Jabiru forced landing Port Pirie 11 Sept 2026

[trailer]

Source: Facebook https://share.google/mlNKYnzCKjLfl3DkU

[turboplanner]

8 hours ago, trailer said:

Source: Facebook https://share.google/mlNKYnzCKjLfl3DkU

Good success 7252!

[KRviator]

Q: How do you become a Jabiru owner?
A: Buy a paddock and wait...

Seriously, though, great outcome, doesn't look like they so much as cracked a wheel spat, so a new <whatever caused the failure> and keep flying.

[skippydiesel]

"so a new <whatever caused the failure>"

 

Would you be alluding to an engine???😁

 

😈

[KRviator]

24 minutes ago, skippydiesel said:

"so a new <whatever caused the failure>"

 

Would you be alluding to an engine???😁

 

😈

Not necessarily... Engine may be fine, could be carb/carb icing, collapsed air filter, fuel tanks becoming filled with air, blocked fuel filter, but Occam's Razor still applies to Jabawoo outlandings.

[Jabiru7252]

Yikes! That's my plane! (well, used to be.) I'll be at the club later today and shall investigate this. Nope, the posted picture is a picture from the past. The plane that landed near Port Pirie a day or so ago is a J160. 

Edited September 12 by Jabiru7252

[Jabiru7252]

.

 

Edited September 12 by Jabiru7252

[440032]

Ah, the 7252 photo - what in the hell is that at the back of the tail - underneath?

[Blueadventures]

19 minutes ago, 440032 said:

Ah, the 7252 photo - what in the hell is that at the back of the tail - underneath?

Looks like the transponder antenna:)

[phantomphixer]

4 hours ago, 440032 said:

Ah, the 7252 photo - what in the hell is that at the back of the tail - underneath?

Ventral fin for enhanced directional stability 

[Jabiru7252]

20 hours ago, Blueadventures said:

Looks like the transponder antenna:)

It does make a nice looking plane ugly, doesn't it. 

[440032]

6 hours ago, Jabiru7252 said:

It does make a nice looking plane ugly, doesn't it. 

FIn thing - Damn, that's huge. and ugly. Wot The.

[facthunter]

If it didn't serve a functional purpose it would not be there. Nev

[trailer]

On 12/09/2026 at 2:20 PM, Jabiru7252 said:

Nope, the posted picture is a picture from the past. The plane that landed near Port Pirie a day or so ago is a J160

Looks like they got the footage from a separate incident. Attached image claims to be the Port Pirie forced landing.  They don't let accuracy get in thr way.

[turboplanner]

On 12/09/2026 at 8:50 PM, phantomphixer said:

Ventral fin for enhanced directional stability 

Actually you could leave out the "enhanced directional"

 

The 160 was a great improvement from the LS55, but there were complaints from the northern area of Australia that it didn't perform well enough in their, higher, temperature environment. 

 

Jabiru responded with the 170, with  pretty much the J160 fuselage and empenage, but a much longer wing with much better lift in over-30 degree conditions.

 

We got one of the first; it appears I was one of the test pilots.

 

If you think about it, The combination of much longer wing, but the same short fueselage increased the Yaw Moment by a big amount.

 

According to our CFI, in a crosswind approach, all landings were straight in, crossed controls .... or don't come back.

 

Then we headed into winter. The high air density went from 30 degree days to 10 degree days, and the wing responded accordingly; you could lift  a horse. 

 

Then came the windy days, mostly crosswind. I noticed the rudder running out of control authority a few times.

A bit unsettling ...........but landing on the upwind wheel worked.

Then one day a sudden gust on round out and the aircrtaft rotated with the aileron drag overcoming the short-arm rudder. Got it under control. The Instructors were adamant it was a beautiful aircraft. Several students walked away.

 

Determined to find a way to control crosswinds, because there was usually no choice of runway on country strips, treed paddocks, I found rounding out with the upwind wheel touching down and the nose wheel 250 mm above the ground lessened the downwind wing lurching back and trying to steer the aircraft off the runway. 

 

I grudginly continued since the Instructors were saying it was a dream to fly and there was nothing wrong with the aircraft.

 

Then came that kit, and suddenly all the 170s were being reworked. By then I'd moved on from Jabs, so I don't know whether that kit solved the issue. Hope it did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KRviator]

1 hour ago, turboplanner said:

If you think about it, The combination of much longer wing, but the same short fueselage increased the Yaw Moment by a big amount.

...
Several students walked away.

I flew a 170 at RNAC maany years ago. Did it once, and it was decidedly unpleasant and never flew it again. Went on to do my AFR's in Tecnams and the like.

I wouldn't mind owning a a 120 or 160 for cheap sunset or early morning jollies, but a 170 with the big wing? No thanks.

[Jabiru7252]

It is interesting reading the various opinions of differing aircraft on this forum. When I started on Jabirus (coming from a PPL background) I found the J160 great fun to fly, and the J170's float when landing somewhat annoying. To be honest, I do not recall what effect the ugly fin had on my flying, but these days, I hardly recall what I did the previous day. 

 

[skippydiesel]

I trained, mainly on Cessna's, have done my GA/RAA conversion & some BFR's in Jabs, owned possibly the nicest handling aircraft ever (unbiased opinion) an ATEC Zephyr/Rotax 912ULS and own a Sonex Legacy/Rotax 912ULS.

 

The GA aircraft were very stable & predictable. Not a lot of "feel" easy to set up a straight & level Cruise, hands/feet off. In nil wind the only change was trim, for fuel consumption.

Conversion to RAA, in Jabs, was an eye opener/challenge. To this day I think a good Jab pilot is probably  better than your average GA pilot. They take a lot of getting used to.

The Zephyr performed much as, I imagine, a motorglider would. With a sub 30 knot stall & weighing in at 300 kg (empty). Speed on final of 40-45 knots, unnerved a lot of pilots used to Jab's etc. It had very powerful controls - X wind TO/Landings were actually fun.

I did my Tail Wheel Endorsement in Citabrias, very diffrent again - my RAA training / experienced helped a lot in adapting to this aircraft.

I now fly a tail wheel Sonex - Easier to land than the Citabria. Much faster than all the pervious aircraft (in comparison glides like a brick)  & requires constant inputs to maintain a level/heading.

My point is,very aircraft I have flown required adaption to instrument/control layout & handling characteristics. They are all good, just very diffrent.

There may be bad aircraft,  out to kill you , I don't know. Seems to me way too many pilot's are quick to "bag" an aircraft that is new to them. Unwilling to take the time to adapt.

😈

[turboplanner]

Best not to assume what people are talking about if you don't know the actual history and lead them off the subject matter. 

This happened on another aircraft; people with no knowledge of the issues rabbiting on month after month that there was nothing wrong with the aircraft and the throwaway line, "if you can fly this you can fly anything!" even though they'd never flown one. They lost their value, young guys bought them cheap and that was the end of their flying. They never said they'd bent the aircraft, but I'd have to say about 20 have never seen the light of day since.

 

[BrendAn]

On 14/09/2026 at 5:42 AM, turboplanner said:

Actually you could leave out the "enhanced directional"

 

The 160 was a great improvement from the LS55, but there were complaints from the northern area of Australia that it didn't perform well enough in their, higher, temperature environment. 

 

Jabiru responded with the 170, with  pretty much the J160 fuselage and empenage, but a much longer wing with much better lift in over-30 degree conditions.

 

We got one of the first; it appears I was one of the test pilots.

 

If you think about it, The combination of much longer wing, but the same short fueselage increased the Yaw Moment by a big amount.

 

According to our CFI, in a crosswind approach, all landings were straight in, crossed controls .... or don't come back.

 

Then we headed into winter. The high air density went from 30 degree days to 10 degree days, and the wing responded accordingly; you could lift  a horse. 

 

Then came the windy days, mostly crosswind. I noticed the rudder running out of control authority a few times.

A bit unsettling ...........but landing on the upwind wheel worked.

Then one day a sudden gust on round out and the aircrtaft rotated with the aileron drag overcoming the short-arm rudder. Got it under control. The Instructors were adamant it was a beautiful aircraft. Several students walked away.

 

Determined to find a way to control crosswinds, because there was usually no choice of runway on country strips, treed paddocks, I found rounding out with the upwind wheel touching down and the nose wheel 250 mm above the ground lessened the downwind wing lurching back and trying to steer the aircraft off the runway. 

 

I grudginly continued since the Instructors were saying it was a dream to fly and there was nothing wrong with the aircraft.

 

Then came that kit, and suddenly all the 170s were being reworked. By then I'd moved on from Jabs, so I don't know whether that kit solved the issue. Hope it did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cliff banks at Swan Hill was the test pilot for the long wing. Jabiru sent him the first set to put on his plane and he did the testing and evaluation on them before they went to market.  

[Jabiru7252]

The J170 doesn't just have a bigger wing, the horizontal stabilizer is considerably larger as well...

[turboplanner]

14 minutes ago, Jabiru7252 said:

The J170 doesn't just have a bigger wing, the horizontal stabilizer is considerably larger as well...

Never had an issue with the horizontal stabiliser; in fact it was easy to hold the nose up just right; just running out of rudder authority was the problem.