Alarus CH200 and Air Allegro 2000

[mudkow60]

Hello-

Has anyone flown or rented an Alarus CH2000 or a Fantasy Air Allegro 2000? I looked up rentals in Arizona, and two different flight ops have these. The prices seem good at $95 and $70 an hour wet.

Any inputs?

Thanks.

​

 

[barnyard]

The Alarus/Zenith/CH2000 is possibly the worst airplane ever built. Noisy, slow, unreliable, Canadian.

-barnyard

 

[mudkow60]

Noisy... ok. I am a helo pilot.

Unreliable. That could be bad. In what way is it unreliable?

One thing though.... It is cheap.

Thanks.

 

[Tired Soul]

Alarus is basically a low wing 152, it's even got the same engine.
It's sloooooow has an all flying rudder a la WW I.....
And it's placarded against intentional slips as supposedly the rudder blanks out the elevator and the nose drops big time.
The VOR antenna's are mounted low and will poke your eye out during pre flight.
What else you need to know?

 

[barnyard]

I used to instruct in these ac and remember they were down quite often because we could not get the parts from Canada... one wierd quirk i remember is one night i was doing instrument training for about 2 hours when the engine began to sputter. The first thing i went for was the mixture control and lo and behold it had crept out almost to cutoff. When i brought it to Mx, they said there was nothing they could do to tighten it anymore, just a piece of junk mixture control.

Also the thing gets real cold thanks to that drafty cockpit and shroud heating. Not that that would be too much of a problem in AZ.

-Barnyard

 

[EDUC8-or]

I was going to type the Alarus is a piece of crap, but I'll be a little nicer. Just not a fan. If you're going to spend the winter in AZ in an Alarus you might be okay, but once the sun gets warmer you're going to cook. As a CFI in FL I could hold the window open on the ground, but not in flight and those tiny circle vents don't cut it. After about 80 degrees it's just darned hot. I'm not that tall (6'2") and it's really cramped for me. More than a 152. The nose gear has a bungee system and it's not built for a beating like a 152 or 172. If you can get 90 KIAS in cruise you're having a good day. I never had problems with the engine, but just about everything else in the thing broke when our flight school leased a couple for 3 months. People wanted to fly the thing because it was cheap (65 hr wet) and it was brand new with a Garmin 430. I just put a new stereo with a kick ass MP3 player in my 1989 Mazda MX-6 and with really cool flashing lights. My friends get in and can listen to whatever they want and get distracted with the cool stereo until I start driving down the road and it smokes and shakes and shimmies. You might feel the same way about a CH-2000, but you'd have to take it for a spin to decide for yourself.

 

[UGAflyer]

Well i'll say it...the Alarus is a piece of crap. it's like fisher price's "my first airplane." it's what would happen if santa's elves built airplanes. you'd get there faster by riding a bicycle...or even hiking. that being said i would not recommend the Alarus

 

[Alin10123]

I am training in an alarus right now. It is a slower aircraft but it seems ok to me. I dont have anything against it. I've flown in a 172 before too. The Alarus seems to be alittle more stable than the cessna for some reason. Maybe it's just me.

Oh yea... i'm 6'3 and i can fit in it. Although i barely fit, i still fit.

 

[^_^]

I trained in the Piper Tomahawk
still like the feel of that plane, real seat-of-pants flying

 

[EDUC8-or]

I am training in an alarus right now. It is a slower aircraft but it seems ok to me. I dont have anything against it. I've flown in a 172 before too. The Alarus seems to be alittle more stable than the cessna for some reason. Maybe it's just me.

Oh yea... i'm 6'3 and i can fit in it. Although i barely fit, i still fit.

I guess it's the right seat. The yoke gets in the way of my right leg and my cheek falls asleep.

 

[mudkow60]

Thanks all. Just guess I will have to check it out when I get to AZ... with all your info in mind.

The problem is, everything else is so expensive to rent now a days. In FL, I used to rent a Tomahawk for about $59 an hour. Now it is up to $115. That is like more than a dollar per hp for that piece of sheit.

I will be heading to the Scottsdale /Phx area. Anyone have good rental advice for that area?

Again, thanks for the time to give me some tips and info.

 

[Tarzan]

I hated instructing in one. Too much rudder and too easy to spin. The best thing about were the split flaps. Made it a bunch easier for my kids to control airspeed. Other than that, the airplane sucks! And I'm 6'2". Had about an inch between my knees and the dash.

 

[Alin10123]

Thanks all. Just guess I will have to check it out when I get to AZ... with all your info in mind.

The problem is, everything else is so expensive to rent now a days. In FL, I used to rent a Tomahawk for about $59 an hour. Now it is up to $115. That is like more than a dollar per hp for that piece of sheit.

I will be heading to the Scottsdale /Phx area. Anyone have good rental advice for that area?

Again, thanks for the time to give me some tips and info.

Well... if those prices are wet prices i think it has to do with the gas prices. They have more than doubled in a relatively short period of time.

 

[mudkow60]

He jacked his prices last year... way before the gas crunch.

 

[Alin10123]

He jacked his prices last year... way before the gas crunch.

I have no idea then. I guess find another place to rent from.