Gary’s UL260i in a Corby Kestrel CM2, New Zealand

It is always great to read about aircraft owners and their experiences in building and flying – and even more so when they have a ULPower Aero Engine providing thrust!  Here we have the account of Gary who built his Corby Kestrel CM2 in New Zealand – and has been enjoying his UL260i for around 120 hours now!

My  plane is the aluminium prototype designed by John Corby from Australia, as a successor to the very successful single seat wooden/ fabric Corby Starlet CJ1.

I wanted a  modern, simple and reliable engine, and that is exactly what I found in the UL260i.  The installation was easy, I chose to use a Jabiru engine mount, as these have the same pick up points on the ULPower engine.

A fiberglass guy and I made the engine cowls; the plug from foam glued together and my fibreglass guru shaped it artistically to give it “finish”. We then made the mold from there, making more cowls is just one days work.

I have installed the fuel pumps/ filters, ignition coils and regulator onto the frame of the engine mount, using insulated P clips to give some form of vibration isolation. The ECU is mounted in the cockpit out of the heat and vibration of the engine compartment.

My Prop is a wooden Brent Thompson propeller. This is an excellent propeller but slightly over pitched,  giving me 132 knots at 2800rpm and higher than 150 knots at wide open throttle straight and level. Climb rate is 1100fpm climb.

Fuel consumption depends on how fast you want to get to your destination, 110 knots is 12lph, 120 knots is 16lph at 2600rpm, 132 knots is 2800rpm which is maximum continuous and consumes 20lph. The difference between 110 knots and 132 knots is a range reduction of 90 nautical miles.

The engine is very easy to start and fires up almost every time, first go.

I have enjoyed  120 happy flying hours with very little trouble so far .