LSA Owner Community
Great weather, great plane, great destination...nothing better!
Jim & Betty Robinson of Riverton, Wyoming
My wife and I like to fly our J230-SP, 705J, to visit family and friends in Iowa, Arkansas, Texas, Utah, and Nevada, so a recent chance this October to fly to Mesquite, Nevada was too good to pass up. A sun-up departure from home, Riverton, Wyoming, to potty break in Provo, with a detour west of Delta Utah near the Sevier Dry Lake, to Mesquite and then having early lunch with old friends in Mesquite. What a beautiful setting for flying! From high over the Wind River Range and the South Pass of Wyoming, over and around the mountains of the Uintas, over Heber City to Provo, low near the Sevier dry lake country, to the Mohave from breakfast to lunch. Dropping into Mesquite means a long descent, so I like to fly out to the northwest of Mesquite about 15 miles and come down the Virgin River drainage low. What a hoot! The J230 simply is a great traveling airplane. The trip back several days later, though, was just a perfect flying trip. A strong high pressure perfectly placed put 40 knots on our tail all the way home. Launch at daylight from Mesquite and 450 nautical miles, 3 hours 20 minutes, and 16 gallons later touchdown home, non stop. Nothing wrong with 28 nautical miles per gallon and 135 knots average ground speed. I think the division is right! It's a long climb northbound out of Mesquite with some seriously high ground to clear, so it takes some time to get to 11,500 which is just enough to miss some of the granite. Climbing high loaded up, though, is no sweat. All the pressures and temps settled in the green all the way. Sure, smooth, fast air on the tail put the finish on the trip, but the Jabiru put the shine on it!
I am a newer pilot who like almost all pilots dreamt of owning my own plane. I earned my certificate flying Light Sport’s and Cessna 172s. I enjoyed the size and spaciousness of the Cessnas but the fuel costs and age of most of them in our price range was not desirable. The Light Sports seemed a natural choice for my wife, Gloria and myself but …where to put Duchess, our 10 year young Australian Shepherd? We have always traveled everywhere with our dogs, who are family. Our grown daughters understand and take no offense. We looked at different planes and options over many months of my dream quest. Then I discovered the Jabiru. Great economy, dependability, factory support, and room for Duchess. Built originally as a four place aircraft, the two seat J250/230 has a cavernous rear cargo area that filled the bill for our needs. Room for camping gear, golf clubs and of course, Duchess. We set out on a cross country RV trip in our quest to find our “bird." We eventually visited Jabiru dealers in Washington, California, Florida, and of course the factory in Shelbyville, Tennessee. In Shelbyville we met Katie Bosman, who gave us a tour of their facilities. Katie made us feel comfortable with the idea of owning a Jabiru and that there would be great support after our purchase. A few months later we purchased our Jabiru and we couldn’t be happier. And that includes Duchess too!
