biggles5128

Maybe our RAAUS organisation should start forcing the hand as they collectively would carry more clout than an individual banging his or her head against the wall. If there really is an issue, as I have said before why is CASA allowing these engines to continue to run off the production line. As with all matters legal, as soon as you make an individual or an organisation accountable for their actions or inactions as the case maybe, they tend to cover their respective butts very quickly. I am not ignorant to the fact that there seems to be an over representation of Jabiru engines that are giving pilots a closer look at paddocks than expected, I own one and will do what ever I can to ensure that it is maintained to the highest standard and flown with due consideration to operating parameters. If there is an identified problem lets find out what it is and start a fix, I think most owners would pay for the fix rather than take a chance on it letting go one day. The only engine that has ever given me trouble was a Lycoming which blew to bits at night, but thats another story. On a positive note in regards to the Jabiru, if you have an engine out at least you have a very very good chance of surviving the sudden stop due to the exceptional airframe, not every aircraft can give you that chance.

Just throwing this into the mix.. I used Shell 100 oil as recommended by the factory through the run in period and then went onto Shell W100, I discovered that my engine oil temps were on the hot side through most phases of flight. I changed over to Exxon Elite about 2 years ago and interestingly have seen constant lower oil temps. Spoke with a number of users and maintainers about this, one theory was that as the Jabiru motor has extremely tight tolerances, one brand of oil may behave differently to another given the same quoted properties. The Elite oil is a multigrade semi synthetic 20W 50W (I think). I don't profess to know aircraft engines in detail like some others here but proof of the pudding is in the tasting..... Now to get my CHT's down a bit and I'm laughing. Further to this, I would like to see actual figures on Jabiru engine failures with a break down of type of fuel used, type of oil used etc.

Just finished reading the book myself. Never been one to sit down and churn through a novel as I am generally too busy... but this one I couldn't put down, great read.

The strip length will be 600mtrs and no cross strip, the winds favour east west as will be the orientation of the strip. And oh yes there will be a hangar, might even have my swag in there just in case the house door is locked when I venture back inside after hours of pondering and tinkering as a bloke does in his shed. No only joking the bride shares my passion, as least that's what I think....

Turboplanner, very detailed and spot on, appreciate your efforts there. I will be using a grader as opposed to a tractor which should give me a better result. Same principle applies though. The soil is basalt and the strip is level across the strip, there is a fall of about 2 degree from west to east down the length, so thinking that I should not have much of a drainage problem. Even after significant rains I can drive the Toyota or the quad along this area without sinking or even leaving ruts. I am getting excited at the prospect of finally getting this project underway.

Will be operating tri gear out of there, mainly the Jab 230.

A grader will do a better job than say a blade behind a tractor or a dozer because the blade sits midship between front and rear wheels which are further apart than a tractor thus ironing out more of the ups and downs... at least thats my experience anyways.

It's not hard.. just be on the level with everything you do and everyone you speak with.

Welcome young friend, you stick to your dreams and you will make them come true someday...

Flyhi, your strip is a credit to you, appreciate the pics, it seems that this is the way to go. I would like to put C172 tyres on the J however this is not possible under the rules, at least in Australia. If I can obtain the same result as Flyhi I will be more than happy.

Good man thanks for that Alan, how did you get your cow to fly anyway? my pigs only just make it within the C of G envelope.... Danny.

Thanks for the replys, yes we are in a pretty good rainfall district, generally drought proof most of the time. My first thoughts were to run the grader over it which seems to be by the posts a good idea, I just wanted to make the right choice and be educated by others experience. I think that getting the grass to grow back may not be much of a issue, with good seed and fertiliser and allow the sheep to graze on it to ease the cost of mowing. (The cattle are a bit heavy footed and could bugger the strip when wet). Cheers to all.

Considered that however that would be hundreds of tonnes at a huge cost to bring in extra material rather than use what is already there...

I have decided to put a strip on the farm at home. As can been seen from the photo, the area is basically level , however as this paddock has been previously ploughed and then seeded and returned to pasture there is small hips and hollows down the selected site. I have considered running the grader down the strip to just take off the high spots, another thought would be to either plough over and over or rotory hoe then drag smooth with mesh or similar. Clearly I need the grass to grow back quickly and thick. Has anyone faced a similar situation and if so, what did you do and what was the end result??

Sorry, meant to reply to SAjabiruflyer

I appreciate what you are saying ultralights, however your business needs to run at a profit or you don,t survive. Airports are an important infrastructure that will mostly never run at a profit, they are like roads and the rail system. What would happen if local councils said that the boat ramps are running at a loss so decided to shut them down, the implications to tourism would far outweigh the costs of continuing to provide a service. Again it seems to those that hold the purse strings that if you fly an aircraft you must be well off so lets get a dollar out of them. There are a number of councils who could not give a rats rectum to see an airport close because they would save a heap of money to put into something else. Thankfully there are those that have the wisdom to see the spin offs from fly in visitors, the RFDS that flys in or the boys and girls dropping water over vast amounts of country that is on fire. Like it or not, airports are necessary for the wider community and not just those who might fire up the old girl on a Sunday morning. Local and state Govt should continue to fund these important pieces of real estate without the need to hit people up for in-proportionate landing fees , after all, isn't that what we pay our taxes for... I'm certainly not getting my share for the taxes that goes into the Sydney road system or the national museum...

"Build it and they will come". If a local pub in a little town put on free beer you watch the population grow, this would mean so many spin offs for other businesses and the town. I know that the pub would go broke in this scenario but you get my drift. We need to do what ever we can to promote and encourage aviation, not out price and out tax the damn thing into extinction.

Yep but the majority are owned and run by councils who many have been given the airfield by the commonwealth in the past. Councils and communities benefit from the flying public who generally utilise taxis and local motels etc, it has been noted on many forums that pilots will overfly an airfield which attracts landing fees for one that doesn't in order to obtain fuel etc. Yes, some are private and should be patronised. The mere pittance that is received from landing fees is not the difference between airports remaining open or not, given the cost of recovering these fees. When I land at places like South Grafton, I happily give the club my $5 as it (directly) benefits the club. The propaganda pitched by some councils is akin to all pigs are fuelled and ready to fly....... Glen Innes has recently installed a camera to capture the registration of aircraft. The problem is that it is situated in a position which only records aircraft that cross the terminal side of the holding point, you can fly in and do touch and goes all day and not get your picture taken. This amounts to penalising the residents of the airfield and not those that are essentially "landing", the basis of the fee.

Airports are necessary parts of our infrastructure, as are roads (Both locally managed) imagine if every town you passed through a toll had to be paid. Yes we pay car registration however this makes up less than 10% of the renewal costs, the rest is a tax that apparently goes towards providing infrastructure. Just as the case with fuel, a high percentage of the cost is a tax. The amount of fuel you burn is directly related to the amount you fly your A/C, this has a direct relationship to the number of times you land. I accept that if you go to the big smoke, you will pay for the priviledge of being there, either fly in or drive in, but come on, just because you can fly into Oodnadatta instead of driving there, you get a bill....... It's another case of if you contribute to society there is always some bastard there to relieve you of some well earned cash.

JabSP6 Cheers for that, I was speaking with a mate who owns a tyre shop the other day and we discussed the balancing of the Jab wheels, will surely notice the difference when done. As the parts have already been ordered I will continue with that option, thanks for your input.

Turboplanner, "Regurgitate", the bulk of my post was based on my own experience, clearly not regurgitated from anywhere, so you chose to criticise me on one paragraph which may be a view shared by others..... I may have this wrong but I thought that this site was to share information and experiences, I may not have the time to read each and every post like you and I apologise for being the first to repeat a topic. I won't get into a p ing competition with you however I thought that my 30 years flying experience might entitle me to have an opinion on flight safety. Now read my previous post again and digest the guts of what I was saying. Clearly you have a self righteous claim to this site in the manner in which you reply to other members.

I do get some vibration on take off which I eliminate by applying brakes. Other than excessive tyre wear, the thing looks cr@ppy that way as well. Thanks for the replies....

I second the comments made in relation to training for an engine out. I have experienced a catastrophic engine failure in a twin, it does not matter what aircraft you are in your reaction to this event MUST be instinctive, weather that be phase 1 actions in multi engine or "looking for a paddock" in a single engine, the mindset and response must be so rehersed that it is second nature. On the Jab engine, I own a J230 and so far am very pleased with the aircraft. I have not had any issues with the engine or airframe (to be fair it only has 130 hrs on it). I was speaking with a L2 the other day who had been given the job to replace the through bolts on a Jabiru which had been maintained by a LAME in the past. It was found that a number of things on the aircraft had not been attended to probably since new, the oil filter used was not the type approved by Jabiru , this filter allowed oil to drain away when the engine was stopped, this meant that on start up vital components were running relatively dry until the oil pump could do its job. I am certainly not knocking maintainers here, however, when a LAME for example does his/her trade, they become very good at maintaining cessnas and pipers and the like, Jabirus are unique in a number of respects as are most sport aircraft. I believe that before anyone is permitted to maintain an aircraft that they should at least have completed a course or undertaken some form of study relative to that particular aircraft. Like being endorsed on a particular aircraft. My personal view is that if you own a Jabiru, you should pull the heads off at 500 hrs and inspect the valves, guides and springs. This should not be necessary I know. Like all things there is good and bad points, if you need a part for a Jabiru you don't need a second mortgage, other popular engines in use, a different story. To have a balanced view I would like to see figures of the number of jabirus compared to other aircraft and obtain a comparison in regard to engine failures. Some J bashers will make comments that the company is not taking responsibility for a known problem, I think that if this were the case, the RAA, CASA, or certainly Fair Trading would be all over it, wouldn't they?? Just my 2 bobs worth.....

Thank you both, Bob my concern there would be that the parts I have ordered are supplied by J for this adjustment, they did not suggest your mod, is that something that has been done before or your design? Danny

I have a J230 which seems to have excessive positive camber set. The aircraft sits on the outer edges of the tyre and always wears that way, with the centre of the tyre tread hardly wearing. I had believed from new that this was a deliberate pre set to accommodate for loads on landing. I have ordered spacers and longer bolts from the factory which replace original to allow the inner most part of the leg to be positioned further from the belly of the aircraft thus resulting in a slightly wider stance and less camber on wheels. My question here is has anyone else performed a similar adjustment and if so were there any notable differences other than visual and what did you find was the best way to hold the aircraft up as each leg is removed?