The Jabiru 3300 is a lightweight four-stroke,

horizontally opposed A flat engine is a piston engine where the cylinders are located on either side of a central crankshaft. Flat engines are also known as horizontally opposed engines, however this is distinct from the less common opposed-piston engine design, wh ...

"flat-six" air-cooled aircraft engine produced by

Jabiru Aircraft Jabiru Aircraft Pty Ltd is an Australian aircraft manufacturer that produces a range of kit- and ready-built civil light aircraft in Bundaberg, Queensland. The company also designs and manufactures a range of light aircraft engines. Types pas ...

. The engines are direct drive and fitted with alternators, silencers, vacuum pump drives and

dual ignition Dual Ignition is a system for spark-ignition engines, whereby critical ignition components, such as spark plugs and magnetos, are duplicated. Dual ignition is most commonly employed on aero engines,Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms ...

systems as standard. The engine is used to power

homebuilt Homebuilt machines are machines built outside of specialised workshops or factories. This can include different things such as kit cars or homebuilt computers, but normally it pertains to homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or ...

and

ultralight aircraft Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

History

Jabiru Aircraft began as a builder of small two-seater aircraft in

Bundaberg Bundaberg is a city in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia, and is the tenth largest city in the state. Bundaberg's regional area has a population of 70,921, and is a major centre of the Wide Bay–Burnett geographical region. The Bun ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It turned to producing its own engines when supplies of the Italian-sourced engines previously used dried up. Jabiru engines are designed to be manufactured in small batch quantities, so the firm uses

CNC Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a p ...

machines to mill major engine parts such as cylinder blocks and heads, rather than using cast items. The 3300 is a modular development of Jabiru's flat-four 2200 engine. In November 2014, the Australian

Civil Aviation Safety Authority The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is the Australian national authority for the regulation of civil aviation. Although distinct from the government, it reports to the Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. CASA is responsibl ...

proposed restricting all Jabiru-powered aircraft to day-

visual flight rules In aviation, visual flight rules (VFR) are a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better ...

only, without passengers or solo students and within gliding distance of a safe place to land due to the engine line's safety record. This was in response to 46 reports of engine failure in flight. In-flight failure modes included, but were not limited to: fuel starvation; valve/port collapse & breakage of critical bolts. Both the manufacturer and

Recreational Aviation Australia Recreational Aviation Australia (abbreviated to RAA or RAAus), formerly known as the Australian Ultralight Federation (AUF), is the governing body for ultralights in Australia. RAAus registers ultralight aircraft and issues pilot certificates ...

opposed the restrictions as unnecessary and unwarranted. The final rule adopted somewhat softened the restrictions, allowing the carriage of passengers and students, but requiring them to sign an acknowledgement of risk before flying and restricting equipped aircraft to day VFR flight and within gliding distance of a safe place to land. A subsequent tear-down of one engine by CASA resulted in recommendations in June 2016 for further easing of the restrictions.

Applications

Specifications

References

Jabiru Aircraft: 6 Cylinder Engine

{{Jabiru aeroengines Boxer engines 1990s aircraft piston engines Jabiru aircraft engines

History

Applications

Specifications

See also

References