTOW

 

 

  • Agree 1
Guest Andys@coffs
Posted

What's empty and what's MTOW for the ycab aircraft...

 

 

Posted

Better not to discuss in front of a Board Member :-) especially as I'm hoping to find one in my Christmas stocking.

 

Put it this way, it might be wise to specify the EFI Rotax and an inflight variable pitch prop so you don't need much fuel on board. Trouble with those options is that they add another 15 kg.

 

WHat this aircraft really shows up is the stupidity of limiting Recreational Aviation and LSA to a weight. The restriction only needs to be one pax and a modest stall speed in the landing config. Targeting MTOW means aircraft safety is built down to a weight. The Sling is built like a Sherman Tank compared to most LSA. There is a weight penalty but one I'd be prepared to work with for the benefit of a proper aircraft. This is an aircraft built to GA standards. They are going to be around for a very long time because they are built so well. In my 'umble opinion . . .

 

 

  • Agree 1
Posted

I'm not sure no weight limit would be the way to go though either, although the recent board resolution suggests we aim for 1500KG, which i guess would be close to no limit with the stall requirements?

 

The Jabs are another good example, some models can have a MTOW 700KG under VH Rego, but limited to 600 or 540 RAA rego.

 

 

  • Agree 1
Posted

What is the design maximum weight, all the regulatory weight increase in the world won't help if the design is limited to 544kg.

 

 

  • Agree 1
Posted
What is the design maximum weight, all the regulatory weight increase in the world won't help if the design is limited to 544kg.

For the Sting, according to their website it's 700KG MTOW. I think some model jabs design limit is also 700KG MTOW, but they may also be limited by the stall speed requirements, rather then just structural.

 

 

Posted
For the Sting, . . .

Of course we know you meant Sling (TAF) not Sting (TL Ultralight).

 

A Sling was flown at 1100 kg takeoff weight from Africa to South America non-stop (23 hours!). While I might not want to buy that particular one 2nd hand it does give an indication that it is a pretty strong aircraft.

 

Yes, it can be registered at 700 kg in the right category.

 

The J230 as a J430 is registered VH at 750 kg.

 

This is the opposite to some European lightweights that were designed for their 450/472.5 kg MTOW rule. These aircraft are then stretched to reach 54o kg or something approaching the 600 kg MTOW maximum for RA.

 

 

Posted

There as so many RAA aircraft out there that simply cannot carry two reasonable sized people and a tank of fuel. Some are very nice aircraft and obviously built with strength and longevity in mind but next to useless as 2 seaters. I could give you a list of those crossed off my shopping list for just this reason. Obviously I need to look at something that does not look as though it has been built as strongly just to get the carrying capacity. That is the price we pay however for the cheaper way to fly.

 

We could all go RPL and VH rego and then more aircraft become available, but that as everything ele in life comes at a price. I may end up having to go that way ywt as my shopping list of suitable aircraft gets shorter every day.

 

The J230 and the Sling both have a design limit of 700Kg and can be registered at that weight in VH.

 

Cheers Geoff13

 

 

  • Agree 1
Posted
Of course we know you meant Sling (TAF) not Sting (TL Ultralight).A Sling was flown at 1100 kg takeoff weight from Africa to South America non-stop (23 hours!). While I might not want to buy that particular one 2nd hand it does give an indication that it is a pretty strong aircraft.

 

Yes, it can be registered at 700 kg in the right category.

 

The J230 as a J430 is registered VH at 750 kg.

 

This is the opposite to some European lightweights that were designed for their 450/472.5 kg MTOW rule. These aircraft are then stretched to reach 54o kg or something approaching the 600 kg MTOW maximum for RA.

Don many of those european lightweights after the CASA audit and subsequent vetting of registrations have been put back to 450 kgs. There are a lot of 2 seat aircraft about at the moment that can never take a second person.

 

Cheers Geoff13

 

 

Posted

Indeed I did Don, thanks. I'm hoping something comes out of the board resolution, but it could be years away before we see the results.

 

 

  • Like 1
Posted

My Zodiac 601 weighs 352kg empty. With 600kg mtow can carry 2 90kg bodies and 90 ltrs fuel, 5hr range no reserves.

 

Look for a cheap second hand 601XL B model, built like a tank.

 

 

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...