Camden to Rockhampton and back

[motzartmerv]

So.. .we have had a full blown monsunal trough affecting most of our eastern sea board over the last week or so..An exeelent time to do a major crosscountry expedition up north and back in a j160 hey...hehe...yea right.. My daughter and i blasted off from camden on the 18th and landed at moree after a bit of a bumpy trip over the range..and thats where we stayed for the next 2 nights...rained in and many phone calls to sydney met to keep updated on the weather..with xmass fast approaching i thought seriously about turning back for camden..but that door was shut too...so finally the sky cleared and we were off for biloela (thangool)..an uneventfull few hours and we were there...

 

thats when the fun started..

 

we took off on the 23rd with rain behind us but an assurance from the met guy that the cloud wasnt to bad to the south of us...yea right...we ended up in the range with cloud on the tops to the south west and north, and couldnt go bak to the gool because it was a white out...so east it was...hit the coast and landed at bundeburg...another check of the weather and we were off again...but only made it to maryborough..and thats where we stayed..lol...for 2 nights..had xmass morning in a motel with a cranky missus on the phone complaining that pilots are spose to know when its gunna rain..lol...anyway, we finally got out of there on xmass day and headed south...once again we ended up to close to a white wall and had to turn back for caloundra and sat it out for a few hours..then off again and skooted ouround brisbane and archerfeild and stayed low on the coast towards coolangatta, around the range becasue the cloud base was to low to jump the hills and on to lismore..then a coast run down to port maquarie with big black yukkys on our right the entire way (nearly)..after some fuel and a comfort stop at port mack we were off and made Taree...Another big black yucky stopped any further progress..finally the next day (boxing day) we had some resemblance of a clear sky and we made camden..

 

our track down the coast was practically beach flying the whole trip from rounding the corner after brisbane..a long wasy around but much better then playing with the hills and cloud..at one point when we were in the range near biloela with the crap closing in i was looking for a nice big paddock, its a pretty intence time when weather turns crap and start looking at the ground...but thankfully we where left a little window albeit tottaly in the wrong direction..It was all lessons hard learned but im very thankfull for the experiance, a trip that far in perfect weather wouldn't have given me the lessons i took from the outing..

 

The jab performed admirably, but....i did discover that its climb in the 30 deg + heat close to mtow is quite poor...dangerously poor i feel..at some points i had full climb power and angle and was sinking at 150 ft per minute..sometimes it took 5 minutes to get 1000 agl...eyes wide open now....

 

 

[Guest Graham Lea]

That climb rate is strange..

 

I have been out of Lightning Ridge often at high temperatures ( and other places west) and not had any problems with climb. IN fact one day when it was really hot at the Ridge I took the a/c up to around 7000 just to cool off for w awhile as there is no aircond in the house.

 

Not in a 160, but a 8 year old 55 version with 500 hours on it or thereabouts.

 

How did the oil temps go with all that climb power for so long??

 

 

[motzartmerv]

the oil temp never went far away from the middle ...is quite strange..she cruises slow, about 90 kts at 2800 and climbes like a one armed monkey...

 

 

[Guest Graham Lea]

It could be that the prop is over pitched,

 

But I would think that a leakdown or at least a cylinder test is due for each of the cylinders,

 

What did the maintenance release say about it??

 

Is this one of the School ones there uh.. David (forgotten his name!)

 

If so, which one??

 

Why not to talk to the lame?

 

Your dollars, your life :-)

 

Really: I cant work it out .. sounds strange...

 

Hmm another reason could be the take off weight.

 

If you are over around 120k and the pax the same, they don't climb too well .. So I hear..:-)

 

Any gear on board over the fuel??

 

We should try to sort this out as it impinges on the abililty to get over a 50' fence/tree at the end of the runway and therefore the airworthyness of the a/c.

 

Graham

 

I am assuming that it is not a heat height thing...

 

 

[Guest brentc]

If it's climbing like a homesick angel, then the prop is too fine, but that being said, if it is only pulling 150fpm in those temperatures then it is probably about correct. The 160's down here are lucky to pull 200-300 on a hot day. If it has perhaps 500+ hours on it it may be a little down on compression and as such power.

 

 

[Guest Graham Lea]

90 kts @ 2800 seems ok, (maybe a bit fine but not much) and a fine pitch should pull it up ok rather than squish along..

 

200-300 fpm on a 30 degrees day is not my experience...

 

Then again I don't have a 160 just an old 55 reg thing

 

Full 135 gals in the wings could also affect it I guess..

 

(plus the others I previously mentioned).

 

Graham Lea

 

 

[Flyer]

I thinks you mean 135 litres not gallons there Graham;).

 

Experience in the J160's at Tooradin on a warm day with 2 big blokes in it and the climb rate almost seems like a product of the earths curvature...i.e not very good at best...:yuk:.

 

The cure is the J170..same 160 fuz but a J230 wing. Better lift on a hot day.

 

The LSA on the other hand will climb like a homesick angel as it has the same power (I refer to the 2.2l 85hp motor here) as a J160 but is a 100kgs lighter.

 

I normally see about 90-95knots indicated at 2800rpm in the J160. I have found the ASI under reads slightly.

 

Also a little quirk I have found with the J160 is that it will sometimes fly itself in a slight sideslip configuration. Just have a good look at the slip ball and make sure it is centred and not out by half a ball.

 

Regards

 

Phil

 

 

[Guest Graham Lea]

Oh well there goes the stories about how great the 160 is.. :-)

 

Re the slip ball: if you are in it by yourself, that can happen, so some people who go by themselves often crank the flap a fraction to adjust for their body being in the left seat... stops that happening...

 

 

[motzartmerv]

you guys are scarein me now..lol..Im gunna be instructing in this machine soon, mabye il try con the cfi to lease a 170 instead...or even better a 230..hmmm..

 

i have some video of taking off from agnes waters in 30 deg weather...u can planely see how long it takes to clear the tree line which runs up each side of the strip length..nose right over after liftoff to get the airspeed up...very depressing, because i know it can get a heap hotter then that inplaces...

 

 

[Guest pelorus32]

I'm banned from talking about Jabs...but anyway:

 

Last year at Narromine I taxied down to the end of the runway behind a flock of Jabs. Watching each of them take of in turn was pretty instructive. The J160s were very slow to climb and one was simply frightening to watch - it seemed to have a deadly attraction for the vegetation down the end of the runway. That was on the Sunday and from memory the temps were high 20s. The Tecnam by comparison climbed at 900fpm at max gross when our turn came.

 

Regards

 

Mike

 

 

[Geoff]

Went flying to day, temp in Mildura 40C 2pob 70 lt fuel climb 500 ft per min Jab 160;););););)

 

 

[Flyer]

You've got 50kg of fuel on board Geoff, what was the combined weight of the 2 pob ?

 

regards

 

Phil

 

 

[Geoff]

I’m 96kg:crying:my mate is 85kg and we have flown this J160 all around Aust at gross while not have the best of climb rates it is only rated at 600ft at see level we have no trouble with the J160. ;);)It is kit no 12 one of the first ever built.I also fly a 65 hp Aeronca rated at 300ft at see level at all up weight you do have to know the difference between the front and back end of a thermal on T/O with her.:angry:The J160 will out climb any C150 that I have had the pleasure of Flying.

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Really??...not the one i fly...I had 2 pb..both 70 kgs..80 litres of fuel..and 15 kg of baggage...

 

 

[Flyer]

The J160 will out climb any C150 that I have had the pleasure of Flying.

Errrr yep. I'd have to agree with that.

With those weights, you're about 40kgs under max. Definitely helps the climb that's for sure.

 

I still manage a positive climb rate in the J160 but it's not good at max weight when its hot. The performance (or lack there of) is very noticable especially after hopping out of a Flysynthesis Texan that climbs like a homesick angel ;);)

 

The jabbas are fun to fly though :)

 

regards

 

Phil