New pilot building hours. Really intrigued by Dornier DO 27. Saw some while i was in Germany. I've read a lot of post about C185 vs Helio vs DO 27 here and other sites. But I haven't found anyone that has a great deal of time in DO 27 as a Bush plane. Found an old thread about ABW on a DO 27 but not much else. I've found a few DO 27s that have been involved in `minor` mishaps. I've played with the idea of tracking down the planess and seeing if owners are interested in selling.
I guess I'm thinking of project while I build my hours so that I can get endorsement for TW and Performance.
Anyone here have experience with the DO27s? Are they worth following up On?
Thanks.

They're certainly cool looking.

looks like they designed and built it, then said, wait. I think we forgot something. oh ya, the wing!

but wow, it looks like a beast

I'm thinking that if you do fimd a Dornier for sale, it's gonna be pretty darn spendy.
Not only a capable STOL aircraft but a warbird to boot.
I've only seen a couple in 22 years of flying, never seen one for sale (but never looked either).

It looks like the one in the picture above is or was for sale for $70k.

There was one in Juneau for years, it may have flew in but it never left. Seems like there was some sort of airworthiness issue here in the states...really restricted C of A like the AN2 maybe...I don't quite remember. Sure seems like a cool airplane. I believe GO-480 powered like a Helio.

There's a few around here, flying. Capable backcountry airplane. Something oddball about maintaining the engine (rare, parts, etc) that is a deficit.

Big aircraft - 40' wingspan, 4000lb gross.

Dornier has a long history, good innovative designers. Their 228 was a gold mine for northern operators and I regularly flew in West Africa with the later 328. Company is kaput now.

The DO-27 does not have a type certificate in the US, so you will be looking at an aircraft with a special airworthiness certificate similar to the Yaks and AN2. They are powered by the Lycoming GO-480, which isn't the best supported engine anymore, if having readily available engine parts is a concern. I'm also not 100% certain how good the parts supply is for the airframe, although you probably won't need much in the way of airframe specific parts if you buy a decent airplane to start with.

They're an interesting airplane. They have a leading edge slat on the wing and the inboard half of the ailerons droop with the flaps. The flaps also have a slat in them to allow air to flow through them when they are at their maximum deflection of 60 degrees. These airplanes are built much more stout than your typical Piper or Cessna as well.

The DO-28 shares many components and the general design with the DO-27. I have a little time in a 28 and maintain one for a friend of mine, but I don't have enough flight experience with the plane to really fly it to the edge of its performance envelope. Personally, I would probably suggest getting some flight time in a lighter, more traditional tailwheel airplane like a Cub before transitioning to a Dornier.

I have about 500 hours in one, http://arielaviation.com.au/the_dornier.html I loved mine but they are very under powered at gross weight and don't climb particularly well even when light. Build like the proverbial brick dunny, there is something very pleasing about the design and build quality but as a bush aircraft I would say a 185 will beat one hands down in just about every respect. That said it is also a very pleasing aircraft to fly with beautifully balanced controls, helped by mechanical servo tabs on the ailerons and is guaranteed to please if loitering around at low level is your thing.

The GO480 is also a bit of a problem engine, Known for breaking rings, dropping valves and making weird noises from the gearbox, I always wanted to re-engine mine with a 540 but it was not possible for the budget I had at the time. I experienced all these problems during my 500 hours on type. Also it has an altitude compensating carburetor and no mixture control. This was a bit of a failure and not something that seemed to work very well.

Dornier in Germany were always helpful when it came to parts and expertise which was great. When wing spar corrosion grounded mine, they found a brand new wing in German air force spare parts, inspected it and shipped it out to Australia for a very reasonable price.

The engine is the same as is in the Twin Bonanzas. Compared to a direct drive engine, those guys have adopted some interesting operating techniques but it looks like they've got the GO problems licked. They're getting lots of life and seem to have a good supply of parts and a couple of shops that still specialize in the engine type.

Thanks for the input. Building hours in 172. Going to pick up TW endorsement in Stinson 108. DO 27 will be a project for end product. I like low and slow gives you more time in air to enjoy flying. I haven't sat in 185 but I have been told DO 27 cabin is more spacious. I'm a big guy.
Im glad to hear flight controls are solid and responsive.
Chasing down a lead keep fingers crossed.

If you are considering buying one get someone who knows about wing spars to thoroughly examine the spar. It is a box section spar with tapered extruded caps and it is these caps that are prone to corrosion. They were never designed to be replaced and are unavailable from Dornier plus there is a bazillion rivets to get them out. Corrosion on these caps will write off the wing. Pay particular attention to where wing skins meet over them.

The undercarriage is attached to massive castings that are also prone to cracks. These are a bit easier to inspect than the wing spar but will require removing of the fairings around them. Look at all the attach bolt holes for cracks. Again Dornier has no repair information and no spares although I have been told that they could be weld repaired. To remove these castings is a mammoth undertaking but it can be done with nothing but labour and some quality spanners.

The brakes take a weird round pad. We used to machine down C310 pads to fit until I managed to source a heap of spares.

The Mission of the Divine Word were (could still be) a bunch of German missionaries in New Guinea who operated the DO27 extensively and it was here that I brought one corroded hulk and all of their spares back in 1990, this enabled me to keep mine in the air until it was crashed. The whole pile of DO27 stuff that I had eventually found its way back to Germany. The Mission confined their DO27 operations to the lowlands due to disappointing (read not happening) performance when hot and high. The Mission pilots that I spoke to came to hate the aeroplane.

As I said previously, a 185 or even a 180 will outperform this machine in just about every respect. At gross weights, a 185 will be through 100' and retracting the flaps before the Dornier even leaves the ground. If you have any missions that will involve weight in heat at altitude BEWARE. This is not a STOL machine at gross.

At MTOW I used to take off at 3500 to supply drop from 4500 and the climb took in excess of 5 minutes and I was looking (and finding) lift along a ridge to help it along. Do your mathematics!

Despite all of the above, a truly fun machine that I would love to fly again.

The DO 27 in the pictures is still for sale, contact me for details

I'd check the fuel burn --
480 cubic inches turning 3000 or so rpm probably sucks it up pretty good.
39-1/2 foot wingspan is probably a tight fit on the normal 40' hangar too.

Hey, I would trade my Wilga for that!!
1 Pretty for another Pretty!!

I have always liked the DO27. Have no experience with them other than seeing a few on the ramp from here to there. I do have experience with the Helio and therefore the GO-480. The GO-480 spinning away at 21/2600 burns about 12.5 gph and upping that to 24/2600 pushes it to 14-15gph. Flown reasonably the GO-480 does not have an extreme fuel bill. Parts are not really an issue and maintenance does not seem to be higher than anything else. Lots of the GO-hate has come from years of mishandling and poor operation. I have had nothing but rock solid reliability from mine.

My plane has the 295hp GO-480 and it feels a bit underpowered at 3800lbs gross weight. The DO27 typically has the 270hp GO-480 so I can only imagine that at 4000lbs it IS underpowered. Get one of the latter build DO27s with the GSO-480 turning 340hp and I can imagine much of that power to weight issue is solved and take-off/climb performance would be dramatically improved.

https://www.do27.com/index.php/en/do27/ ... erformance has some performance data on the DO27 (270hp version). It appears to have inferior performance to a Helio or 185 in most respects, but pilot technique would probably makes up the difference or more.

Would be a fun airplane regardless!

So the two-seven I flew was based out of Bay City, TX. Pipeline patrol. Mine was the 270HP version and I recall that it was light on the controls, but underpowered compared to the 206's and 182's we flew. Mine was grounded due to an airframe overhaul requirement and spar corrosion. I'm not sure the bird ever flew again. The airplane is overbuilt and massive, the go-480 didn't stand a chance. I always thought a turbine on that one would have been just about right!

Jim

Here's one for sale on Barnstormers in WA
http://www.barnstormers.com/listing_ima ... id=1282785

Bhawk wrote:Here's one for sale on Barnstormers in WA
http://www.barnstormers.com/listing_ima ... id=1282785

Should really spell the name of the airplane correctly if they want anyone to find the ad, took some Internet sleuthing on my part to find it. Here's his website: http://www.davinairllc.com/aircraft-for-sale.html

Coincidentally the 180 listed on that same website used to belong to a friend of mine, very nice machine.


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gbflyer wrote:There was one in Juneau for years, it may have flew in but it never left. Seems like there was some sort of airworthiness issue here in the states...really restricted C of A like the AN2 maybe...I don't quite remember. Sure seems like a cool airplane. I believe GO-480 powered like a Helio.

Hey Justin, i assume this is the one you were referring to. Always wondered what it was. Sad, guess it would go in the ramp mummy thread as well.