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jeffd

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am looking at the 610 /600 as a potential 1st aircraft can any1 give me a run down on them ,thanks

Hi Jeff,

 

I assume you have looked at the Brumby info on the Aircraft section of this site? If not then that would be a good starting place.

 

Also you could contact a couple of guys on here who have flown or own Brumbys - Andrew1975, and Stevron. There may be others too - just do a forum search with the keyword Brumby.

 

BTW there was an article about the Brumby factory at the end of the current Australian Flying magazine which may be worth a read.

 

They sound like a nice aircraft, well built, and locally made, so I hope you may choose to buy one and support local industry!

 

HTH

 

Cheers

 

Neil

 

 

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Hi Jeff,

 

As a first aircraft I think the Brumby 610 high wing is probably your best shot. The main reasons are that it's an unbelievably easy aircraft to fly, it is exceptionally docile in flight and its stall characteristics are really a non event - in other words the aircraft more mushes rather than traditionally stalls. Check out the stall video on the Brumby YouTube channel and you are working hard to see the actual stall itself (actually themselves, there are 3 of them). The first time I flew the high wing I managed a really nice landing from the right hand seat. So if I can slicker in a landing in a brand new aircraft it says a lot for the aeroplane.

 

Some of the other things about the Brumby high wing is that has a huge cockpit, and 140 ltrs of fuel so if you need to stay up longer for some reason such as weather, you can do so for 6 hours or so. It's also pretty fast as it cruises about 105 knots.

 

However if you are after more of a 'sports car' the Brumby 600 low wing might be a better bet for you. While both the 600 and the 610 are built to very high standards - more like light general aviation aircraft than LSA's, the 600 low wing is particularly bullet proof, it handles turbulence really well and is more resistant to stronger winds on finals and landing. The view from the cockpit of the 600 is also excellent.

 

I guess the question is maybe what do you eventually want to use the aircraft for. Both the high and the low wing Brumby's are predictable and easy aircraft to fly so you won't go wrong with either of them. I suggest you give Paul a ring at Brumby in Cowra and he can give you the details on both aircraft. I hope this helps.

 

Ross

 

 

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The high wing Brumby IMO looks a bit ungainly...but so does the Savanah...until you fly one...and then you appreciate that function has it's own beauty and you never look at the bird the same way again.

 

 

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am looking at the 610 /600 as a potential 1st aircraft can any1 give me a run down on them ,thanks

Hi Jeff,As a first aircraft I think the Brumby 610 high wing is probably your best shot. The main reasons are that it's an unbelievably easy aircraft to fly, it is exceptionally docile in flight and its stall characteristics are really a non event - in other words the aircraft more mushes rather than traditionally stalls. Check out the stall video on the Brumby YouTube channel and you are working hard to see the actual stall itself (actually themselves, there are 3 of them). The first time I flew the high wing I managed a really nice landing from the right hand seat. So if I can slicker in a landing in a brand new aircraft it says a lot for the aeroplane.

 

Some of the other things about the Brumby high wing is that has a huge cockpit, and 140 ltrs of fuel so if you need to stay up longer for some reason such as weather, you can do so for 6 hours or so. It's also pretty fast as it cruises about 105 knots.

 

However if you are after more of a 'sports car' the Brumby 600 low wing might be a better bet for you. While both the 600 and the 610 are built to very high standards - more like light general aviation aircraft than LSA's, the 600 low wing is particularly bullet proof, it handles turbulence really well and is more resistant to stronger winds on finals and landing. The view from the cockpit of the 600 is also excellent.

 

I guess the question is maybe what do you eventually want to use the aircraft for. Both the high and the low wing Brumby's are predictable and easy aircraft to fly so you won't go wrong with either of them. I suggest you give Paul a ring at Brumby in Cowra and he can give you the details on both aircraft. I hope this helps.

 

Ross

certainly does thanks Ross afriend whom trains at the same flight school as me Coominya Flight Training (theres the plug lol) likes the low wing as well he is on here as magishme and his name is david i will let him kno your thoughts thanks

 

 

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heres a test drive I did on the high wing .http://www.recreationalflying.com/threads/highwing-brumby-test-drive.46483/

 

We operate a couple of the low wings in our school. If you want to give me a call, id be happy to answer any questions for you.

 

Pm me for my number.

 

Cheers

 

 

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Come over to Watts Bridge some time or give me a call, happy to come over to Coominya. I would be happy to show you a Nynja. It will do just about anything a Brumby will do at half the price. www.bestoffaircraft.com.au Greg.

Except build and certify itself for training...

(hey you asked for it for trying to steal a thread on a competitor aircraft)

 

 

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All,

 

The 600 is a fantastic aircraft and inspired my wife to get her pilot certificate after we picked the aircraft up and flew it to Mt Isa, no doubt there are a lot of other good aircraft out there that I have not flown, but the other deciding factor for me would be that we have never been able to fault the service, the willingness to go that extra bit for the customers. We count the whole Brumby team as friends these days.

 

Michele & Tony ( Brumby 19-5364 )

 

 

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Thanks motz, did you end up doing a review on the low wing?

Hey Magis. I havn't yet. But now is as good a time as any I spose..

We have two low wing brumby's online with our flying school. Both are Rotax powered. One of them 7864 started its life with a 6 cyliner jabiru engine. But complications (multiple failures) prompted the owner to bite the bullet and install a Rotax.

 

Both aircraft have slightly different handling characteristics. This is due to 7007 having a slightly longer nose and a more forward CofG.

 

Also the undercarriage is olio instead of sprung steel. The idea for this model was to test the new design of undercarriage for the trainaing market. It works incredibly well and is very very tough, and really does take the sting out of the bouncy firm landings. Infact, In about 200 hours teaching in it I cant recall it ever bouncing.!

 

However the production techniques are much more complicated and I believe the weight disadvantage has meant they havnt continued the idea in later models. So we have the only Olio undercarriage Brumby:)

 

7864 however is pretty much factory stock standard so I will give a test drive report on this aeroplane.

 

One of the first things that you notice when you stand next to ANY Brumby aeroplane is its solidness. They all have a robust feel to them that is immediately evidenced when you have another aeroplane next to it to compare, a sport star or like. The Brumby looks like a Tank. Very solid all over. Nice Big tail, and rudder with a significant surface area below the horizontal stab which aids in rudder control at low speeds and high Angles of Attack. The wing is reminiscent of a cherokee or worrier with a taper and low cambered airfoil. Its here that Brumby have invested a lot of work and I reckon they have it nailed in the later models, which has carried through to the high wing.

 

The canopy is a forward sliding type (similar to a robbin) on rails and provides excellent visibility. The seats can be moved forward and back by removing locking tabs. This is an area i think Brumby are working on as it is a bit of dik around if your changing the positions often as in a School situation.

 

The cockpit is well laid out, an agricultural type of dash without lavish plush appoulstry, which I like. It gives the aeroplane a rugged "business" type of feel. Its by no means scant but some other aircraft designs have really focused on making the cockpit of the aeroplane like the insides of a $100000 SUV which may be good for some. But Im not a fan.

 

We have had a student who was 6 foot 2 and he had no issues with the height inside the cockpit. The movable seat was almost right back on its travel for him but still had some spare.

 

Theres a generous parcel shelf behind the seats and also two wells, one behind each seat that gives the aeroplane ample baggage space.

 

The four point harness gives you a nice solid clamp to the aeroplane if you need it and is easily adjustable.

 

Taxiing is very easy with good control over the nose wheel. Toe Brakes make turning tightly easy aswel with only a small amount of pressure on them.

 

We use 10 deg of flap generally when operating off our grass runway. this is just a personal preference I have instigated to help get the plane off the ground a bit earlier. Our strip is a little rough and undulating so we want the students off as quickly as possible.

 

Normally though, flap is not required for takeoff.

 

The aeroplane accelerates nicely with only the usual slight tendency to yaw when power is applied. Nothing nasty here and once the rudder is active there is only slight pressures needed to keep straight. Again, that big rudder with plenty of area starts working very quickly. When trimmed correctly (very slightly nose up or neautral) the aeroplane will not feel stuck to the ground and at about 45 kts a little tickle of back pressure will see you flying smartly.

 

We work on a climb out speed of 70 initially then 75-80 once the flaps are retracted at 200 ft. This puts the spinner on the horizon for the average height pilot and helps keep the engine cool on warm days.

 

At MTOW on say a 30 deg day the Brumby with a 100 horse rotax and a 3 blade prop pulls at about 800ft-900ft/ minute. But you will need to keep a bit of pressure on the rudder to keep balanced or else this performance will reduce quite significantly. That big tail does catch the spiralling airflow and you will get a full ball of yaw if you dont balance it.

 

Once leveled out in the cruise the nose position is good. it doesnt feel like your flying downhill all the time like some low wings. The attitude is easily maintained once trimmed out using the trim wheel which, like the high wing, is under you hand on the center consul.

 

The trim is very nice. Little tickles forward and back is all thats ever really required. Not reeefing around on it, and it never gets too heavy.

 

Cruising at 5000 RPM with the prop set for climbing, we get about 90-95 kts. When the prop was set for cruising we were getting 100-105 depending.

 

Steep turns are great fun in this aeroplane. The controls are very light and responsive. In this respect I like the feel a little more than the high wing. Almost RV feeling. The ailerons are light and so is the elevator, but slightly heavier. All in all, very well balanced.

 

Rolling into a turn with co ordinated rudder gives the aeroplane an almost fighter feel to it. If you dont use rudder you will get a bout a ball of deflection. The secondary effects of the ailerons are reasonably pronounced at low speeds, but hardly noticeable at higher speeds.

 

Once established in the turn, a little back pressure and the nose will sweep the horizon nicely with only small inputs from the pilot.

 

I have found it easy to teach steep turns in the Brumby, most students are able to feel their way into the turns nicely and maintain a reasonable turn from the beginning.

 

The secondary effects of the rudder (roll) are not very strong which is surprising when you consider the size of the thing. So the normal tendency to pedal (tour de france) in the turns doesnt make it prone to tipping over into a spiral.

 

The real Magic of this aeroplane is in its stability. It has a very nice balance between stability and manoeuvrability. But most pilots ive checked out in the Brumby say it feels "solid in the air". And I agree tottaly. It really does penetrate nicely and has a very GA feel to it. The airfoil is a real winner for me. Good compromise, reaonsbaly high wing loading, but not stupidly high.

 

Stalling is a non event in the clean idle config. Full flap and some power will almost always produce a wing drop to the left, although I like to call it a roll, as it doesn't just Break over like some do. Its more of a roll that develops over a few seconds.

 

If you Hold the nose in a ridiculous attitude it will give a genuine wing drop though. And you really have to be aggressive to get this.

 

Best glide speed is around 64 kts. When trimmed for this speed and gliding, the nose is not very high like some types. Its pretty much the level attitude which helps to keep it pretty when gliding. The decent rate is about 600-700 ft per minute on an estimated glide ratio of about 8-10 to 1. Again, it penetrates well so keeping the speed high rather than low is not difficult.

 

Taking some flap will get the nose down a little more and increase the sink, but you have to take all the flap (which are electric) to get a real good sink rate happening. Once you get it sinking it really does sink heavily and there is little need for slipping.

 

Back into the circuit.

 

We like to slow the thing down on late downwind. We achieve this by reducing power from cruise RPM to about 4200 abeam the threshold. This brings the speed back nicely to about 75 kts ready for the base turn.

 

The plane feels very nice at slow speeds, it doesn't get mushy and will feel as good at 65 kts as it does at 90.

 

On base, we take 10 deg's of flap and trim for 70 kts.

 

From here on flap will only be used as required, so on windy days we find we are normally only taking the 10 deg's.

 

Once established on final we slow to 65 kts and trim again. Again, this is where more flap can be taken if needed. But generally the power is back to idle at this stage, depending on wind etc.

 

Over the fence we look for 60 kts. The brumby doesn't float much, so the flare can be done in one smooth pitch up of the nose, but what it will do is hop along the ground a little if you have a bit too much speed. What we find happening is pilots not completing the landing. And this is something we spend time on when converting pilots. The touchdown is complete and you can even have all three wheels on the ground- relax th back pressure and the nose is forced down as the elevator STILL has plenty in the bank. So you can get a bit of pilot induced porposing. The correction for this is to maintain what ever back pressure you touchdown with. Dont relax it at ALL. Hold the stick back and after touchdown as the speed bleeds, bring it back to the stop of its not there already.

 

The brakes are quite effective and should be applied carefully. The brumby isnt sqirelly on the ground, but it does require attention.

 

All in all. The low Wing brumby would have to be one of the nicest aeroplanes Ive flown. RAA or otherwise. It reminds me of the RV (without the speed) and also of the cherokee with its ride and stability.

 

I hope this helps..:)

 

Cheers

 

 

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This is a fantastic post and I really appreciate it. The details make for a very nice package indeed. I do want cruise performance of minimum 100 knots so this just makes the grade with a coarse prop. I will be looking a purchasing in around 6 months so I will have this on the list and defiantly look them up when I go to Natfly.

 

Thanks again motz you are a gentleman.

 

 

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Hi Jeff,

 

I didn't mention this in my earlier post but I've been flying since '85 and have lost the "spark" so as a result I have probably the best equipped LSA in Australia for sale (although it's not yet advertised extensively).

 

Anyway, it's the Brumby 600 low wing; it's a 2010 model with a Rotax 914 turbo engine which gives sea level performance right up to 15,000 feet (and that makes a big difference if you want to cruise in the higher altitudes up to 10,000 feet). It also comes equipped with a GRS ballistic parachute, an auto pilot, a top-of-the-line Dynon SkyView EFIS and a whole bunch of high end ancillary gear including a radar altimeter, the larger 600 tyres for rough field landings and a very loud air horn to scare the hell out of roos, birds, cattle and anybody else on the air field.

 

The aircraft has only done about 150 hours. As an example of what you get for your money, the 914 turbo engine is about $16,000 more than the standard 912 engine and the chute itself cost $9,000 and that doesn't include the huge number of hours they spent to install it. It has a Sensenich 3 blade prop and the whole aircraft performs like a dream. Also with the larger tyres, and the wide heavy duty under-carriage it's harder to mess up a landing. It cruises in the 110 knot + range but would go a few knots faster with smaller tyres fitted. Brumby 7322 really is a serious cross-country, touring LSA. 7322 is based in Cowra and has always been maintained by Brumby.

 

I am asking $135,000 for 7322 which is a steal given what the aircraft it is, and how much it cost originally.

 

However, as I said in my first post, if you want a really nice, very useful, very comfortable first aircraft with impeccable manners talk to Paul about a new 610 high wing. If you want a aerial sports car see Paul about a new low wing 600. But if you want one straight away, mine is available at the moment so you can PM me or talk to Paul about it as he knows 7322 intimately.

 

Ross

 

 

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Hi all,

 

As you all know I have the 610 high wing. I fly all the time in it and use it now as part of my job. The other day I left Mildura to fly to Birchip and then later to Swan Hill. I was flying across the Mallee in the afternoon and the temperature when I left Mildura was 46 degrees Celsius and hotter in Swan Hill. Climbed to 4500 feet, cruise was 98 knots, all dials stayed in the green ( a little higher than usual), climb performance was 400 feet per minute, except in a thermal at 1500... I would describe the weather as "sporty", and was interested to see how the 610 would preform. I have flow a tecnam at 36 decrees an it was pretty rough. Anyway, I was very happy with the stability of the aircraft, naturally it rode with the thermals, but always felt stable with wings level, and just letting the aircraft fly. Certainly not the best flying conditions, but this little LSA preformed as smooth as the piper that was following me the next day, and the passengers in that plane were green at arrival...

 

 

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