Savanah Light Aircraft

[Brian]

Had a fly in a new Savannah light sport aircraft the other day, neat machine, seemingly well put together. well finished ..mostly and performs very well, 2 up and half fuel, I reckon it was off well inside 100 yards and landed despite a crosswind in about the same. 26 Knots stall with full flaps and cruised about 80 knots. Very nice seats and a good panel of instruments, very quiet with headsets on. Powered by a 912 of course and interesting to see a fuel flow of 20 LPH @ 5,000 revs. It has the long range tanks and can carry 141 litres so it can stay aloft for a while.Anyway, while the post has got nothing to do with gyros, it is interesting to compare with the opposition ???While they most certainly do not fly well in the rougher stuff, an enclosed cab and a heater on these frosty mornings has a bit going for it !!

[GraemeMonro]

Had a fly in a new Savannah light sport aircraft the other day, neat machine, seemingly well put together. well finished ..mostly and performs very well, 2 up and half fuel, I reckon it was off well inside 100 yards and landed despite a crosswind in about the same. 26 Knots stall with full flaps and cruised about 80 knots. Very nice seats and a good panel of instruments, very quiet with headsets on. Powered by a 912 of course and interesting to see a fuel flow of 20 LPH @ 5,000 revs. It has the long range tanks and can carry 141 litres so it can stay aloft for a while.Anyway, while the post has got nothing to do with gyros, it is interesting to compare with the opposition ???While they most certainly do not fly well in the rougher stuff, an enclosed cab and a heater on these frosty mornings has a bit going for it !! It"s a buggar getting old isn"t it Brian.Graeme.

[tonydenton]

g"day brian, i also had a ride in one awhile back as there is one handered at the strip. i interestingly noted with the 912 the oil pressure was min 2bar max 7 bar, best at 4bar. but with only 43 hours on the clock it was running at just 3bar.[ one above mininium] i thought it would of been a bit higher seeing it was new. did you note any oil pressure readings while you had a blap. only reason is i"ve been worried about my suby @ 3bar for a while now. it"s not a savannah thing, just had the chance to ask someone? it did booggie thou. and at that price you would have to wonder why any one one would buy a jab.

[GraemeMonro]

Jabs go faster and look nicer than a Savannah, but thats about all.I have been for a ride in a Savannah a while ago and watched a bloke put one through it"s paces and I was very impressed.As far as planks go they are near the top of the list.Graeme.

[JAL]

Tony if you run the Rotax 912 with the shell aero oil (which is the only oil recommended by Rotax to use now) when the oil is warm the engine runs about 1 bar less than ( low end of the green) than the VX4 oil or the other oils on the previous recommended list which would see oil pressures within the mid to upper green range.

[tonydenton]

jal thanks i ungerstand what you.ve said. the instrument panel was very well laid out and as i"ve said with all the maxama and mimama and preferred readings, so i just wondered thats all . also while your there it had what he called a soft start. when the engine was started it fired up[ it started] but not to proper idle speed. maybe 200 rpm under it but only for a few seconds and then it increased to normal idle speed. what ever that was now, [ few months ago] bob told me it was called " soft start" he hadn"t read up on it yet and wasn"t quite sure how it worked. it was always smoothe. not like it was only running on 2 cyl and if they don"t have a computer or any thing then what is it or really how does it work? i"m not sure if i"ve been around a rotax when 1 has started before so yeah maybe thats what they do ??????

[Brian]

g"day brian, i also had a ride in one awhile back as there is one handered at the strip. i interestingly noted with the 912 the oil pressure was min 2bar max 7 bar, best at 4bar. but with only 43 hours on the clock it was running at just 3bar.[ one above mininium] i thought it would of been a bit higher seeing it was new. did you note any oil pressure readings while you had a blap. only reason is i"ve been worried about my suby @ 3bar for a while now. it"s not a savannah thing, just had the chance to ask someone? it did booggie thou. and at that price you would have to wonder why any one one would buy a jab.

[tonydenton]

the old mate with the savanagh hadn"t had it in the hanger for a while , someone said it had a corrison problem , now there is a brand spanky new one there again, not good that it happened

[admin]

I"ve been worried about my suby @ 3bar for a while now. it"s not a savannah thing, just had the chance to ask someone? it did booggie thou. and at that price you would have to wonder why any one one would buy a jab.

[tonydenton]

thanks webby

[quoj]

By a strange coincidence, I just happen to have gone for a flight in a Savannah this morning!I must say, I found it quite impressive!The gentleman who took me for a flight flies it up from King Island regularly and loves it to bits!This particular aircraft was the only one of it"s kind in Australia, having leading edge slats actuated at the same time as the electrically-actuated flaps.Yes, it had a 912 and used approximately 20 LPH 100 octane LL avgas.I usually fly Jabirus and Tecnams, but this thing could take off short, land short,

[tonydenton]

just goes to show the differences. i didn"t mind the tail i thought the front is ugly. ;D ;D

[Brian]

Only a mother could love it

[quoj]

Yeah, I just reckon the front and back look like a cut-and-shut job with two halves of two completely different aeroplanes! (And the tail section looks like it was designed by a 10 year old kid who drew it with crayons on butcher"s paper for a class project!)Impressive performance, though.

[Brian]

I see Savanah have bought out a new "S" model, quite a few changes [for the better] it now looks a lot less rural without loosing any performance. Still priced very well.My friend up north hasnt had any problems with his Savanah and is doing a fair bit of flying[ must find out exact hours] and is generally loving it. The agent down at Port Augusta does a great job and I think he"s nearly or has finished his instructors rating so you can get good instruction there !