the foxbat

[Guest keanie]

does anyone own or know anyone who owns a Foxbat. are they as good as they say

 

 

[phvdw]

Foxbat or A22

 

very nice plane,in europe called A22, we've one in our club and lot of people learned to fly with it.

 

Very strong and forgiving

 

 

[Guest keanie]

There are 2 foxbats the A22 and the LSA. I had a fly in an LSA yesterday and a great aircraft, genuine cruise 100kt. the American builder was in town and he took me up.

 

The LSA has wing changes along with many other things and they all together give a great package. i love the room, you are not bumping shoulders. I definitetly consider it a plane worth considering

 

 

[BigPete]

What's the difference between the two?

 

regards

 

 

[Peter Driscoll]

Plane vs engine

 

I have had a foxbat for 12 mths - the plane is great but not as fast perhaps as I expected if you just want to go steady - I have had trouble with the engine though and have fitted additional parts - oil thermostat, auxiliary fuel pump, fuel pressure gauge and now carbie heat (coolant jacket to downstream end of carbies since I experienced carbie icing under high humidity in the tropics). I will be keeping the plane - I like it, I have just lost my absolute faith in rotax, although some of this has to do with how the engine is configured in the plane - I previously had a 582 in a drifter for years and had not a speck of trouble

 

 

[TerryM]

A22 Issues

 

I am a recent new pilot on A22, having moved to UAE after many years of glider flying in Australia. Found the conversion to LH yoke from RH column a bit frustrating, but got there OK. I now tend to fly the club's JetFox 97 more than the A22 - back to RH column!

 

On a serious note we have just detected a structural failure in the horizontal stabilser of the A22 - siginficant tear and buckling between mounting points on leading edge. I don't know flight history yet - ie was there significant "g" etc, but would like to know if any other similar faults have been found in Aus acft?

 

And a heads up to be vigilant in your DI's !!

 

Terry

 

PS - Just found the AD

 

 

[TerryM]

Thanks - found it shortly after previous post and passed onto club

 

Terry

 

 

[eightyknots]

Has anyone seen a Foxbat with the folding wing option? If so, how did you find the ease of use?

 

 

[Chad]

Foxbat A22LS

 

Hi, I've just ordered a new A22lS from Peter. This one is being built at the Aeroprakt factory in the Ukraine - I'm not quite sure why they are not sourced from FPNA in Florida now. I've optioned it with control yokes (which gives a centre throttle position), the Dynon D180 FlightDek and Garmin Aera500 GPS. Should arrive late November, and I'll fly it home to Cairns NQ. Although I've got a GA licence, my current experience is 225 hours in a XT912 Microlight, so this will be a new challenge. I'll let you know more about this unique machine as my hours build on it.

 

Chadman

 

 

[eightyknots]

There's not a lot of activity in the Foxbat A22 section of this site. Perhaps everyone is flying them so often they have no time to write about it?

 

Chad, I look forward to hearing about your experiences :-)

 

I take it, with no one replying to my question about the folding wing option, may be no one who reads these posts has one themselves? When I first read about them, I am sure that the folding wing was offered as an extra. Does anyone know of other owners of Foxbats who have them.

 

 

[dazza 38]

There's not a lot of activity in the Foxbat A22 section of this site. Perhaps everyone is flying them so often they have no time to write about it?Chad, I look forward to hearing about your experiences :-)

 

I take it, with no one replying to my question about the folding wing option, may be no one who reads these posts has one themselves? When I first read about them, I am sure that the folding wing was offered as an extra. Does anyone know of other owners of Foxbats who have them.

PM "silverwing" mate, Peter will help you.Cheers

 

 

[normfox]

Chad, I have an FPNA Foxbat LSA with similar specs to yours and love it. I reckon you will too.

 

Yokes are great - especially because of the throttle location. I envy your GPS although my Garmin 296 does more than I ask of it. About to take delivery of my Dynon autopilot which will talk to the FlightDek 180 which is already chatting with the Garmin.

 

 

[NWpilot]

G'day All,

 

Give Gordon Marshall a call, He is the Owner and CFI at Sky Sports located just out side York, Western Australia.

 

His mobile number is 0419942645 or www.microlight.com.au

 

He teaches weight shift but they now have 3 axis training at the school, and the A22 foxbat is the bird of choice, I have not flown in them, but they have a great flying envelope from what i read

 

Hope this helps

 

 

[pudestcon]

G'day All,Give Gordon Marshall a call, He is the Owner and CFI at Sky Sports located just out side York, Western Australia.

His mobile number is 0419942645 or www.microlight.com.au

 

He teaches weight shift but they now have 3 axis training at the school, and the A22 foxbat is the bird of choice, I have not flown in them, but they have a great flying envelope from what i read

 

Hope this helps

Gordon is a member here - goes by the username GordonM

 

Pud

 

 

[Guest JeffC]

I have a A22 and, at the time I bought it about 5 yrs ago, I was informed an earlier version had a folding wing mechanism but that it was discontinued because of the extra weight it added.

 

The sales pitch since has been that the wings can be removed in an hour (or so) by two people. The instructions are in the manual. In my case and with Murphy hanging about I suspect the job would take longer.

 

Regards,

 

Jeff

 

 

[eightyknots]

Hi Jeff. It seems as if Aeroprakt have lost interest (for technical reasons or perhaps other reasons) in keeping this useful option.

 

Thanks.

 

 

[Guest Jake.f]

.

 

 

[Guest aussie carl]

Curently traing in a Foxbat. Well I will contue traing when the motor is re fitted. There has been some trouble with the 912ULS but I believe the issues were because of using Avagas and the lead build up associate with using this fuel.

 

I can compair the Foxbat to a TL2000 Sting and LSA 55.

 

The LSA is easy on the bottom of the list for training but is hands on fun flying. The TL is very sportie and fast @ 135knots cruse and its slow speed performance @60knots is pretty impressive and responsive, with any sort of crosswind landing I would rather be in this aircraft.

 

The Foxbat is very forgiving aircraft for training. The control layout is very easy to use and feals very natural, (along with the Sting) The foxbat is all aluminum and with the low level flying it does @1000 and located on the coast the aircraft gets exposed to alot of salt spray from the ocean, regular washing and vigilant corosions inspections are nessary.

 

The Foxbat is great fun to fly and Oh so forgiving handeling characteristics.

 

Attached is a pickie i took of the control lay out in the training Foxbat.

 

 

 

[Guest Jake.f]

.

 

 

[pylon500]

The Foxbat is rapidly becoming the training ultralight for those not wanting to struggle with the local plastic offering.

 

It follows in the footsteps of the Gazelle, and the Lightwing before it, pity the A-22 is not available as a taildragger.

 

And the visibility has to be seen to be believed.

 

 

[Planechaser]

Spot on pylon500. Every time I take someone up in the Foxy, there first coment is always " wow, you can see everything up here!" usually followed by the propensity to lean to the center or grab the straps when I do the first turn, cause they think they are going to fall out the door!!

 

For arial spotting, mustering and photography, it is trully had to beat.

 

As a trainer, I am guessing it is the combination of being very responsive( a bloke training on Jab's reconed if he sneezed it would turn on the spot!) and at the same time rock solid and forgiving.

 

I just need to crank my Warp Drives around a bit now. I have wicked take off performance, well more than I need now, but she is maxed out at 87kts @ 4900 rpm, which is my ecomomy cruise. It will do 92 when it's washed, waxed, no mud, no dust, just serviced, but alas, that only happend once every 50hrs!!

 

 

[eightyknots]

planechaser, have you ever compared a Foxbat with other STOL aircraft? If so, I'd like to hear about your experiences.

 

 

[Planechaser]

Hi eighty

 

I did a lot of comparisons on and off line and quite a bit of agonising before I settled on the Foxbat.

 

It all started out when I discovered the Zenith 701 and thought how much better( and cheaper!) it would be compared with the 172's I had been using for mustering/spotting. The natural progression( for me anyway:smile:) was to a Savvy, and then I discovered the Foxbat. It was always between these two, and it came down to the factory build and visibility of the Foxbat. I also talked to people who do what I wanted to do with them who owned both.

 

If I was building myself, it would be the Sav.

 

I know you are going to say that the Sav's are factory built now too, and that is true, but I would have to give a factory built one a real going over because the finish on the Foxbat is absolutly top notch, IMHO.

 

If I was going second hand, even with out the visibility thing, I would probably lean towards the Foxy, but to be fair I would need to spend some time in a Sav before I wrote them off.

 

A good test is to see how quiet the Foxbat forum is; no problems to solve and nothing to whinge about!!

 

Now watch the Sav owners tear strips off me...

 

 

[eightyknots]

Hi eightyI did a lot of comparisons on and off line and quite a bit of agonising before I settled on the Foxbat.

It all started out when I discovered the Zenith 701 and thought how much better( and cheaper!) it would be compared with the 172's I had been using for mustering/spotting. The natural progression( for me anyway:smile:) was to a Savvy, and then I discovered the Foxbat. It was always between these two, and it came down to the factory build and visibility of the Foxbat. I also talked to people who do what I wanted to do with them who owned both.

 

If I was building myself, it would be the Sav.

 

I know you are going to say that the Sav's are factory built now too, and that is true, but I would have to give a factory built one a real going over because the finish on the Foxbat is absolutly top notch, IMHO.

 

If I was going second hand, even with out the visibility thing, I would probably lean towards the Foxy, but to be fair I would need to spend some time in a Sav before I wrote them off.

 

A good test is to see how quiet the Foxbat forum is; no problems to solve and nothing to whinge about!!

 

Now watch the Sav owners tear strips off me...

I hope you have a strong helmet Planechaser!

 

 

[Planechaser]

One thing about building something from scratch, it's like your kids, you just have to love it, because it's yours!

 

I find the same thing with doing all the maintenance. The more I do, the more I get to know it inside out, the more I forgive the short commings and play to the strengths.

 

Human and rational in the same sentence is an oxymoron!! Well, men and rational, when it comes to machinery.