jabiru J120 & bush strips

[lyle janke]

hi

 

i recently finished my certificate & wish to try some of the many gravel/ formed strips in my locality

 

how has your plane handled the bush strips ??

 

your thoughts/ comments / experiences etc are you a regular bush strip patron ???

 

lyle

 

 

[David Isaac]

Lyle,

 

My advice since you are a new PC holder would be to find some of these bush strips close to you, obtain all the details for each; such as strip length, strip surface type (gravel, dirt, long grass, short grass etc), condition of the surface (rutted, undulating), obstacles, power lines, strip altitude and most importantly slope. Completely avoid one way strips to start with (you wont be insured if you have an accident at one). Once you have all the details, grab your instructor and have him go over all the performance calculations to determine how many of these strips are suitable for your aircraft.

 

Then have the instructor review with you, climb performance for your aircraft, especially the effects of density altitude. Have the instructor show you correct 'precautionary' and 'short field' techniques and practice them at a familiar strip. Then have your instructor fly with you to your first bush strip and instruct you through the process.

 

This way your instructor can review with you all the dangers associated with bush strips. I don't know much about the J120, but I am reasonably certain they are not an 'ideal' bush strip aircraft, but will certainly be able to get into and out of any bush strip that meets the performance limitations for the J120. Be especially aware of the climb performance and clearance of obstacles typically found at bush strips. Even the trees some distance from the strip will be a clearance issue at high density altitudes.

 

 

[Yenn]

From my experience the biggest problem with bush strips, gravel or grass, is the surface condition. A lot of them can be rough, even those which are serving towns, rather than just the bush. Length is easily allowed for and approaches can be assesed from Google Earth. The only problem I ever had with a bush strip was it was narrow and had tall grass each side. That is OK with a Jab but in a tail dragger I can't see ahead

 

With good piloting technique in a Jab gravel, dirt and grass should hold no fears, but you must keep that nosewheel up as long as possible when landing. Look at the accident statistics and I think you will find tearing off the nosewheel is a common problem. It shouldn't be with good piloting.

 

 

[Happyflyer]

Watch out for the bush animals! Most problems approaching a short strip can be rectified by going around and trying again. No reason a Jab can't handle the majority of bush strips if you follow David's excellent advice.

 

 

[jetjr]

J120 has the small wing, not a great short strip performer.

 

With wheel spats removed it should be Ok if long enough

 

Normal Jab tyres are thinner ply and get holes from burrs and catheads. Take a repair kit and learn how to lift plane to use it. Not easy on your own

 

 

[Russ]

Green slime in the tubes, works great ( temp fix to get you home )

 

2ndly.......ant mounds, water ruts, loose branches, runway cambers, possible strong sink, wallabies etc, cockatoos etc in trees that will scatter.....anywhere. Jab brakes can be fairly ordinary, especially when your heavy.

 

My 2 bobs worth.

 

 

[AVOCET]

Also , doing run ups on a gravel or loose surface , can give you a chipped and damaged prop , and of its not you r aircraft , you might get a tounge lashing , or worse , a bill for repair .

 

Its good practice to start the take off roll and do a quick mag check ,

 

The jaby engine doesnt have mags as such , so you are only doing a " function " test of the coils .

 

Quickly . Left on / off , right on/ off ,

 

You dont need a long drawn out test ( cesnas ect)

 

On the jab engine , long " mag " checks only serve to fowl plugs , and if done while stationary , will create a small tornado on the ground in fromt of the prop and suck up stones and such .

 

Mike

 

 

[SDQDI]

If starting from cold on a dirt/gravel strip or track I do my warmups and checks while rolling down the strip, a few times if needed. It's a benefit in more ways than one to taxi the whole length as if it is an unfamiliar strip it will give you a good chance to see it better (maybe spot bumps or hollows that you didn't see before) and also of course you won't be doing unnecessary damage to your prop ect.

 

As a side note if you are changing your pre flight check order, for example doing mag checks last thing instead of in the middle somewhere, make sure you have the alternate checklist written down as when you swap things around it is easy to forget things. Maybe it would be worthwhile setting up a specific 'gravel strip pre flight list'.

 

I wouldn't admit it to everyone but when I first started doing rolling runups I just swapped my checklist around and I know I forgot one part which was fixed after takeoff but it was enough to make me realise that swapping checklists around is a recipe for problems. It's much better to have a separate list.