REFLECTOR: Back in the air.

[Hiroo Umeno]

Yesterday, after many thwarted attempts and frustrating weekends staring at the sky, I was able to bring N21HV back in the air.

Take off was at 1:10pm.  After staying close to Paine to verify that all systems were running temps were in the reasonable range, I took the plane through some "cruise" configuration tests over Puget Sound.  The flight prior to this in September was with the Mid-CG configuration with 60lb ballast on the co-pilot seat and the additional 30lb of lead-shot in the nose.  Yesterday was a aft-CG test without the 60lb ballast keeping the 30lb in the nose, full tank of gas.  This simulates the single-pilot X/C load-out.

Some numbers in case anyone cares<g>.  (Performance data based on data capture from the EFIS)
Take-off Weight: 2011lb (2400 Gross)
Take-off CG: 121 (115 - 121 allowable)
Initial Climb:  1800fpm at 2424ft DA, 2430rpm, 27.5in/Hg on the MAP, 100Kts
Cruise: At 6000ft DA, 2650rpm, 20.6in/Hg MAP, 152Kts TAS, 8.0Gph burn rate.

The plane is currently in the "Dirty, no-pants" configuration where all the aerodynamic trims, fairings, and wheel covers are still off which, I am told, will add another 15Kts or so.  At this point, I haven't been able to test the wide open throttle since the CHT is still running hotter than I would like.  I have 13 hours on the engine so far and my engine guy tells me that it will run hot until all the rings break in.  It does bother me a bit that #6 CHT stays consistently hotter than the rest, though.

I did a somewhat rectangular leg of W10 - BVS - FHR - 0S9 - W10 including some dodging of occasional wispy layers here and there.  Over South Whidbey, I did some low-speed work like MCA, Pitch-Buck, etc.  On pitch-buck, with the CG fairly close to the aft limit, I ran out of the elevator travel at 75Kts and the aircraft settled onto steady, mushy descent.  Noticeable pitch buck never occurred.

Back at Paine, I did a few touch-and-go's, all were fairly good.  On the last landing, (full-stop) I was able to slow the plane down to taxi speed a bit past A6.  If I can consistently nail this one, I can bring my personal minimum runway length to 3,000 from my current 4,000.

Overall, very good flight.  2.5 hours on Hobbs.  13.9 TT airframe cumulative to date.  It's a nice flying machine!


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