Ximango, Grob

[Geoffrey N. Wiswell]

Hi all,

Anyone have experience in these motorgliders and want to shed some light on their good points and bad. I have flown the Katana and it's not bad, but don't have any experience in the Ximango or Grob.

Also have seen the Stemme and although it is a beautiful craft it is out of my league.

Look forward to responses.

Geoff Wiswell
gwis...@snet.net

-- 
Geoffrey Wiswell

 

[Inoj]

have flown the Vivat...not recommended, and like the rest of us...the Stemme is
beyond most of our dreams. Good luck

[Tom Seim]

I have flown the Ximango and Taifun. Both are retracts. Handling for both is
OK. The Ximango is a tail dragger while the Taifun is tricycle. Both
aircraft are owned by local pilots. The Limbaugh engine in the Taifun seems
to require frequent attention (he had to do a top end rebuild after about
250 hrs). Neither will be able to thermal in weak conditions with two
people. I can't speak to their thermalling abilities with a single pilot
(which means lower wing loading, of course). The Taifuns with electric pitch
controlled props (also maintenance black holes) take 90 sec to change from
feathered to start position. This could be an eternity at low altitudes!
Some Taifuns have manual props (the ones with 80 hp engines). Both A/C are
reasonably comfortable and have folding wings for easy storage. If you are a
soaring hardcore, however, I recommend a DG-400 (that's what I own).

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[John Giddy]

Inoj wrote:
>
> have flown the Vivat...not recommended, and like the rest of us...the Stemme is
> beyond most of our dreams. Good luck

What did you not like about the Vivat ?
There is one at our club, and those who fly it like it. It is much
cheaper than the Ximango or Dimona,
and is more comfortable than the Dimona in one experienced pilot's
opinion.
(I don't fly it, so these are not my personal opinions)
John G.
--
John Giddy ( ) ) Mangalore Gliding Club
5/287 Barkers Rd ) ) ) http://www.gfa.org.au/vic/mgc/
Kew, Victoria, 3101 ( ) ) _
Australia ( ) '------8------'

[Evi Pike]

Have owned a G109b since 1985. Negligable maintainance required on airframe
or engine after ~450hr engine time. The Hoffman prop (3 position mechanical
composite wood core) however, requires an overhaul every 5 calendar Yr which
is proving to be the most costly maintainance item ($3500 US This year). The
wood core sometimes expands slightly, cracking the composite shell requiring
new blades. Hoffman don't seem to stock spare blades, so I lost the 1st half
of the soaring season waiting for them.

The soaring capabilities probably are somewhere between a Blanik(L13) and a
2-33. As a power plane I like to cruise at 70 knts or so at about 1800rpm
coarse pitch giving a very quiet ride and about 2usgph. High speed cruise of
about 100 knots is much noisier and burns more like 5 usgphr.

I considered a Taifun but am glad I chose the Grob. The extra complexity of
the retactable gear electric prop and flaps seemed to give no noticeable
performance benefit. I shudder when I think of the extra maintainance cost!
Besides, they're GONE.

Grob still maintains a distribution/maintence base in Blufton Ohio and can
send just about any parts with a phone call. They're a big company (aircraft
are a sideline) and should be around for a long time.

The wings can be folded in about 5 min by 2 people and it would be simple
to rig a dolly for 1 person to do it.

I keep it on a grass strip about 1800' long which is adequate at max gross
as long as the grass isn't too long, the soil too soft, or the temperature
too hot with no wind. I find 10 knots crosswind component no problem and
have landed with substantially more :-)

The Katana Extreme looks quite comparable to the Grob as a
soaring/travelling machine but is a little smaller inside and more complex
with the geared electric prop. It's glider tow capabilty with the turbo
engine might help amortise the costs but this might backfire with increased
maintainance.

With the CDN dollar the way it is now, I've been offered approx double my
cost for it in '85 but there are no other reasonable alternatives if I sold
it. Perhaps when I retire I could sell the house and buy a Stemme (my wife
doesn't read this NG :-)

Jim

C-GEVI
-----Original Message-----
From: John Giddy <jgi...@melbpc.org.au>
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.soaring
Date: Tuesday, November 17, 1998 5:40 PM
Subject: Re: Ximango, Grob

John Giddy wrote in message <3651FB...@melbpc.org.au>...