Microlights- flying the Xair
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to sail beyond the sunset
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 81
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From: Dublin
Microlights- flying the Xair
Anyone out there flown/own an Xair?
There seem to be a good few of them here in Ireland and they look like a lot of fun for those of us who have no designs on breaking Mach 1
There seem to be a good few of them here in Ireland and they look like a lot of fun for those of us who have no designs on breaking Mach 1
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 616
Likes: 0
From: Essex, UK
X'Airs are a bit maligned for their lack of speed, but are lovely to fly and very popular due to the low price. In reality, they are happy at approx 50kts.
£10k-£12k buys you a good one and then its 15-17 litres of Mogas an hour.
They are very popular in the UK.
£10k-£12k buys you a good one and then its 15-17 litres of Mogas an hour.
They are very popular in the UK.
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 233
Likes: 0
From: UK
I've flown a few of them, and although I don't, would be happy to own one.
Somebody set out to design an aircraft which was incredibly cheap with as good handling is they could manage, and ended up with the X'Air. It's slow and arguably quite ugly, as well as fairly difficult to get in and out of, but that basically ends my criticisms.
It's an excellent short strip machine, with a big enough fuel tank (55 - 60 litres, seems to vary slightly between machines) to be a reasonable (200nm+ legs) tourer. It's thoroughly pleasant to fly, with a superb view out and viceless handling. I'd be fairly comfortably operating one from a 300m grass field.
The cockpit, once you can get into it, is comfortable with bags of instrument panel and proper dual controls (lovely wooden sticktop), although no brakes on the right.
With regard to the differences between then, I'd not buy the flapped version (known variously by the salesmen as "Falcon" the French as "F" and the BMAA as "Mk.2") - the roll control is sloppier and I don't frankly think the flaps make it a much more effective aeroplane. You do want one with doors (the British approved doors, not the flimsy French ones) since it gets rather drafty without, and in my opinion the best engine fitted to the X'Air is the Jabiru. Having said that the most common engine is the Rotax 582 which does the job well, but is fairly noisy and thirsty (about 18 litres/hr versus about 12 with the Jabiru); the Rotax 912 is bigger and heavier than you really need without any obvious performance benefit (looks nice though) the HKS 700 engine is gutless and I'd not touch it. I think that the UK importers are trying to push a "Verner" 4-stroke engine as their preferred engine at the moment, but I've not had a chance to fly that I'm afraid.
I have been to Vne in an X'Air, it's 83 knots and I'm fairly convinced that I was pointed straight down, the risk of an inadvertent overspeed in the type is roughly nil ! Stalls at about 33 knots, very benignly indeed. If you are daft enough to try you can throw it around, but it's far from aerobatic.
At £10-£12k for a 50kn local flying / slow touring aeroplane, I'd say it's superb value for money.
P
Somebody set out to design an aircraft which was incredibly cheap with as good handling is they could manage, and ended up with the X'Air. It's slow and arguably quite ugly, as well as fairly difficult to get in and out of, but that basically ends my criticisms.
It's an excellent short strip machine, with a big enough fuel tank (55 - 60 litres, seems to vary slightly between machines) to be a reasonable (200nm+ legs) tourer. It's thoroughly pleasant to fly, with a superb view out and viceless handling. I'd be fairly comfortably operating one from a 300m grass field.
The cockpit, once you can get into it, is comfortable with bags of instrument panel and proper dual controls (lovely wooden sticktop), although no brakes on the right.
With regard to the differences between then, I'd not buy the flapped version (known variously by the salesmen as "Falcon" the French as "F" and the BMAA as "Mk.2") - the roll control is sloppier and I don't frankly think the flaps make it a much more effective aeroplane. You do want one with doors (the British approved doors, not the flimsy French ones) since it gets rather drafty without, and in my opinion the best engine fitted to the X'Air is the Jabiru. Having said that the most common engine is the Rotax 582 which does the job well, but is fairly noisy and thirsty (about 18 litres/hr versus about 12 with the Jabiru); the Rotax 912 is bigger and heavier than you really need without any obvious performance benefit (looks nice though) the HKS 700 engine is gutless and I'd not touch it. I think that the UK importers are trying to push a "Verner" 4-stroke engine as their preferred engine at the moment, but I've not had a chance to fly that I'm afraid.
I have been to Vne in an X'Air, it's 83 knots and I'm fairly convinced that I was pointed straight down, the risk of an inadvertent overspeed in the type is roughly nil ! Stalls at about 33 knots, very benignly indeed. If you are daft enough to try you can throw it around, but it's far from aerobatic.
At £10-£12k for a 50kn local flying / slow touring aeroplane, I'd say it's superb value for money.
P
