REFLECTOR: Fwd: Test flying update

Wed Nov 14 18:37:10 CST 2012

Scott,

Its not that it wonders all over the place w/o the AP, but with the sparrow
strainer mounted upright, it did re-establish altitude if you knocked the
stick.  It just requires a little more attention the way it is now.  In the
soup and bumps even with the strainer mounted upright, you'd need to keep a
hand on the stick either way.

Geoff

On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 7:24 PM, Scott Durham <bsdurham at charter.net> wrote:

>   When the AP fails at night in the soup will it have enough stability
> for YOU to maintain altitude?
>
>  *From:* Geoff Gerhardt <geoff.gerhardt at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Monday, November 12, 2012 2:51 PM
> *To:* Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list <reflector at tvbf.org>
> *Subject:* REFLECTOR: Fwd: Test flying update
>
> Rene,
>
> Good points - I haven't been practicing those scenarios enough.  Thanks
> for the reminder.
>
> One other thing I didn't mention - the sparrow strainer.  Initially, I
> installed it as per the manual.  It had great pitch stability, but required
> some man-handling of the stick during high-speed decent.  I took it off and
> flew it for a bit and it was better (didn't require so much stick down
> pressure at high speed), then I put it back on upside down.  With it upside
> down, it doesn't have much pitch stability but it is a breeze to handle at
> any speed.  When I mean it doesn't have any pitch stability, when you push
> or pull the stick, it will not correct itself and eventually resume the
> original altitude, it will drift.  AP does a fine job of keeping it at
> altitude, and its not like it wanders all over the place so I may leave it
> like this.
>
> Geoff
>
>
> On Sun, Nov 11, 2012 at 11:21 PM, David Rene Dugas <renedugas at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Thanks for the update. It can be boring but it can be exciting. I
>> recommend you make a long list of emergencies and write out the procedure
>> you think best. Now us the time for that. Then practice and plan: engine
>> out, oil pressure loss, loss of a brake or tire on take off and landing.
>> What will you do for fire?  Exactly!  How will you handle a door up, what
>> will you turn off if you smell smoke,  wing tip vortex, loss of stick
>> control of roll(practice rudder control). Can you knife edge it to lose
>> altitude so you don't miss an emergency landing.  practice rudder control
>> just above canard stall if you had to land off airport you'll be a pro. The
>> list is long but you have time. Please preflight really well our planes
>> vibrate too.
>> Best.
>>
>> Rene' Dugas
>> Sent from an Apple.
>>
>> On Nov 11, 2012, at 4:10 PM, Geoff Gerhardt <geoff.gerhardt at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > I haven't posted for awhile, so I thought it'd be good to give you guys
>> an update on my test flying.  Great weekend here in New England and I was
>> able to get out for ~4.5hrs between yesterday and today.  I suppose I could
>> have done more, but it is getting awfully boring flying around my little
>> box.  But, here's where I'm at.  I've got 31.5hrs in so far, so not far to
>> go.  I've had a few issues, but nothing too major.
>> >
>> > Cooling issues early, but a combination of plenum changes and cleaning
>> injectors brought temps in line.  Now, in cruise my CHT's are within 4F of
>> each other.
>> >
>> > I had a few oil leaks, but I found that these were being generated by
>> poor oil venting.  I had been fooling around with oil separators and ended
>> up putting too much restriction on the oil vent which caused a few leaks to
>> pop up.  I was able to get the leaks taken care of and now I vent my oil
>> line into the exhaust.  Its not really a permanent setup, but it works ok.
>> >
>> > The prop I ordered from Catto was a 66x74 (recommended from him for a
>> SE-RG).  I found the take off roll a bit long and had been thinking about
>> sending it back for re-pitching, but didn't want to be down for a month.  A
>> canard owner on the west coast had an older Catto prop that would fit my
>> left-turning engine, so after a rather long process we were able to
>> identify it as a 64x76 and I had him ship it out to me.  I just started
>> using this prop and it is working well.  Its shortened my takeoff roll and
>> I still have about the same top end.  At 10,000', running 50F LOP, I get
>> 150kTAS using 7.5gal/hr fuel.  That's about what I was getting with the
>> other prop, as well.  The 64x76 prop is an older Catto design, so I think
>> I'll get my original, newer Catto prop re-pitched to something similar to
>> this as I think his new design is more efficient and may get improved
>> performance.
>> >
>> > The original Matco brakes gave out pretty quickly.  Not exactly sure
>> why, but the pads ate up the disks in no time.  After only ~15hrs on the
>> plane, the pads were done and the rotors were deeply grooved.  For ~$350, I
>> ordered the parts to beef up the Matco 600XT's I had to the 600XTE which
>> are really just a thicker disk and slightly different pads.  So far, these
>> have worked well and the pads and disks are wearing normally.
>> >
>> > I've had a bit of a nose wheel shimmy when I brake hard, so I'll
>> probably give the nose wheel pivot nut a bit more torque to see if that
>> helps.
>> >
>> > Even with the original prop, I've been able to get out of 3000' runways
>> with plenty of room (good conditions, just me and full fuel, tho).
>> >
>> > The first landing I did with the plane on the first flight was the
>> best.  I've gotten in the habit of really cutting the corner from downwind
>> to final.  Just after the numbers I start to turn in and drop altitude as
>> fast as possible.  This can lead to faster speeds on final if I get
>> sloppy.  On tight fields, I do a longer final to make sure I can get good
>> speed control.
>> >
>> > My alternator (PlanePower) failed last weekend.  It was a bummer, too,
>> as I'd been traveling for a couple weeks, the weather was perfect and I was
>> hoping to bank some hours.  10min after take off, the alternator light
>> started to flicker, then went on solid so my weekend was ruined.  Don't
>> really know why it failed (stator was fried) - its a 60A one that should
>> have more than enough power to handle the loads I have.  They shipped me
>> out a new one in time to fly this weekend, tho.
>> >
>> > Its been nice, now that I don't have any real issues that I can just
>> show up at the airport, preflight then fly.
>> >
>> > That's about it, everything's going well and I hope to be flying
>> outside of my box in a couple weeks.
>> >
>> > Geoff
>> >
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