On Thu, = Feb 19, 2009 at 9:28 PM, Mike Wills <rv-4mike@cox.net> wrote:

Hey Chuck, Thanks. Good to hear from y= ou - thought=20 you'd dropped off the face of the earth.

For the moment I think I'm going t= o leave my=20 staging point as is, though i may spend a little more time trying to tune i= t. I=20 need to fiigure out whats normal for how i will operate the airplane. I don= t=20 think I'd have even noticed this bog if the tower hadnt asked me to ext= end my=20 downwind. It appears that at my pattern speed, setting power to just hold= =20 altitude puts me right at the staging point. I think I just need to remembe= r not=20 to do that again.

My -6A used to shimmy also. Lowering t= ire pressure=20 in it did help somewhat, but never cured it. In the -4 lower pressures aren= t=20 really a good option. I screwed up installing the wheel pants and they sit= =20 pretty low on the wheels. With lower pressures I think they will probably h= it=20 the ground on rough patches.

Looking forward to seeing you at Coppe= rstate this=20 year!

Mike Wills

RV-4 N144MW

----- Original Message -----

From:=20 Chuck Dunlap=20

To: Ro= tary motors in aircraft

Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2009= 10:31=20 PM

Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Second=20 flight

Hey=20 Mike

It sure is great to=20 hear you finally got your project off the groundJ Congratulations!!=20 Seems like all that time you spent really paid off if you met your goal o= n the=20 second flight. I am impressed! Must be nice to have the latest EC2 and Ed= 's=20 instrument for tuning. I still have the original EC1, I always have to=20 remember to richen up the mixture when pulling back on power through the= =20 staging point 13" to avoid a hiccup. 14" is about my minimum MAP for leve= l=20 flight, so 12 -13 is what I use on approach.

Try lowering the tire=20 pressure to avoid the shimmys.

Sorry I am so far=20 behind reading the posts

Chuck=20 Dunlap

RV6=20 13B

From: = Rotary=20 motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Mike Wills
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 9:52=20 PM
To: Rotary motors = in=20 aircraft
Subject: [Fl= yRotary]=20 Second flight

Spent the last month addressing=20 issues uncovered during my first flight. Today was the day for flight num= ber=20 2. OAT was in the low 50s. Temps during climbout up to 6,000 were good.= =20 Leveled out and stayed at full throttle for a couple of minutes just to s= ee=20 what happens. Saw indicated airspeed in the mid 150KTS range. RPM was 550= 0.=20 Both were still creeping up when I throttled back. Looks like I may be=20 slightly over-propped. Temps still fine.

Throttled back to 5000 RPM=20 and just flew racetracks over the airport for an hour. My flight test are= a is=20 very restrictive. I've got a huge piece of the desert to the east but= have to=20 cross a 3500' mountain and 30 - 40 miles of rugged terrain to get the= re. Not=20 until I have a few more hours on it in flight and have 100% confidence. I= have=20 the Mexican border 2 miles south, Class B 2 miles north and the Pacific O= cean 5 miles west. So racetracks over the=20 airport are going to be the norm for a few=20 hours.

So, 5,000', 5,000 RPM,=20 roughly 20 - 21" MAP, and indicating 140 KTS. Temps 170 on the coola= nt and 168=20 on the oil. I've already met my goal for this airplane on the se= cond=20 flight - this airplane is a little faster than my old RV-6A was at equal = power=20 settings. The -6A had a 160 HP Lyc in it.

Looks like the revised=20 static system has solved my airspeed indication problems. Stall speeds ar= e in=20 line with the Vans book numbers and airspeed correlates pretty well with = the=20 GPS groundspeed. Still need more left trim=20 tab.

The engine ran great. Anyone=20 trying to tune up Tracy's EC2 without either having an EM2/3 or=20 Ed Anderson's EFISM, you're wasting your time. I spent the better= part of a=20 year tweaking the MAP table and thought I had it pretty well done. On my = first=20 flight I spent a fair amount of time fiddling with mixtures and had a cou= ple=20 of rough running spots. I installed Ed's EFISM and spent 2 days tweak= ing. In=20 the process I got the engine running smoother than it ever has and now ha= ve it=20 idling nicely at 1350 RPM. Thats 300 RPM lower than I was ever able to ge= t it=20 previously. In my opinion you really HAVE to have some sort of indic= ation=20 of what is loaded in the MAP table to effectively tune=20 it.

The only hiccup was when I=20 came in to land. Tower asked for me to extend my downwind for traffic so = I=20 added a little power to hold altitude. And ended up setting the power rig= ht at=20 the injector staging point, which still seems to run a little lean. Nothi= ng=20 like having the engine cough just as the runway is receding over your lef= t=20 shoulder. Took me a couple of seconds to realize what was going on and th= en=20 added a little power and that cleared it=20 up.

Then managed to bounce the=20 landing. How many landings can I log on one approach? Oh well, I guess I&= #39;m a=20 little tailwheel rusty. And without the cowl cheeks the view over the nos= e is=20 very different so I havent quite got the pitch attitude figured out=20 yet.

Other impressions. The=20 airplane is loud, but not painfully so. At least not from the pilot's= seat.=20 The handling and control power still seem quite a bit better than my RV-6= A=20 (which was great). Not really clear why but most of my flying in the -6A = I had=20 someone in the right seat so maybe the weight? Other than the rudder, the= =20 airplane flies perfectly straight.

All things considered I'm=20 real happy. This flight was considerably less stressful than the first an= d I=20 actually was able to enjoy it. I honestly dont remember a lot of the firs= t=20 flight. Also, I took my glider data logger with me on this flight. I have= nt=20 downloaded it yet, but when I do I'll know more about speeds, climb r= ate,=20 etc.

Dont know how you guys feel=20 about these flight reports. Give me some feedback if you want more as my= =20 testing progresses. I know that I like reading about other's flight= =20 experiences as it motivated me to keep going. After 13 years of building = I'll=20 tell you, its worth it. Now I wish I'd pressed harder to get it done= =20 sooner.

Next flight will have to=20 wait until I get gear leg stiffeners added. Classic RV - pretty bad shimm= y on=20 the roll out after landing. 38.5 hours to=20 go!

Mike=20 Wills

RV-4=20 N144MW