Opinion on cheetah - owners preferably

[Stephan van Tonder]

Andre go for it. Yes I really enjoy flying the cheetah - very stable and never feels like it wants to bite you. Went to go visit a member today that has his about 80 percent completed. Looks like a piece of cake to build and his engine arrived on friday. He's gone with the 85 HP jabiru. Will go visit rainbow and see if they have a jab version that one can feel for an idea of the power.

[African Grey]

There is a Jab that's 99.9% complete..
There was a small setup problem with the Instruments that was resolved. So it should be flying in a day or so.

Dre'man....I'm waiting


AG

[Stephan van Tonder]

Went to go visit Vladimir today. He will call me when that Jab version is ready and give me a flip in it. Good to visit the factory - must say they are very helpfull. Some interesting coloured ones there. One with all pink undersides - must be for a girl.

[johnsa]

Wjy the SAFARI is a class of its own? Why not compare it to Savannah?

Hi guys, the Explorer is 115000 plus VAT and the Safari is 129900 plus VAT. But you can not compare the SAFARi with the cheetah. The Safari is in a class of its own. The explorer competes with the kitfox 7 and the Safari has no competitor in it's class.

[John Boucher]

Porsche thought they were in a class of their own as well... NOT SO!

It is clearly a case of different strokes for different folks....

Morph said it quite well.... they all have their pro's and cons!

[johnsa]

I will see the SAFARI when its ready and go to visit Boet and feel/see the plane its sometimes like with cars you end uo having 3 like me.

[KFA]

Hi there, I do not want to comment on the Safari on this thread. The topic was about the cheetah. The cheetah is a nice aerie and if it works for your application, go for it. Regards
Stefan

[johnsa]

KFA,

We should use viewtopic.php?f=23&t=8397 for the SAFARI, I agree with you. And believe me Stefan is going for the Cheetah but because before making that decision he investigated a lot he is a good source of knowledge but than again it can change when he gets his hand on a full sporting bag of money.

John

Hi there, I do not want to comment on the Safari on this thread. The topic was about the cheetah. The cheetah is a nice aerie and if it works for your application, go for it. Regards
Stefan

[Stephan van Tonder]

Right !!. Went for a flip in the 80hp Jabiru equipped one that Rainbow has at springs currently that is about to be shipped to Australia. It's not bad. Doesn't have the grunt and acceleration at throttle open time that the 912s has and the take off roll is quite a bit longer. Once airborne it is Ok though and cruise at basically the same 90-95 mph as the 912s.
It starts really easy from ice cold unlike the roatx that needs a bit of coaxing into life and it is a lot quieter and smoother than the rotax. Also warms up a lot quicker.
The climb rate is also not fantastic but I'm sure Vladimir was nursing it a little as it is a low hour engine and he had trouble with the carburettor initially. Had to be changed by the factory. All in all - not a bad option considering the cost and I might have to go that way considering what the rand/dollar is doing currently. Two things from this morning.
1) vladimir has warned about a price increase on the airframe from march next year.
2) he is seriously at the point of wanting to do the engineering and certification of the 120hp jabi 3300. Basically just don't want to have to corry the cost of a motor for 6 months. So he has indicated that if you bring an engine they will do the engineering and the paperowrk and the hassle at no charge to you. SO if nobody else has done it by the time I get to buy and build one I will most likely take him up on that offer......

Then just about flying the cheetah. I don't have a lot of experience to comapre it to. Except a mooney 201 and a couple of flights in a cessna 150 and 172 and of course a couple of hours in a weight shift trike - But from the last 2 months of spending 30 hours in it I can say this. It is the most incerdibly docile - fantastic handling little airplane that CAN. This Morning we were flying and doing x-wind landing training in a 20 to 25 mph 90 degree x-wind. It still has some rudder left at that stage and it's not like you are totally out of options. Tha landing gear is incredibly forgiving and if you do your bit she will do what you ask without complaints. I have NO doubt in my mind what it is I would like to spend my money on.

[johnsa]

[quote="Stephan van Tonder"]Right !!. Went for a flip in the 80hp Jabiru equipped one that Rainbow has at springs currently that is about to be shipped to Australia. It's not bad. Doesn't have the grunt and acceleration at throttle open time that the 912s has and the take off roll is quite a bit longer.

How much longer?

Btw don't listen to guys about the exchange rate if they really knew the were making a killing!

Go for your dream with the engine you prefer

[Stephan van Tonder]

john - just about 2 years more

[The Agent]

Stephan we live in da same town mate maybe we need to have a beer and talk.

You have my details on the AOA
Graham Cooper

[Stephan van Tonder]

Graham yeah we should make a plan one day. Interestingly there is actually a lot of guys here and on avcom that stay in Kempton.

[ZULU1]

I have been watching this thread with interest, it seems that Alexi has the airframe sorted and I remember the first one he flew to the Bundu bash years ago. The debate is regarding the motor.

I have respect for my own HKS but the standard 700e would be pretty poor at reef altitudes as a normally aspirated twin 4 stroke.

However with the new HKS 700T which delivers 80hp and obviously at any altitude but mainly weighs in at a tad under 60kgs. Surely this should be the best option for this aircraft. I am almost set on buying one, just the motor decision for next year. I will keep the trike though..Any comments (reliability is not an issue with HKS) but surely a full 80 horses at the reef will be similar to a 912 s and lighter.
Any comments ?

Zulu1

[Stephan van Tonder]

Yes probably not a bad choice and it would perform better at reef altitude than the jabiru. It would probably be close to what the 912s feels like here. The one other thing about the geared rotax is that you can swing a bigger prop which does help as well.
I sadly have no experience of the HKS and one don't see many of them in SA. You'll also be in for the re-engineering and CAA approval story. What kind of cost is one looking at for the hks turbo?.

Ah I see it's also geared..500 hr tbo?.