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Hi
Guy's
13:32 PST another rotary climbed into the air, 3 years and a month after
construction started. It was worth every single sacrifice. I made an attempt to
record flight data, but was kinda excited to do a good job of it, and now I'm
enjoying a couple of beers, but I'll give an outline of events and post better
data after more flights.
First flight only lasted 18 minutes, as we could faintly smell oil burning, so
returned for inspection. On removal of cowl we found that the oil injection
lines had melted off of their attachment to the metering pump. Even though I
felt it was unlikely we speculated that heat from the exhaust may have caused
it. So I replaced these and sleeved them with Hi-temp 3/8 hose. The second
flight was supposed to be a short hop just to test this but as everything was
working we continued on. This lasted 42 minutes. Upon inspection after landing
we discovered the protective sleeve burned but this showed me the source of the
heat appears to be the turbo manifold gasket seems to be leaking, directing a
stream of hot exhaust gases. As it was too warm to investigate further we
decided to call it a day and get some beer. Tomorrow I'll remove the turbo and
exhaust and investigate further. I just hope that the manifold hasn't
cracked.
Temps on climb out peaked at 98C (208F) for the coolant and 95C (203F) for the
oil. I was running the EWP on bypass from the controller, meaning it would just
run at a full 12v supply continuously. This caused me an anxious moment when on
descent on the first flight, as it suddenly dropped of below the bottom of the
scale and pressure dropped from 20psi to 5psi. I thought we'd sprung a leak but
as soon as we landed and began to taxi temps climbed back to 80C. I guess I'll
have to start trusting the electronic temp controller to maintain
temps.
I'm experiencing similar disappointment as Rusty in my climb speeds. However on
the second flight we used the GPS to do a few runs to check the airspeed we
found that it reads 15-20 mph slow. This meant we were climbing at too high of
an airspeed. Even when we adjusted for this is was still disappointing. I feel
that a big part over the problem may be that I'm over-propped. I'm
currently using a 76" 3-blade IVO prop, which may need to be shortened.
I've got allot of testing to do before I shorten it however. I have heard all
the good and bad reports on the IVO prop, so I was already aware that it may not
be ideal or may be perfect, but decided that I'd like to find out for myself.
I
have to commend my test pilot Ron, who took care of most of the flying duties
while I closely watched the engine (he let me have a few minutes of stick time
on each flight). The airframe handled beautifully, flies like a dream. It
required a little left rudder on take-off, no rudder at all at 130-160mph and a
little right rudder above 160. Both landings were perfect greasers, so I guess
tomorrow I'll have to do landing just to test the gear :-)
It was a pretty successful day with a few snags to be dealt with, but damn it
feels great..... WhaaaaHooooooo
S. Todd Bartrim
Turbo 13B
RV-9Endurance
C-FSTB
http://www3.telus.net/haywire/RV-9/C-FSTB.htm
"Whatever you vividly imagine, Ardently desire, Sincerely
believe in, Enthusiastically act upon, Must inevitably come to pass".
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