John R Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 Just wondering if any of you looked at / flew the Jabiru before going with CT. How did they compare. Similar type planes prices close...just wondering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 I have flown 2 Jabiru 250's. I work on the engine on occasions. The cabin is small and tight. My knees are in the dash, my shoulders would over lap anyone else in the plane. It is only a common center stick and hand brake like a motorcycle. It carries less fuel, the fit and finish isn't even close to a CT, the door hinges are a major weak point. Engine's aren't making it to TBO, cooling issues, oil use and its still an air cooled engine. Let me know if you want more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John R Posted July 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 Thanks. You answered a lot of questions I had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Meade Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 I have about 20 minutes in a Jabiru 250 and it doesn't fly even as well as the FD. The controls felt less coordinated, in that you had to have lots of pressure on one and not so much on the the other - can't remember which but I remember it was worse than the CT. The Jabiru seems to be built strong and has a place behind the pilots for storage. I visited their assembly plant in Tennessee and felt comfortable with what I saw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingMonkey Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 What I have read is the airplane is very light in pitch and very heavy in roll. Sounds like a lot of work. I love the monster baggage bay, but with a useful load usually less than a CT, can you really use it (without going above LSA gross)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmer Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 airframe have has a max OAT tempeture that is legal to fly. many days and places where temp exceed legal to fly number. that was an issue for me at that time. Farmer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT4ME Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 Hangar neighbor has a nice new one... looks good, great fit/finish. I Can't fit in as knees don't go under the panel. He's had a few problems, including leaking... but he loves it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 The jabiru 250 was originally a 4 (for little people) seat 1600 lb. gross weight plane. They removed the seats and lowered the weight to call it an LSA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gmoore7 Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 I will pass on to you what A friend told me when I was looking at the Jabiru. He said to go to,the Internet and look up Jabiru engine failures and emergency landings. He said if that did not convince me then I should call around and see if I could find some one to work on it when I needed repairs. May I suggest the CT for you as a better choice of the two planes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingMonkey Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 I agree the CT is the better of the two planes, but I know a lot of people running Jabiru engines in their experimentals with no problems. In fact, I was planning on a Jabiru 3300 engine in the Sonex I was building. The engine is nice, and makes good power, the primary issue seems to be keeping it cool (like most air-cooled engines). The engine redline temps is 400°F and it's not hard to get it there. Here in Georgia in the hot summer one of my friends says he needs to get off the ground within about 10 minutes of engine start or temps start to get too high. That's not ideal, but once in the air he has no problems. Rotec is making a liquid cooled heads option for the 3300 that keeps temps under 250°F even running full speed on the ground for hours, so that is an option to tame the heat. All told I like the Rotax engine better, but there is nothing wrong or unreliable with the Jabiru engines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duski Don Posted July 25, 2013 Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 G'day John R, Greetings from down under. I have owned both. A J160 Jabiru and now a CTsw. They're like chalk and cheese. Done 650 hours in the Jab and worked on the engine internals 3 times. Finish left a bit to be desired but otherwise a sturdy little aeroplane. If you're into eating chalk get yourself a Jab. Duski Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingMonkey Posted July 25, 2013 Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 But Don, how do you really feel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Posted July 25, 2013 Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 We in the USA don't know what the colloquialism 'chalk and cheese' refers to. Can you translate? http://lmgtfy.com/?q=chalk+and+cheese Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duski Don Posted July 25, 2013 Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 G'day CTLSi, "Chalk and cheese" means different. I've just extended on that to make it obvious which is my preferred aircraft. (but then I've never tasted US chalk) Kind regards, Duski Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingMonkey Posted July 25, 2013 Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 But you can't write with cheese! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug G. Posted July 25, 2013 Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 Some people seem to add a bit of cheese to their writing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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