Anyone Flown a Air-X Hanuman and how much are jab2.2 Engines

[Spriteah]

Hello all.

 

Just another quick question. Do pilots here have any thoughts of the Hanuman? What it's like to fly? Handling. Quality? Expected life of Dacron?

 

And how much is a Jab 2.2 motor (new)?

 

ThAnks in advance for any replies.

 

Cheers,

 

Jim.

 

 

[Guest Rocko]

Flying an Xair Hanuman

 

Hey there Jim

 

Yep. Flown one. Own one ;)

 

Very forgiving aircraft which, when set up correctly, will fly hands off well, has ludicrously low stall speeds, but still gets up there. (My fast cruise is 92kts, eco at 80kts, coupled with an 80L tank, places!).

 

Cheap to run, too. I'm using about 11-13LPH on my Jab 2200A.

 

Dunno bout the cost of a Jab now, but I bought mine for around $13500 with extra bits. That was 2 years ago tho.

 

Dacron life depends on how you look after it. If you keep it hangared when not used, and use a UV protectant appropriate to dacron, it should last many years. Most Xairs are still flying with the original dacron still on, according to the agent Micael Coates. Having seen many, I don't doubt it.

 

Quality of build was very good. Everything went together fairly well. It turns out to be a very nice aircraft. Anyone can do it, but having some basic mechanical skills would be beneficial, especially when working on the engine and instruments.

 

While it has folding wings, it's more for occasional use, cause I certainly wouldn't want to be screwing around with it every week.

 

If you've seens a Rans Coyote or Skyranger, they're similar to the Hanuman (Both the H and Skyranger were based on the Coyote, I understand). Personally, I'm biased, but I think the finish and appearance of the H is better than either the other 2. THings such as wheel spats, cargo barriers, baggage compartments....all look nice in the H. Basically, I bought the H over the Skyranger at the time because 1. I liked the rep much better than the Skyranger rep and 2. It was significantly cheaper than a Skyranger with a Rotax 912. Given the performance of my H is equivalent to the SKyranger I tried, and it was cheaper and used less fuel to boot, I'm happy with my decision.

 

How much cost to build? Well, a cheap as **** setup with Jab engine would be around $45 flying. Me, I spent nearly $55 and did it very nice ;)

 

My biggest problem with it is finding time to fly, after opening a new business. So, if you want an immaculate Hanuman, fully optioned, with only 42 hours on a new Jab 2200A, at a price nearly $15K less than I spent on it, then let me know ;)

 

For more info on my H, including construction pics and such, which may be of interest, see my web page.

 

http://tinyurl.com/ywb2zb

 

Scotty

 

[email protected]

 

 

[Spriteah]

Can you fly without doors?

 

Thanks for the reply Rocko.

 

Can you fly without the doors on?

 

And can you tell me how it handles bumpy conditions. Thermals etc....

 

Jim.

 

 

[Guest Rocko]

Speaking to other owners, it's been done overseas, although I never have. The way the door comes from the factory, is it has a large stainless piano-style hinge from top to bottom, located at the front of the doors. I attached mine with about 10 mini hex stainless bolts on each side. This gives an excellent airtight finish when flying, and reduces unnecessary rattles. However, if you wanted to take the doors off regularly, you'd probably want to change to a different hinge system. I remade my doors a bit bigger anyway, to get a better seal, so it isn't difficult rebuilding doors on these type aircraft to something you want. You could probably make a kind of barn door system without any real effort.

 

Thing is, the door openings are HUGE! Makes a Lightwing doors look tiny by comparison. No doors, and the huge front view, would make you feel very much out there ;)

 

THe wing area is really big. It's got a 10 meter span, and a BIG surface area. Since it's less rigid than a solid welded frame wing, I find it flexes much more than, say, the lightwing I've flown regularly. Seems to make everything a lot smoother, once you're used to it.

 

I've flown it a bit in some pretty windy and gusty conditions (Basically the entire bloody summer this year), and found it forgiving enough, even for someone with my level of skill.

 

Got a good glide ratio. Certainly, with the big wing, you have to approach fairly slowly (certainly less than 50kts), or you just float...and float....and float ;>

 

40-45kts on stage 3 flaps seem to be what some people use on short field work. Personally, flying from a 1000m strip, I approach at 50kts, on second stage of flaps.

 

I trained on the lightwing, and 40 kts seems awfully slow ;>

 

Seems to cut through the summer turbulence better a bit faster, with the trees we have at one end of the strip.

 

Scotty

 

 

[Guest Rocko]

Just for interest, do a search on Xair and Hanuman on youtube. There are plenty of video's on them, including this quick one I found of flying and landing

 

 

 

Finally, one of Phil Leroys. He was an agent in the US, and built a very nice H. In the clip he's doing some circuits and touch and go's

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea1Ga5pmrSk&feature=related

 

Of course, then you have these insane bastards in Xair standards

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzSjj64XpLI

 

Totally, completely insane, but fun to watch :)

 

 

[Guest Rocko]

Sorry. SOme of those links don't hyperlink. You'll have to cut and paste the ones that don't

 

 

[Ultralights]

im not a fan of the ultralight air racing! so close to a major accident a few times in that clip! still, fun to watch.

 

 

[Guest Rocko]

Grinz. Love the response of that one woman "You can get so close to the aircraft...it's exciting!"

 

Yeah. So close, you can almost smell the reek of death ;)

 

Still, it's a good example of how NOT to fly normally :)

 

Especially over that surf. I don't get that close to the waves even on my jetski ;)

 

But yeah, fun to watch...so long as it's someone else flying ;>

 

Scotty