Jabiru Calypso UL-D

It has taken the Australian manufacturer of Jabiru aircraft five years to develop this aircraft to satisfy the UK certification requirements for a factorybuild aircraft. That’s despite Jabiru having sold 1000 aircraft as kitplanes over the past 15 or so years, and they’ve had to make substantial changes in the process.

The main changes you’ll see between the Calypso and previous microlight Jabiru kitplanes is that the fuel is now contained in the wings rather than a tank behind the seats – a boon for weight and balance as well as for safety – and the fin is bigger and has been moved forward. Winglets have also been fitted and they’re said to improve aileron response.

Upfront is Jabiru’s own 2200cc 85hp four-cylinder four-stroke aircooled engine, which uses direct drive to the propeller rather than a reduction gearbox (as on the Rotax 912 used in both the Eurostar and Ikarus C42). None of these aircraft is noisy but the Jabiru is appreciably quieter inside and out, and has less vibration thanks to direct drive. The Calypso is also significantly less expensive at £38,000 all-in.

That price includes basic instruments, radio, headsets, spats, fuel sampler and heater (not fitted in this first UK example). One reason for the lower price is that Jabiru makes practically everything on the aeroplane – airframe, engine, prop... even the wheels. Just the tyres, instruments and radio are bought in.

Walking up to the aircraft, the outside finish is superb. It’s the only all-composite aircraft here and beautifully made. The engine cowling was a bit of an effort to get off and on, but revealed an easy to work on engine with plenty of space around it. There’s no coolant plumbing unlike the Rotax, which saves weight and cost.

It’s as you duck under the wing to get in that you realise the Jabiru is appreciably smaller than the others. You enter in front of the strut with the two side doors opening conventionally, putting your bottom on the seat and then lifting your legs. As the door closed and Kevin Pearce, the UK distributor, sat alongside me, the cockpit felt tight. Sure enough, our elbows and shoulders were rubbing. It’s as cosy as a Cessna 152 but with less window area.
The nosewheel is steered directly by the rudder pedals, which I found too close together.
Sitting in the right seat, I couldn’t push the left rudder bar without overlapping my foot (admittedly, they are size 11s) onto the right rudder bar. The only way I could avoid this was by angling my foot sideways. Now, obviously, if this was your regular aircraft you’d experiment with narrow shoes such as car racing boots, but to my mind this is a design flaw.

Happily, the other controls are much better. The central stick is at a convenient height, the throttle is between the legs with a large red knob… did I really just write that? Anyway, the trim lever is also easy to get at on the centre console. Takeoff roll was slightly longer than the other two aircraft but still sprightly with plenty of Rochester’s runway 34 left as we climbed out at around 1000ft/min.

This is where the Jabiru’s strengths lie – performance. That small cockpit pays off in the air with its lower frontal profile giving less drag. We accelerated to a cruise speed of 100kt quickly with plenty of power in hand as we caught up with the Cessna 172 cameraship. The Calypso is burning 14 litres an hour at this speed and feels absolutely solid and comfortable.

The Jabiru engine is remarkably smooth and quiet throughout the rev range and it would be possible to fly comfortably without a headset in this aircraft – not the case with the others. Perhaps that’s partly due to the pale blue insulating material used on the inside of the Jabiru composite shell. It’s not the most stylish of finishes, but it is sound-absorbent.

Handling of the Calypso is excellent

Visibility good forwards, not so good in turns

Long wings, slim shape equal speed

1. Choke 2. Air speed indicator 3. Microair radio 4. Altimeter 5. Trim lever 6. Carb heat- only one of these aircraft to need it 7. Vertical Speed Indicator 8. Brake lever 9. Engine instruments 10. Rudder pedals 11. Tachometer 12. Fuel warning lights (for 6-litre header tank)

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