Happy New Year everybody!

Mike,

How far from the exhaust ports is your O2 sensor located?  Does anyone know what the minimum temp is for the O2 sensor?  800 degrees?

Bill B 

Ed Anderson

Rv-6A N494BW Rotary Powered

Matthews, NC

eanderson@carolina.rr.com

http://www.andersonee.com

http://www.dmack.net/mazda/index.html

http://www.flyrotary.com/

http://members.cox.net/rogersda/rotary/configs.htm#N494BW

http://www.rotaryaviation.com/Rotorhead%20Truth.htm

From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Mike Wills
Sent: Friday, January 01, 2010 9:43 PM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] first flight of the new year

Hope the holidays are treating you all well. Things are kind of slow on the list this week. So figured I'd get things going.

I havent flown for almost 2 months. First my nephew's accident (he's recovering amazingly well). Then travel for work. Then had to do an annual on the airplane. Finally, had surgery to remove my appendix and gall bladder. Been a busy couple of months.

But I'm feeling pretty good now, the airplane is ready for its first flight after the annual, and today was a spectacular day here with clear blue sky, unlimited visibility, light breeze, and temps in the mid 60s. I resolved a number of minor issues during the annual, including the gas smell that I've been living with for a while now. Found my left tank vent line was loose where it penetrates the bottom of the fuselage so was venting into the cockpit. The smell is now completely gone.

Also found a solution to a problem I've been noticing since I've started flying further from the airport. I'd noted on previous flights when returning to the airport with a long low power descent that the engine runs quite lean as I enter the pattern requiring the mixture knob to be turned full rich. On a couple of occasions I've had some misfiring as I turn final - quite an attention getter! Today I realized the problem was a non-problem, in other words operator error. While descending (and for that matter, frequently at other times) I tweak the mixture based on the mixture monitor reading. Today I ignored the monitor and just left the mixture alone which worked just fine. I think during prolonged low power descents the O2 sensor cools off and provides an inaccurate reading. The occasional misfire was the result of running too rich (the mixture monitor indicated mid range readings).

So todays flight was trouble free and gets me an hour closer to the end of phase 1. 18 hours down, 22 to go.

Mike Wills

RV-4 N144MW