In mid-November I had the chance to travel around the southern part of the South Island, so I contacted Charlie Kenny who lives at Clydevale, near Balclutha, to see his newly completed Jodel D150X Governor. On the day, Charlie graciously returned to his property and pulled his aeroplane out of its hangar for me, despite the strong winds.
The name Governor has been adopted by Charlie, along the lines of the later Jodels (Dauphin, Regent etc) from Frank Rogers in Australia, and he says he worked closely with Frank over many years when designing his aeroplane. Charlie, no stranger to the Jodel brand, has been building this example since about 2000.
His new Jodel is impressive and looks bigger than it really is. Actually it is almost the same size as the familiar Jodel D11, but Charlie has widened and deepened the fuselage to give a 44in wide cockpit also able to take 6ft pilots in comfort. And the luggage locker is also huge, able to take 60kg. Charlie told me that the aircraft is based on the D150 Mascaret of 1961, but he has incorporated the best features of every model of Jodel.
The fuselage is D150 with the sloped fin and rudder, the wing uses the D18 aerofoil with a modified D150 box spar, the luggage area is from the D140 and the all-flying tailplane is scaled up from the D18. Charlie has also added split flaps underneath the wings and built wing strakes at the roots to house the battery and the radiator.
Radiator? Yes, the engine is water cooled and furthermore is a 1.9lt Peugeot turbo diesel of around 100hp, the same engine that powers the Peugeot 405 Diesel. It starts easily on the battery and sounds smooth and effortless.
Charlie has also been in contact with the people behind Delvion engines in France who have tested Peugeot turbo diesels on the workbench for more than 10,000hr and have demonstrated fuel consumption figures of around 10lt/hr — that’s cheap flying!
Designed with the help of Wayne Affleck of Invercargill is a belt reduction drive, giving 2400rpm at the propeller for 3300rpm engine revs.
I believe Charlie has come up with a neat aeroplane that is basic but does have some advanced features. For example, he has no alternator on the engine because he relies on the battery — and the battery is kept fully charged in the hangar by a solar panel on the door, connected to the aeroplane.
Charlie says that it has worked every time, and he later plans to install solar panels as canopy shades so the battery will be kept fully charged in flight.
As can be seen from the photos, Jodel D150X ZK-CCD is complete and awaits only the paperwork before flying.
- Report and photographs by Keith Morris.