Silvaire wrote:
I’m not sure if it has an aerodynamic air brake, I don’t think so.
Some of them do I think.
Flight school I am associated with (they handle the instruction needs on my Mooney) operate a varying number of Jodels, DR1050. They are by far the cheapest school to do the PPL with and what people who fly them tell me is that they are excellent as trainers.
Looks nice. The Jodel types are a complicated matrix, but the factory built ones are listed (in French) in Avions Jodel by Xavier Massé. One consideration that might be relevant is that the common performance improvement is to remove weight, which is easiest done in the the after fuselage and tail, making the homebuilt ones more susceptible to a cheval de bois or ‘rocking horse’ (if you ever fell off one face-first it makes sense).
The aeroclub here had a D112 back in 1994 which we used for training originally and then when we got the DR320 many pilots stuck with it..if I remember rightly it was somewhere less than £30 an hour dual and £20 solo or 200 to 300francs before the euro.
Nice machine but I have never enjoyed swinging a prop. Fortunately the D113 and the D120 had electric starters.
Thanks very much @Capitaine for the book reference, I’ve forwarded it. It’s always fun to educate yourself when you acquire something new, with intricate history.
@Silvaire, congrats to your friend. I learned to fly on the C65 engined version of that bird and have flown it quite a bit. It’s very nice to fly, great visibility (incl. excellent forward visibility, which is rare on a taildragger), and very economical. The club sold it for maybe 60€ wet per hour back then (don’t remember the exact number).
Dan wrote:
Cheap French hardware on all but the engine.
Range can be a problem on versions only fitted with a forward tank only.
Resale value is bad in Europe, most going for a song or less.
No flaps means that any obstacle or misjudged approach will require slipping action
“Cheap French hardware” does not mean “bad”. Delemontez targeted his line of aircraft in the late 40’s / early 50’s to the “popular aviation” i.e. the lower range of the price segment, including homebuilts. The wing got this particular shape because it was easy and cost efficient to build. It proved to be very good from an aerodynamic point of view too.
In essence, it targets the same segment as Taylorcrafts, Piper Cubs and the like; no one would dub those “Cheap US hardware”, although that’s exactly what they are :D (no negativity meant by any means, I like cheap hardware when the concept proves great like in Jodels, T-crafts and Pipers!)
Range can indeed be an issue on D11-series, as most have a 50-ish liter single tank only.
About resale value: resale value depends on the price one buys it. I am not aware of any price depreciation of Jodels on the used market. @Dan’s comment should read: Good deals can be made :) “Early” Jodels (i.e. not speaking Mousquetaires and Mascarets here) can indeed be found around €20-30k, sometimes even less. The simple construction and small engine make them economical, yet very fun, aircraft to buy, maintain and fly.
I’ve never found the lack of flaps or spoilers to be an issue. This is no different from your usual Piper J3. Besides, slipping is not a problem with Jodels. Some have been equipped with spoilers, glider-style (I have no experience with those.)
All in all, Jodels are fun to fly and economical to own. The D11 series was further developed into the larger, 180hp Jodel Mousquetaire (D140), and Mascaret (D150). A “fork” (to use a software term) was also done by Mr Robin with his DR100, then 200, 300 and 400-series. More than 4000 DR400 have been built, and it is still in production today. Some have north of 10,000 hours, which is not a problem with wood.
