Choosing between Thruster Sprint & Jabiru Calypso

[XairUK]

Hi All,

I will be doing some microlight training at Damyns Hall in Essex shortly and has a preferred school in mind. I have a choice of flying either a T600 or Calypso. My instinct says to go for the Thruster, I have always admired the Thruster and always knew this would be the choice to fly. However, I would also have access to the Jabiru which is very modern and sporty, up close it looks very much like the CTSW which is also at the airfield and owned by another guy. The calypso looks like a pricey aircraft to fly, hire or own as compared to the T600. The Thruster is probably what I will go for as I could probably own one outright one day, and would be nice to train in the aircraft I will probably buy. Is it worth it doing a trial flight in each, or just go with my instinct? (The Thruster). Your thoughts are appreciated.

Alex

[AnglianAV8R]

You're probably fishing in the wrong pond. Pop across to www.microlightforum.com (http://www.microlightforum.com) for friendly advice from folks who fly both types. The Calypso is simply a jabiru and most were homebuilt from kits, whereas the Thruster is 'factory built' and more expensive. The reason being that microlights with 'factory built' status can be used by training schools which keeps up their value.

[Merlin513]

The Jabiru used for flight training is the UL-D, and at Damyns is operated by Rochester Microlights. The Jabiru UL-D is a factory built aircraft, which is a requirment for school training.

[The Fenland Flyer]

Because Thrusters are factory built they are relatively expensive, a Thruster Sprint with a Jabiru engine is about £18,000 secondhand, about the same price as a Jabiru. Kit built aircraft such as the x-air are much cheaper. Aircraft for sale (http://afors.com) will give you some idea of prices.
Thrusters with 2 stroke engines are also much cheaper, I know someone who brought a 582 powered T600 a few weeks back for £5,000

Personally I would train on the Thruster as they are a simple and fun and the view out is so good, and that's what microlighting is all about :) I'd second the recommendation for Microlight Forum Articles help and information for microlight pilots - The Front Page (http://www.microlightforum.com)

[Genghis the Engineer]

The term "Factory Built" can be a bit misleading - the correct term is "Type Approved", which applies to microlights that can be used for training, or for hire. All Thrusters, and the Jabiru 450-ULD only are type approved. All other Jabirus are legally amateur-built.

As for which aeroplane? I would go with the Thruster. Why?, because if that's the sort of aeroplane you will eventually do most of your flying, you want your originally trained flying habits to be as appropriate as possible to the aeroplanes that you'll eventually do most of your flying in. Also it's cheaper, and a bit slower - both of which will keep down the cost of learning.

You can then convert to anything you like later - at Damyns there are both the Jabiru and a couple of CTs, as well I'm sure as numerous other aeroplanes.

G

[magpienja]

Another very good source of information for you....lookout for Ginge...he is the Thruster man...his wife operates a school down south using the thruster type IIRC.

BMAA Forum (http://forums.bmaa.org/)

Nick.