Dragonfly mkll Has anyone flown one or know what they are like to fly.

[Geoff13]

Hi all. As the thread title says, has anyone flown a Dragonfly mkll or have any experience with them please.

 

 

 

[facthunter]

Only seen one (At Gympie) . Nev

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Interesting its a 19 Geoff usually those are VH rego...I followed them years ago when they were first out and they had good flight reports. It may have a VW aero engine though...a lot of them did back then

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Dragonfly FAQ - Dave Morris

[facthunter]

They can be pretty fast. This one had a Norton Rotary (wankel) air cooled, aero engine. Nev

 

 

[flyerme]

Yeh fir sale on one my Facebook pages.

 

It's Aeropower 79hp. 20k. Not bad price but not a lot of info on em?

 

Port Pirie SA

 

 

[Geoff13]

That is why I was asking here. That one was VH rego but has just been put on RAA rego (provisional).

 

 

[ozbear]

Geoff from what I've seen they are not a rough field aircraft so Tarmac mostly and in my opinion the best place for a vw engine is in the back of a vw.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

hahah I like that and so true

 

That report I posted also says not a grass field aircraft

 

in my opinion the best place for a vw engine is in the back of a vw.

[thebob]

Have had 2 , first a VH regd nose wheel with 80 HP rotax....very easy to fly in all respects. Being only half span ailerons , not super responsive in roll compared to a long-ez I have owned.

 

Then had a tail wheel model with jab 2200. Similar except just a bit more care on landing. It was changed over to raaus eventually. Both engines send them along happily at 105 knots IAS.

 

No nasty surprises that I ever experienced. Just prefer the long ez....but not as passenger friendly.

 

 

[408059]

Geoff

 

If you look up Dragonflylist in Yahoo Groups there all manner of advice for those converting to the aircraft or doing their test flights. The advice seems to cover the three different landing configuration types.

 

Cheers

 

Steve

 

 

[Jabiru7252]

 

I went for a blast in this about a year ago.

 

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

I fell out of love with the Dragonly (and other carnards) after watching one takeoff. It needed almost the entire strip to get airbourne. Sleek, fast and lovely, but designed for the US where tar strips are easy to find.

 

 

[facthunter]

A canard has advantages ON PAPER. The more I see weird designs the more I like conventional set ups. Forward placed elevators are always touchy. The longer the rear moment arm the less the required force to effect a pitch change. Some close coupled planes feel terrible. The download behaves as a weight. Nev

 

 

[Jabiru7252]

I lasted maybe ten seconds at the controls on the dragonfly. It was VERY sensitive in the pitch for me.

 

 

[cooperplace]

Geoff from what I've seen they are not a rough field aircraft so Tarmac mostly and in my opinion the best place for a vw engine is in the back of a vw.

even in the back of a VW, they are still unlovable. IMHO. And I've rebuilt quite a few of them.

 

 

[facthunter]

Hitler's revenge they are often referred to as. The little 36 HP ones were the best quality but they really did give a lot of trouble over all models. I still come across new modified rocker studs and stuff in the shed left over from when I worked on them. They look like an aero engine but don't be fooled. New stuff cheap came out of Brazil for many years. By the time you have made a good engine out of it all you have left of the original is the crankcase and that's not much good either. Sorry to the folks who like them. (There must be some around). Nev

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

I've flown several times in the one Jab 7252 showed. It's got about 10 to 15 knots over the Jabiru with the same engine, and it is very comfortable with reclined seating.

 

Old Koreelah and facthunter and Jab 7252 are quite right in that it does need a decent long strip and the elevator is very sensitive. If you are going to fly to proper airfields and want a fast cross-country plane then its pretty good.

 

 

[ron dunn]

Know this aircraft. Resides in our hangar at Pirie. Has the aero power VW in it with a Hofman in flight adjustable two blade prop - full fine/ full course.

 

Quite fast l am led to believe - around 140 knots odd. The cockpit looks roomy and comfortable.

 

 

[Geoff13]

Thank you all for your replies. In summary it sounds like it could be quite an interesting airplane. Now if I could just convince her indoors that maybe I should have something slippery and fast, as well as a Drifter, then I might be in business. LOL