Congratulations Al!  Glad to hear you're in the air and good luck with
the oil temp problem.

Bob W.


On Sat, 5 Aug 2006 07:44:46 -0700
"Al Gietzen" <ALVentures@cox.net> wrote:

> A high speed nose lift; a high speed crow hop; and finally off and away
> around the pattern; the 20B powered Velocity, N755V maid its maiden flight
> yesterday, 8/04/06.  What an exciting milestone - even though in this case I
> was watching from the ground as the test pilot did his thing.
>
>  
>
> The engine performed well, and the pilot reported that all handling
> characteristics were good.  The flight was short, however; because the oil
> temp was 10-15F higher than the limit I had set, and the pilot did the right
> thing in abbreviating the flight so that can be evaluated and changes made
> as necessary.  All in all, with that as the only issue of note at this
> point; it was a good day.
>
>  
>
> It's such a common thing, isn't it - these cooling issues.  The oil temp
> (downstream from the cooler) peaked at 230F, somewhat after the end of the
> climb (OAT about 80F); I guess it takes a little while for the hot oil to
> get to the bottom of the 8 qt sump and back through the cooler.  The main
> concern was that the temp didn't drop more that 3-4 degrees as he went
> around the pattern, and after landing and rolling out it was still 225F.
> Coolant temps peaked about 190F.
>
>  
>
> I had a video camera mounted reading the engine monitor display which is
> great for review later.  Unfortunately, even though I have all sorts of
> instrumentation for doing diagnostics, in his focusing on flight
> characteristics, and the concern about the high oil temp the pilot forgot to
> push the 'page up' button; so the only data I have is page 1.  Regardless of
> further data, it seems clear that there is insufficient air flow through the
> wing root oil cooler - a condition that was not entirely unexpected.
>
>  
>
> Another major step in an on-going process.
>
>  
>
> Al
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--
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