If anyone is interested, this
piece is to remind Lancairians of just how utile these wee birds can be.
Last week my wife and I traveled
on AA from Chicago to Austin, TX for our son’s wedding (ORD->AUS). We used a limo to get to the big airport
and checked a small amount of luggage (because of the TSA). We passed thru “security” where it took
a while because of my laptop, Kindle, cell phone, slip-on/off shoes, jacket and
the need to remove my belt with its alarm-ringing buckle. Oh well. We then waited in the AA
Admiral’s Club for 1.5 hours before boarding. Upon being seated, we watched for 30
minutes while a stream of people with a myriad of carry-ons marched past, so
many that I thought the back door was open and they were just passing thru. The flight wasn’t too bad, 2.5 hrs
ending in a nice landing. After
retrieving the checked luggage, we trudged over to Hertz and we were finally
free of the ordeal as we maneuvered out of the traffic mess. About 6.5 hours, door-to-door.
The other day I had to return to
Austin to pick
up a treasured object and chose to do so in my personal pleasure craft, a
Lancair 320. Leaving the house on a
beautiful morning, I drove the 30 miles to ARR, pulled out the plane, parked the
car in the hangar and transferred firearm, luggage, computer, water and
peanut snacks to the cockpit (I am my own flight attendant). I pre-flighted and
departed after checking that no terrorist had gotten aboard – all in about 1
hour. The flight was flown to 3R9
at 8500 MSL, WOT, LOP (eliminated a fuel stop) with the XM radio providing more
entertainment than the interruptions from ATC could. 4.3 hours to 3R9 (Lakeway airpark, about
15 west of Austin), covering 951 statute miles and consuming slightly less than
31 gal for 31 mpg at an average GS of over 222 mph (43 gallon max
capacity). My son picked me up for
the 30 minute drive to his house. About 5.8 hours, door-to-door.
The next day’s return was
similarly conducted under blue skies at 9500 MSL (avg 12 mph headwind instead of
the 14 mph tailwind enjoyed on the way down) and, after a nice landing, I got
the luggage from the carousel (cockpit), pitched it in the car and was on my way
home in amoment (no bugs to clean off yet!).
For those interested in stats,
heading north around Fort
Smith, AR:
@ 9500 MSL (baro = 29.92, 10C
OAT), 10600 density altitude. 166
KIAS, 193 KTAS, 186 Kt Ground Speed.
WOT, 22” MAP, 2490 RPM, 27 Deg BTDC, 6.9 GPH. CHTs = 320F to 340F and EGTs = 1370F to
1410F with the first to peak running at 30F LOP.
I took regular readings, observed
certain environmental changes and made adjustments.
Maintaining same MSL while baro
decreased and as OAT decreased: IAS/TAS increased slightly, Density Altitude
decreased, Mixture (fuel flow) increased to keep LOP EGT temp the same. Also, as speed increased, AOA
decreased. The air mass change was
to drier air and as OAT decreased so did the CHTs by as much as 30F (+13C to 0C
at altitude, a 23 F spread).
The oil cooler air door was
adjusted to keep the oil temps between 175F and 180F.
On the trip down, as the OAT and
density altitude increased, the fuel flow was slightly reduced to keep the LOP
EGT the same. Interesting.
I chose to fly LOP to eliminate a
fuel stop and even though the FF was maybe 2 gph less than best power, the KTAS
was always above 190 Kts. Try that
in a spam-can.
Lyc IO 320, 9:1 CR, air balanced
injectors, electronic ignition & ram air.
Scott Krueger AKA
Grayhawk