Eclipse 2017

WOW!

That one word about sums up my entire 3 day adventure surrounding the eclipse 2017 in Madras Oregon.  Let me start this post by saying that of all of the airplane trips I have made so far this was easily the most enjoyable.  There were no showers, the porta-potties were poorly stocked and didn't work even after you stood in line for 30 minutes to use one, the taxi line to get out went on for about 5 hours, and it was in the 80's or higher....but it was still on top of the list.

So, what made it so special?  Well obviously the totality event was the crowning moment.  I wont do it justice trying to explain it but it was one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen.  I was not expecting to be as impressed as I was having seen the one back in 1979.  Never the less I was astounded by the event.  I surely hope somebody with a good camera captured what I saw but so far none of the pictures I see online come close to that memory...including the pictures below.

The atmosphere at the event was "different" than anything thus far.  Oshkosh is fun, no doubt, but its commercial in every aspect.  Its about making money and the atmosphere follows suit.  There are tons of "rules" about what you can and can not do.  You get packed in with 600,000 of your closest friends and you get to rub elbows with them, all of them, every time you leave the confines of home built parking.  Still its fun and I will keep going for a bit longer... but this trip to Madras for the eclipse was a whole new adventure.  Lots of open space at the airport, lots of festive people, and a great group of people in general.  Keep in mind that I am talking about the airport camping, not the huge camp ground they called "Solar City".

There is so much more I could say about this trip and maybe I will come back and update as things come to mind because I want to remember this!

Anyway, it was a wonderful weekend with good friends and a very special event.  I wish more of my friends could have been there to share with us.  I am seriously planning to be at the eclipse in 2024 with as many friends as I can convince to come.  Oh, and both of you (my readers) are invited.  ;-)

Oh, one more thing...I took a couple of video's with my cell phone and my go pro...here they are.

https://youtu.be/7FJrp4TMCnM The actual eclipse surroundings.

Our camp which was about 150' from the runway. 

Pano of the camp area on Saturday evening.  See the long shadow?

The beginnings of a great sunset

Can't miss out on a chance to take a picture of N1605A in a beautiful setting.

Ok, this picture needs a story.  So we were on a quest for some Mexican food in Madras on Sunday but since Madras is a pretty quiet town the recommended Mexican place was closed.  So Jeff talked us into this place....  Yes, thats somebody's house with a few blue tents strung up above the "kitchen" as the mother whipped us up some Carne Asada burrito's!  Best Mexican food I've had in a very long time! 

Half the the burrito ....dang that was good!

Oh, just as a special gift...try this pork dish out....mmmmmmmm

Ok, back to the sunsets....spectacular thanks to the fires in California.

Yea, another shot of N1605A...just can't resist!

These next few pictures are hard to see but it was one of the most fun nights I've had.  Jeff and his daughter brought a bunch of glow sticks and we had a blast with them!

Jeff and his necklace.

Ok, back to the sunsets...did I mention how spectacular they were?

Yea, cell phones looking through eclipse glasses are not the best way to photograph the eclipse.

Look how sharp the shadows are getting...this was taken at about 80% coverage on the eclipse.

Another picture of how sharp the shadows were.

Pano of the campground at the airport as the eclipse was about to go totality.

One more poorly created Pano of the exit line for aircraft leaving Madras...it was a mad house!

Constant Speed conversion - 30 day review

As you both (my 2 readers) know, last month I converted my airplane from a fixed pitch Catto 3 blade prop to a Whirlwind 2 blade constant speed prop.  I have been flying the new combination for a little more than a month now and am getting comfortable with the new configuration so I thought I would write up a 30 day review.

My original review posted several Pro's and Con's to the conversion.  I have started to develop/evolve a few opinions about the conversion and that will be what I focus on for this discussion.  Keep in mind that this is only after about 30 hours of flight time behind the Whirlwind so I'm sure there are aspects that I am neglecting or that will change as I get more experience.

Pro's:  These have not changed much.  I am still impressed with the climb rate on takeoff.  The thrill of climbing out at Vx is almost scary!

I did have one fact reinforced on my recent trip to Oshkosh.  RPM has a huge impact on my oil temperature (go figure huh?).  I was climbing out in 90 plus degree days and I found that if I climbed at anything above 2400 RPM my oil temperature would climb up quite rapidly.  On one takeoff I pulled the prop back to about 2500 RPM for the first 5 minutes and my oil temperature hit 230 degrees.  At that point I remembered that I had a constant speed prop and could decrease the engine RPM and still have outstanding climb capacity.  I count this as a plus since I can now manage my oil temperature more precisely with the ability to control engine RPM and not impact climb performance significantly.  Its ironic that I never have issues with CHT's but oil temperature will bite me if I'm not careful.  Rarely do I see CHT's greater than 370F.

Another pro that I encountered was a significant decrease in cruise noise level.  I found that if I pulled the prop back to about 2100 rpm in cruise I could maintain pretty close to the same speed but the noise dropped considerably.  On the other end of that spectrum the noise on takeoff is louder simply because the engine is developing full RPM.

Con's:  Again these have not changed much but I have noticed a new con that I didn't mention before.  When I am taxiing with my canopy pulled back for cooling air I noticed that the canopy jumps around a LOT more than it used to.  This has to be because the two blades are pulsing the air evenly on both sides of the fuselage (something my 3 bladed prop never did).  This concerns me a little due to the flexing that occurs.

Previously I mentioned having a harder time with speed control because I have been using my engine noise level as a good indicator.  I will say that I am getting used to this change and its not as drastic of a change as originally thought.  I am getting used to hearing air noises on the airplane and using those to manage speed but I still find its darn hard to hold a constant airspeed when approaching an airport as I slow down for pattern entry.  Once the governor gets down to the low rpm stop things are fine but I see my airspeed varying by as much as 20 knots if I don't pay attention to the ASI.

Glide ratio.  Yesterday I got a chance to do a little glide ratio testing with the engine at idle.  Its not as bad as I originally expected once my speed has bled off to about 85 knots.  Pulling the throttle really slows the airplane down but at best glide speed the glide ratio is slightly greater than 8:1.  Doesn't sound too bad until you compare it to what I got with the fixed pitch prop at closer to 12:1.  8:1 is roughly equivalent to the RV-7 and RV-8's I have seen.

Conclusion:  Ok, so I have been asking myself lately if I thought the conversion was worth the cost and honestly I don't think so.  My 3 bladed Catto performed well in every aspect of flight (including formation flight) with the sole exception of takeoff static RPM.  The extra $6000 I spent to increase my takeoff climb from 1000+ fpm to 1500+ fpm was probably not money well spent.  Density altitude was never really an issue before so the improvement is negligible.  The fixed pitch takeoff roll was longer but never as long as 90% of the GA fleet so its not really an issue either.

No I won't be pulling my Whirlwind off and putting the Catto back because I have already spent the money but if I were going to build another RV (except the 10) I don't think I would do it again.

Oshkosh 2017 and more

I've been back from Oshkosh for a few weeks now and figured it was time to do an update.  Turns out Oshkosh was....different this year.  Let me explain.

Departure from Puyallup was planned for Thursday afternoon.  Things went well and there was some significant overcast so Jeff, Martin and I all filed IFR and flew out one after the other.  This was FUN!  We had some pretty heavy rain just before breaking out of the clouds at 11,500' but from there to Montana was nice.  We opted to spend the night in Helena MT and as we approached western Montana we started picking up some significant haze from the wild fires.

Friday morning the plan was to fly to Oshkosh with two fuel stops along the way.  Mid way through the day there was some pretty nasty weather building up around Oshkosh so we opted (after much discussion) to stop for the night and finish our trip on Saturday.  I have to pause here for a minute to warn everybody that if you ever ask Martin to be the navigator for your lunch run be prepared for just about anything....including a trip to another state to get Subway sandwiches.  :-)

The next morning we got up early and headed for Oshkosh.  Again we had to delay a time or two to avoid weather but we finally landed in mid afternoon and set up camp.  The great part about this trip was the actual arrival at Oshkosh.  In the past few years we always arrived on Friday and managed to avoid the mad rush on the weekend.  This year we were in the thick of Saturday afternoon traffic and we had to keep our heads on a swivel to avoid the incoming traffic.  This was the first time we got the full Oshkosh arrival treatment and fortunately we didn't have to hold over the lake or go around due to too much traffic on final.

Saturday was pretty hot and humid but the grass was all green and our camp site was nice.  The evening cooled off nicely which made sleeping possible in the tents.  Sunday we spent the majority the day on the edge of runway 27 watching the arrivals.  No accidents, thankfully, but there were a few pretty spectacular close calls.

Monday was a day of forums and vendor visits...and the arrival of the B1B in full afterburner!  Holy cow that thing is loud!

Tuesday morning we awoke to a public announcement that Wednesday had "Damaging winds and hail" in the forecast.  We again discussed this and decided we would rather be home wishing we were here rather than the opposite so we packed up a couple of days early and headed home.  We stopped in Dickinson ND to spend the night at my sisters.  On Wednesday morning Jeff has a mag failure that kept us from an early departure.  Fortunate for us the FBO on the field actually had the correct mag in stock so we were able to launch for home shortly after noon.

All in all it was a great trip but I would like to have had one more day in Oshkosh.

Fueling up for the first leg.  You can see Jeff's RV-7A and Martins RV-4 in the background.  What you can't see is our ground support team (Harry) sitting in his truck watching the departure.

First fuel stop after Helena...I didn't take any pictures in Helena...

Second fuel stop and our unplanned hold point in Laverne Wisconsin.  This is also where Martin took us to Ohio for lunch at Subway!

Parked with the welcome wagon in the background.  You can see Victors RV-9A just on the other side of Jeff.  Martin opted to fly to Appleton and stay in a hotel there.

A view off to the North from our parking spot.  Thats an RV-14A sitting beside me by the way.

All set up and ready for evening.

Random RV-10 interior that I saw and loved.  

Blue Origin rocket on display.

My vantage during the Monday airshow...who says you cant find shade under a low wing aircraft!

Lots of sky writing this year...

I think we took this picture and sent it to Harry who could not join us this year...  Dinner at Applebee's.

Jeff working on pulling the mag that failed while in Dickinson.

Using the courtesy truck I made a run to McD's for lunch before we launched out of Dickinson...holy cow... I don't think I've ever sat in a McD's line that long!

One of the bigger fires in western Montana.  Look below, you can't see the ground due to the smoke layer.

As the sun set in the west my shade wasn't providing any cover from the sun so I had to "improvise" for the last hour or so of our return to KPLU.

No good deed....

Well remember that nice long post about my prop change?  Well theres more to the story.  Turns out that the prop not only was the wrong color but it was the wrong prop entirely!  I ordered a WW200RV and what I got was the Scimitar prop designed for a 200+ HP engine.   There was a mixup at the factory and my prop was shipped to a guy who is building an RV-14 and I got his prop.  So after a bunch of wrangling and coordination the plan is to send me a "temporary" prop that will allow me to fly to Oshkosh and then eventually I will get my actual prop.  In the mean time I get to change out props two more times.

The first change out is done.  The temporary prop is installed but I almost want to cry.  Look at the pictures below and you will see why.

On a good note, Mariah and I flew to Montana to spend the weekend with Dad, Samone and Chad.  Several other family members showed up so we had a mini reunion.

Fixed Pitch to Constant speed

Major update coming…please stand by.

Ok, so as I think I have mentioned in the past I love my Catto 3 bladed prop.  That is to say I love it at cruise, but not so much on takeoff.  Well I decided that I would switch to a Whirlwind constant speed prop and that is the topic of this post.  I will start out with some pro’s and con’s as well as a few notable comments about the process.  This is coming from somebody who has never flown constant speed and the experience of flying both is fresh in my mind.

1. Pro’s
1. Takeoff—holy cow the takeoff!  I did several touch and go’s as part of my testing process and I can’t tell you how amazing the pull on this prop is at full RPM.  I was climbing out at Vy for these touch and goes and I was at pattern altitude before I was turning crosswind!  If I tried to climb at Vx I felt like I was going straight up! 
2. Taxi slower.  At idle the prop does not pull as hard as my fixed pitch prop did so I can now taxi slowly without using so much braking or running the engine at a very low RPM where it shakes like a wet dog.  Very nice.
3. Slowing down.  Pull the throttle in the air on this prop and it feels like somebody literally hit the brakes!
4. Landings are VERY short.
2. Con’s

1. Price
2. I can no longer use engine sound as a primary indicator of many aspects of flight.  This may be something I learn to adapt to but I like to use the sound of the engine as an indicator of speed for many phases of flight
3.  Complexity
1. Flight management is more complex because now I have to think about a prop setting in addition to the rest of the flight.  However, this will become “muscle memory” soon I’m sure.
2. Engine.  Prop governor, oil hoses, another cable run with associated firewall penetration and attach bracket all on the very tight back side (firewall side) of the engine.

4. Adjusting of the high speed stop is a bugger due to location and limited access… and it has to be safety wired…hell I can’t hardly get one hand back there let alone 2 and some lock wire tools.  Fortunately I have a great friend Harry who has a nice lock wire tool that is a single piece of wire with crimp on ends.  I was able to get that in there…barely.
5. Air brakes.  Yes I know I listed this in the Pro’s section but there is a negative side to this too.  I say this with a caveat that I might be doing something wrong but when I pull the power as I think would happen in an engine out situation my glide ratio tanks….big time.  With my fixed pitch prop if I pulled the power my glide ratio was about 12:1.  With this prop I don’t know if its even 6:1.  I have to be missing something here but I believe the prop is designed to go to the high speed top (at least that’s what the spring does) on a loss of engine oil pressure.
6. Slightly less smooth.  Going from a 3 blade prop to a 2 blade prop I noticed a slight increase in vibration.  Not much but noticeable.  I still haven’t done the dynamic balancing yet so that will likely help.
2. Notable – this is a section for things I noticed that are noteworthy but may change

1. Landings are way different.  I got used to the size of the pattern I needed to land my Catto prop.  I had it down pretty good to where I could pull power at the threshold on downwind and fly the rest of the pattern to landing without adding power.  That is no longer true…I’ve yet to land without having to add power to get to the runway and that’s after cutting my downwind leg past the threshold in half!  Not only that but I feel like I’m coming in hot because the engine is running at a higher RPM than I am used to so I come in slower than normal.  This will all go away when I get used to the new prop but its an eye opener for now.
2. LOP operations are a bit challenging right now.  As I mentioned I use engine noise to help me in many phases of flight.  LOP is one of those areas.  I usually lean until I hear the engine start to slow (lower RPM) but now the RPM remains constant and the power drops off.  I have to pay close attention to EGT’s now while leaning.  Along those lines I still need to figure out where best economy is as well as best power.  That will take some time.
3. Nose is slightly heavier now so I can’t keep the nose wheel off the runway as long on my landing roll-out.  This could be partly due to the fact that this prop slows down so quickly.
4. The recommended 2 ¼” prop extension that allows this prop to be attached to my engine with a James cowl is too long.  With my previous extension I had about ¼” of space between the spinner and the fwd edge of the cowling.  Now that gap is ¾” or slightly more.  I emailed Sam Tillman at SaberMFG to see if he has a shorter extension.
5. My prop is the wrong color.  ☹  I ordered a white prop with blue crescent stripes to match my color scheme.  The prop I got is black with white stripes.  Its beautiful but doesn’t quite match.  Black and white go with everything so worst case scenario its not a big deal but its not what I ordered.
6. Torquing the prop on was a bugger.  I don’t have the “special” tool needed so I had to put together a combination of tools to get the job done.  I also needed another set of hands to hold the prop while I was torquing.  I’m going to break out the welder and make a tool to do the torquing since I’m sure I will have to remove the prop sooner or later…even if its only to replace the alternator belt.
7. Speaking of alternator belts, since the prop was off I went ahead and replaced the belt.  I also took the time to do a few other housekeeping tasks such as riveting the nut-plates on my battery box.

And now some pictures....

This is looking down the crankshaft after I had removed the plug in the end that is used for fixed pitch props.  I found all kinds of gunked up oil residue so I started cleaning it out before I took this picture.  Looking at the very back of the crank opening you will see where I have to install a 1/4" npt plug in the hole so the oil will go forward to the prop.

And here is the same crank location after I had cleaned it up a bit and installed the plug.

This is the governor adapter mounting location on the accessory case.  I couldn't see in there so I took this picture to make sure it was all there.

Here is the next step with the governor adapter pad installed.

This is the top of the PCU 5000X governor with the Van's bracket installed.  I had to use a file to oblong the holes to make it fit properly.  Notice the small stop adjustment screws and the lock wire ... a bugger to get to once installed.

Another shot of the governor before I mounted it.

Flywheel in place ready for the Saber extension to be bolted on.

Governor installed but no cable yet.

Top down view of the governor with the cable installed

Another top down view.

Picking up the prop from the shipping company at 10PM on Friday night I noticed this damage to the box.  We opened up the box and there was no penetration so everything inside was in good condition.

Loaded up in the truck and ready to go home.

Prop, extension and associated hardware installed.  Ready for some first start testing.

Spinner installed.  Inlet rings removed. Protective covering removed.  Time for engine start.

First day of flying I did a few touch and goes.  Its amazing how short this pattern is compared to what I was used to with the fixed pitch prop.

And finally...out in the wild!  This picture is my airplane sitting with Ben's at Fall City Airpark.  Yes, its in my phase 1 circle.  :-)

Finally got to see Crater lake today

I was supposed to fly over to my dad's this weekend for his birthday but for some reason Montana doesn't want to join the spring craze...bad weather forced me to take my adventure elsewhere.  So, Jeff and I decided to fly to Crater Lake and then stop at Sunriver OR on the way back for some lunch.

I had an interesting thing happen to me on the flight today, actually I had a couple of interesting things happen.  First I had my lowest sustained fuel flow yet in cruise.  I climbed up to 15,500' to see how the new induction was going to work.  I kept the throttle wide open which is theoretically the most efficient position and then I leaned to about 40 degrees lean of peak EGT.  After about 30 minutes of flight I found that the fuel flow was pretty stable at about 6.1 GPH and airspeed was about 150 kTAS with 2400 RPM.  Then I pulled the throttle back about a quarter of an inch and watched the fuel burn come down to 4.5 gph with a 145 KTAS and 2350 RPM.  Holy cow that was getting me about 42 MPG!

The second interesting thing to happen was my GMC-305 autopilot controller decided to put on a Christmas show.  It was blinking constantly during flight and nothing I did would make it stop.  Even after a power cycle the lights came back on and went to blinking.  I emailed Garmin and we will see what they say.  Here is a short video of the process.  https://youtu.be/EJFl4oVPUB8

This was a picture I took at full throttle.  6.2 GPH and 148 KTAS.  The fuel flow and air speed will drift up and down a little.

Here is one of the many pictures I took after I pulled the throttle about a quarter of an inch.  145 ktas and 4.7 GPH

Another picture of the same stats.

I took this picture so I could remember what the throttle/mixture settings were.

Oh yea my head wasn't in the cockpit all day....  This is mount Hood as we were headed south.

A few pictures of crater lake as I circled it.