OPERATING THE CJ-6

The Nanchang is a relatively inexpensive aircraft to operate. Its 155 litres of fuel is burnt off at 60 litres/hour in normal cruise at 135 Knots to provide an endurance of about 2.6 hours until the noise ceases. Oil use appears to be a miserly half litre/hour and the engines tend to be very oil tight, which is unusual for the radial type engine


It has good take-off and landing performance and will carry virtually what you can put in it with a full load of fuel. The type has proven to be extremely reliable and we have, over the past 14 years or so, flown to every mainland capital city in Australia without a problem.

Whilst the aircraft is fully pneumatically operated, air pressure being used for starting, brakes, undercarriage retraction and flap operation, the system has proven to be very reliable. High-pressure air is stored in a main and emergency reservoir and replenished from an engine driven air pump. In the case where air pressure was lost the system is capable of being charged from an external air bottle on the ground. Alternatively, the engine cad be hand started by swinging the prop.