Friday 23 June 2017

Jodel D 18s of New Zealand

The first Jodel D 18 was registered in New Zealand in January 2004 making it our sixth Jodel type after the D 9, the D 11 and one each of F 11, F 12 and a DR 1051.

The genesis of the D 18 goes back to the 1973 oil crisis when the cost of fuel spiked across the world.  In France, Alain Couchy approached Jean Delemontez (the "del" in Jodel) with an idea to revive the D 11 with a VW engine.  Delemontez worked on the project from which the Jodel DC 1 appeared.  It was actually more like a bigger D 9 but with a more modern wing profile.  It had a length of 5.65 metres, a wingspan of 7.40 metres and a wing area of 9.56 square metres.

The success of the Jodel DC 1 led Jean Delemontez to revise the aircraft and many improvements were made which resulted in the Jodel D 18 Sovereign which first flew in 1984.  One point of difference between the D 18 and earlier Jodels is that the D 18 has an all flying tailplane.  And the new ultralight regulations that came in around the world in the 1990s meant that the D 18 fitted within the Class 2 microlight category in New Zealand.

The D 18's length is 5.70 metres and its wingspan is 7.50 metres with a wing area of 10 square metres.  The wing has flaps.  The empty weight is around 250 Kg and MAUW in New Zealand is 418 Kg.  Engines can range from 1700 cc VWs to Jabiru 2200s to the Rotax 912.  With an 80 HP engine the cruise is around 110 mph (94 knots), and the stall is around 40 mph (34 knots).

We have had six Jodel D 18s in New Zealand to date:

ZK-OWL (c/n 066) was built by Michael A (Mike) Tunnicliffe of Tuakau and it was first registered to him on 12/1/04 and it first flew on 25/1/04.  It is photo'd above very early on in its life at the 2004 SAANZ flyin at Tauranga

Ownership transferred to Peter J Locke of Hokitika on 20/2/13 and it is photo'd above at Hokitika on 10/1/14.  On 21/4/15 ownership changed to the ZK-OWL Syndicate of Dunedin (Tom Grant and Charlie Kenny).

ZK-SCJ (c/n 05-49) was built by Stephen J (Steve) Chilcott at Cambridge and was first registered to him on 15/10/04.  It test flew at Matamata where the above photo was taken on 20/11/04.  It later moved to Ardmore with Steve who went on to build a Nicollier Menestrel and is now working on restoring a Tipsy Nipper.


On 30/6/13 ownership changed to Peter J Bjarnesen of Rotorua and it is photo'd above on its way back to Rotorua from the 2013 Black Sands flyin, on 2/11/13.
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Jack Godfrey of Hamilton built ZK-JAC4 (c/n 426/1) and first registered it on 21/11/05.  It is powered by a Jabiru 2200 engine and its first flight was on 25/11/05.  It is photo'd above at the 2006 SAANZ flyin at Tauranga, on 5/2/06.

On 25/3/06 ownership transferred to Noel Bailey of Hamilton and later of Raglan, and he still owns it.  It is photo'd above on 1/12/17 at its base at Te Kowhai where it can be seen that it hasn't changed over the years.  Noel is planning to re-power the aircraft with a Rotax 912 engine.

Also photo'd at the 2006 SAANZ flyin at Tauranga is ZK-JPK2 (c/n RG8) which was built by Robbie Gentry (hence the c/n), for Murray G Farr of New Plymouth.  It was first registered on 22/12/05.

On 9/4/08 ownership changed to Chris Pennell and Graeme Main of Christchurch and it was based at Rangiora.  On 28/8/11 Chris Pennell took over sole ownership.  Sadly it was written off after an accident at the Okuku airstrip inland from Loburn on 20/9/14 when it hit a deer fence on an overshoot.  It was cancelled on 7/10/14.

ZK-JVG (c/n GM05) was a project started by Bevin Chamberlain but completed by Graeme Main of Christchurch and first registered on 4/2/11.  It is powered by a Rotax 912 and its first flight was at Rangiora on 31/07/11.

Ownership transferred North to Kevin Potter of Papakura on 28/5/15.  The above photo was taken in a hangar at Te Kowhai on 1/12/16 where it can be seen that it is named "Crazy Horse".

ZK-EDR2 (c/n 301-4) was built by Russell Woods of Christchurch and was first registered to him on 24/8/11.  It is powered by a Continental C-75 from an Ercoupe.  It is photo'd above by Russell Woods.  Russell Woods also built the first ZK-EDR which was a Jodel D 11 which can be seen in an earlier post at:  http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2011/12/jodel-d18-zk-edr.html

On 23/6/14 ownership transferred to Russell's cousin Rex Woods, also of Christchurch and it is still based at Rangiora.  It is photo'd above on take off from the 2017 RAANZ flyin at Rangiora on 1/4/17.

1 comment:

  1. Andrew Crosby (UK)28 March 2023 at 09:16

    Hi there, can you tell me where NZ D18 builders are sourcing their sliding canopies please…!

    ReplyDelete