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Old 12th Jan 2014, 12:11
  #42 (permalink)  
RTN11
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: UK
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The Jabiru is, by a very long way, the worst aircraft I've ever flown. It's very difficult to find any good points about it.

It is incredibly cramped, and there is hardly room for your feet on the tiny rudder pedals (perhaps contributing here). I only wear size nine shoes, but my foot had to be at an angle for my toe to be on the rudder, as the cockpit gets very narrow at the bottom.

Then there's the fact that some Jabiru models in the UK are limited to an absurd 430KG max take off mass. If you're trying to get two people in it you can barely carry an hour and a half's fuel, so I'm sure these aircraft are almost always operated over weight.

Then there's the view, which is truly awful out of the tiny windscreen, and the windows in the door are so low that any normal sized person (I'm only 5'10") has to dip their head down to be able to look out of the side. This severely hampers lookout and even the most basic airmanship becomes a challenge.

The Jabiru engine isn't the worst on the market, but it's no Lycoming, and every one I've operated has been riddled with oil pressure problems.

Compare this to the Europa (with tricycle undercarriage) or even the Ikarus C42 and it loses on every point. I honestly don't know what would convince anyone to spend any time building one of these monstrosities, just to scrape along with a cruise of 75 to 80 Kts.
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