planesmaker

A stall on final? Good pilot? Really?

How to determine xwind from windsock? Not an accurate science. Next time your at a field ask around what pilots think the wind speed is from reading the windsock? Could be quite educational.

My concern with the Chinese rotax copy is parts supply, no not for the Zongshen but the genuine rotax if fake parts start filtering through that could cause your rotax to become less than it should be.

Price is ‘rigged’ by manufacturer of course.

My 914 j400 does not need lead in the tail w&b is spot on

Yes the j400 is the same as a j430 but with the shorter wings. Empty wt 345kg useful load 355kg good for my family at the moment. Good aircraft. Lifts more than a c172, cruises faster, climbs much much better, all on half the fuel.

I love my j400

I might add wheel alignment can add to a cause. I checked one recently and found left wheel toed in a lot, I would think it would make landing interesting. Ended up replacing the gear leg.

So what makes 2 pak paint so much heavier than other paint? How do you weigh your paint?

I take the family flying with me. I have a Jab 400. 2weeks ago flew to Corryong for a picnic, walk to town and fly home. Perfect weather for flying an aircraft I built in my garage with the family onboard hooting along at 115kt on less than 20lt/hr My wife likes to go flying.

I would not lower float as at full power you risk running short of fuel and engine will surge.

As a factory built lsa it is not an experimental it is registerable as vh lsa 600kg and yes lame maintenance. Build it yourself as vh experimental and have 700kg and owner/builder maintenance

Any idea of empty wt? 0-235 are quite heavy around 110kg, I guess a heavy tail wheel may balance it out. Higher empty wt means less usable load. Just interested in weights.

lsa exists in vh registration too. So lsa j230 can be regoed vh.

Thanks Paul

A factory built J230 can be registered vh as an LSA which is limited to 600kg. The Lsa is the limiting factor.

J400 stalls a little faster than the long wing, longer wing about 30kg heavier, anybody correct me if I’m wrong but a std J230 is around 380kg. Short wing is definitely easier to hangar. :). Performance difference between std j400 and mine is quite marked but I have a c/s prop. Mine climbs much better even at 100 hp takeoff. Cruise about the same. I cruise 115kts @ 17lt/hr 4800rpm

I have a 914 j400, and love it. Balance wise it is really good, actually better than a std j400 that a friend built at the same time as me. He was recommended to limit wt on back seat unless wt was added up front. Performance is really good, I do have c/s prop. Rarely use full power for take off, 100hp at around 650kg we climb at 800ft/min. 115hp , 1500 ft/min. Empty wt 345kg. A j230 is a little heavier with the longer wings. I have not needed ballast wt added. I think I know the aircraft you are talking about in qld although I have not seen it I believe it is not the tidiest aircraft around. A 914 is about the same wt installed as the Jab 6, including radiators etc. A 914 is not difficult to operate service wise. I’m A very happy Jab owner. :)) if you are ever close to Tumut come for a fly! Tom

Condolences to family and friends it would have been a very dark night with new moon only 3 days (nights) old.

Seems like it’s all changed again? I can’t take anymore changes. See you all.

Not gen 4 ours only goes over on climb. in cruise we have a spread of 135 to 150. I would not be flying it, it’s definitely not good for the engine. What have jabiru got to say about it? did they fit it?

I would not be flying it at those temps far too high. On our club jab with older engine I have the alarm set at 155’C it gives pilots early warning to do something about it. Something is quite amiss there. Was it running that hot during breakin?

Here is a copy of article. Dear Forumites Herewith an incident I had with diesel in petrol. I'm sharing this to create awareness, so here goes: On Saturday I decided, on short notice, to fly to a meeting Outjo to Otjiwarongo (1/2hr), and from there to Tsumeb (2hrs). From the word go I was late for the meeting and had less than an hour to get my Hawk ready. I needed petrol and found my normal fuel container 3/4 full. Which was weird, because I always empty them (What doesn't fit in before a flight gets added after), but what was inside looked and smelled like unleaded, so I just added petrol at the pumps to fill them completely and off I went. During warming up I noticed a little bit of blue smoke coming from the exhaust when looking at it against the sun. By the time I got the hangar doors closed I had already forgotten all about it. En route to Otjiwarongo I found that I burned 11.8l/h instead of the normal 11.0 @ 4,900rpm, but put it down to weird and ignored it further. The EGT's looked slightly lower than normal, but the weather was cooler so that explanation was tagged to the problem. In Otjiwarongo all was normal. I even took a friend for a short scenic flight before I departed to Tsumeb. During the pre-flight in Otjiwarongo I didn't check the oil level. How much oil can one lose in 40 minutes, right? En route I noticed that the 912 UL seemed to run slightly erratic, the revs dipped from 5,000 to 4,800 every now and then. When I applied full throttle the engine responded fast and willingly and settled back on 5,000 easily. This puzzled me, but it was turbulent and I was busy dodging rain showers, so I found another convenient explanation: Obviously the turbulence I ran into caused the motor to labour every now and then. Problem analysed and explained away. On landing in Tsumeb I found my oil container brim-full and every drop of oil that couldn't fit into the tank (which was a lot) spread evenly over the tail feathers. After a whole day of trying to find an explanation (it isn't easy at all to explain 1.5l of oil gained during the flight) I latched onto a possible solution and traced the fuel supply. The "petrol" came from a diesel car that was wrongly filled with petrol at the pumps. The mixture was drained and stored for further use. I had actually witnessed the whole operation and was also concerned that "my aircraft fuel containers" were used for the job, but I'd mos know about it and not forget. Right. The 912 is fine. Except for a red face, so is the pilot. The spark plugs were cleaner than I have ever seen them, it looked like a layer of coke had been loosened from the pistons. We drained and refilled both oil and fuel and changed all filters. The magnetic oil plug was clean except for a single sliver of metal. I'll have the oil analysed to check, but the Hawk behaved very well during the flight back to Outjo, which was conducted at ample altitude for a possible emergency landing. I fly a low compression 4-stroke. With a higher compression engine like the 912 ULS the story may have ended differently, or finally. Thus to repeat my instructor's lessons: • Don't be rushed when tending to your aircraft. • Make sure about your fuel supply. Repeat, make *sure* about your fuel supply. • Don't take deviances from normal lightly. My fuel consumption wasn't normal, neither were the lower EGT's and definitely not the fluctuating revs.

Interesting case recently of a 912 making oil, preflight revealed oil tank full almost to the top. Needless to say aircraft was not flown. It appears fuel has somehow got into the sump, first thought fuel pump (done only 70hrs) but surely that is what the drain on the pump is for. Carby floats was another thought however any fuel leaking past needle from flooded Carby bowl would have to flow up over an incline in the inlet manifold, it would rather flow out the back of Carby. After a search on internet someone who had seen this said it was diesel contamination in fuel. I would never had considered this possibility, searching further I found a person who actually experienced this very thing and could trace it back to diesel contamination. I will try to post a link. Just writing this to let others know and be careful about fuel supply.

3 point landing!