A twin-engined version of Australia's Jabiru has been flown for the first time in South Africa.
The aircraft is a modification of the J430 with engines mounted in pods either side of a redesigned nose, and is a joint project between the Bundaberg headquarters and Jabiru Southern Africa.
According to Jabiru founder Rod Stiff, the idea came from South Africa to enable customers to fly at a greater height and over areas where a forced landing is not a great idea.
"Len and Les Alford of Jabiru Aircraft Southern Africa are our South African dealers and more than that they are very good friends," Stiff noted in his August briefing.
"Len approached us a year-and-a-half ago suggesting there was a market for a twin engine Jabiru in Africa. Len explained that parts of Africa are best flown over at a great height! The prevalence of wild animals and AK47’s [automatic assault rifles] tends to make you nervous about out-field landings and the comfort of two engines is hard to replace."
Initally, the concept proved a problem to Stiff because mounting engines on the wings meant a total wing redesign and the engine pods would obstruct entry to the cockpit.
"I then struck upon the idea of mounting the engines on a short canard mounted on the firewall," Stiff continues. "Yes ... it looked as though it would work. Some quick calculations on the weight and balance weren’t too frightening and I was able to get the propellers quite close together to reduce the amount of asymmetric thrust on one engine. I was then able to get the doors open against the engine pods and the design evolved from there."
The structure and moulds were made into a kit in Australia, which was then shipped to South Africa and fitted to the nose of a new aircraft. CAA permissions were handled from the South African end.
Eventually, Jabiru hopes to be able to offer the twin kit to Australian and US customers for fitting to J430s registered as experimental.