Patrick,
Unfortunately I'll still be flying off 40
hours. But thanks for the announcement. I'm gonna talk my buddy into flying over
in his Mooney to check it out.
I used to fly my glider out of Jean quite a
bit. Pretty decent soaring conditions. My first glider cross country was a 120
mile out and return at Jean. Hotel rooms at the Gold Strike and
Nevada Landing (now defunct) are dirt cheap but Jean is a bit of an armpit. Nice
terminal building though. Looking forward to it - brings back some
memories.
Mike Wills
RV-4 N144MW
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 8:13
PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Fuel economy -
Well…
Here’s the place to
hold a performance event:
http://www.ContactMagazine.com/roundup.html
And I can guarantee
that the results will be published in CONTACT! Magazine
and EAA’s
Experimenter. http://eaa.org/experimenter/
…after all, I’m
sleeping with the wife of the editor of both publications.
Pat
-----Original
Message-----
From: Rotary
motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Mike Wills
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 7:50
PM
To: Rotary motors in
aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary]
Re: Fuel economy -
There was an article in the May
2006 issue of Sport Aviation. Two RV-8s powered by Powersport Rotaries
compared to two of Van's factory demo RV-8s. Time to climb and speeds were
pretty comparable. The rotary powered airplanes were a little heavier. Fuel
consumption for a 160 mile out and return flight the rotaries burned 12.9 and
11.5 gallons while the Lyc powered RVs burned 8.9 and 9.5 gallons. Cruise
portion of the flight was rotaries 7.85 and 7.1, Lycs 5.05 and
5.45.
My guess is that if the
pilots could have aggressively leaned the numbers would be closer but the
rotaries were equipped with Powersport's
FADEC. No idea what it does with mixture.
Anyway its articles like
this that perpetuate the ideas about rotaries being gas hogs. Until we
generate some numbers to contradict, this is going to be the perception. If
you guys generate the numbers I'll volunteer to write the magazine
article!
I should also mention that
the Powersport RVs looked WAYYYY cooler than the Lyc powered
RVs!
----- Original Message -----
Sent:
Wednesday, March 04, 2009 7:27 AM
Subject:
[FlyRotary] Fuel economy -
Mark
wrote:
Most are just plain scared to run their
engines lean of peak where they are able to get close to the
"advertised" bsfc.
That seems to be
the rule. I chatted yesterday with a hangar neighbor with his
beautiful Lancair Legacy with Continental 550. Does he run lean of
peak? “Eh-h, well, I tried it, but it sounded different, and I hear the
valves don’t last as long; so I run it rich of peak. It’s a few more
dollars, but cheap insurance”
Alcohol and possible vapor
lock are the only issues I know of, and with a properly designed
EFI fuel system, vapor lock isn't an issue. As long as they don't
start blending alcohol in the fuel in my neck of the woods, I'll
keep burning mogas and pocketing the difference.
I did the ethanol
test on my auto fuel yesterday. Within the accuracy of the test, the fuel
had between 4 and 6% ethanol – consistent with what Mike said regarding CA
fuels. So I got out my light and little my mirror and stiff wire with
a sharp end; and inspected my fiberglass/EZpoxy fuel tanks. No sign of any
softening of the surfaces; no sign of anything happening. Nothing in the
fuel filter. So far, so good.
So I’ll keep
runnin’ with auto fuel – certainly when near my home base. Saves close
to $15 for every hour of flying – including the 6 – 8 cents/ga for the
2-cycle oil (SuperTech 2-stroke oil, $10.97/ga at Walmart, mix ¾ oz per
ga.).
You stated, "But really the biggest
motivation was to do something a little different." As for that
statement... I couldn't agree more, but how do you quantify something like
that?
I like to put
it differently: "But really the biggest motivation was to
do something a little better."
Al
G