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Messages - Jack

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1
Hangar Flying / Whats happening here?
« on: April 29, 2008, 05:42:31 PM »
Quote from: allen
http://www2.nysun.com/article/75363

Get ready for another economic shock of major proportions — a virtual doubling of prices at the gas pump to as much as $10 a gallon.
.


Yup. Price of used aircraft and projects will be tanking in the future like the housing market.

One of the major reasons home building aircraft took off in the 70s was the first fuel crunch in 73 and 79.

No doubt we will end up far more efficient aircraft and motors in the next decade.

Lot more hangar flying too in the future. :D

Jack

2
Hangar Flying / Re: Jeff Rose Ignition Manual Needed
« on: April 17, 2008, 05:23:18 PM »
Quote from: Jack
 I also use Bosch plugs that fit the standard aircraft plug holes.

Jack


Long ago some folks inquired about which plugs to use with the Rose ignition.  I am home on a break from the sandpit and pulled out my plugs. I have been running Bosch platinum #4226 and DR8BPX.  I also picked up some Autolites #386.  I only ran the Bosch and at 3 bucks a pop they ran fine. Both plugs fit into the stock aircraft engine plug holes. Any auto parts store should stock them.

Cheers;

Jack

3
Hangar Flying / Re: Lowering stall speed
« on: January 25, 2008, 09:42:12 PM »
Quote from: Bruce Hughes
Yes, some people who were flying Ercoupes found that out too.

They will not stall but they glide like a brick when the approach speed
is too low. :(

Bruce Hughes :D


In all aircraft you need to get down and dirty in slow flight and see how the beast performs up at a safe altitude.

Practice it first before you find out what nasty habits have devoloped in your bird and your airmanship. Or trying to park your bird in a short field and finding out a tad late it's a bit short.

When your flying a slick bird, trying to lose excess speed is very challenging.

Jack

4
Hangar Flying / Lowering Stall Speed
« on: January 25, 2008, 03:12:54 AM »
Quote from: Juan Rivera
I am suprised that no one has said that if you just fly a 70 knot approach and landing speed, you can land at a much shorter airport than you can take off from...


Actually I did note a slower approach speed. Tis something I see everytime I hit the airport.  Folks come smoking into the runway and wonder why they eat up so much tarmac on the rollout.

I hit my approach speed and hold it while using power for glide slope. Control your variables and you will end up with a better landing. This is a slick bird and any extra knots on rollout will cost you in more burned out brakes and higher tire usage.

I knew some pilots that just kept it above pitch buck speed and landed their Longs.

Jack

5
Hangar Flying / Re: Lowering stall speed
« on: January 04, 2008, 02:33:17 AM »
Quote from: Bruce Hughes
Those who have replied to your question are ASSUMING the following:

Your CG is exactly in the right place.

If that is not true, you have a very big problem at slow speeds.



CG in limits is the limitation and you can check it fairly easy by doing a check in flight. When you hit pitch buck and it's your target speed your CG is inside of limits.  

If your out of limits you could end up in a deep stall in which case your not having a good deal.

If you hit the databases and just watch folks in the pattern.  Most like to add knots for the kids, mom, and apple pie.  If you want to be a precise pilot for landing, you have to control the variables and the biggest is speed.

Then I cheat, I was taught how to fly in the Navy and being on speed for landing was priority one.  

Jack

6
Hangar Flying / Re: Lowering Stall Speed
« on: January 01, 2008, 08:49:28 PM »
Quote from: marc22181
I'm looking for ways to reduce approach speed and runway requirements.  


A good approach starts on downwind and being on speed.  In my Long I use 75KIAS and bring it around to short final and touch down at 60-65 KIAS.  Stall is about 54 KIAS.  Main problem with a slick bird like the EZ series is keeping control of your airspeed.  You drop the nose a tad and it's an extra 10 knots.

IMO, before you start adding devices, ensure your airmanship is up to par. Less speed on touchdown will translate to less rollout.

This is actually the first bird I have flown where I use the brakes to stop on the runway.  The other birds I have flown range from single seat jets up to 4 motor birds.

Good Luck!

Jack

7
Hangar Flying / night vfr
« on: November 22, 2007, 06:56:43 PM »
Quote from: Snappy
Hi

Jack, I know of acrobatic pilots who fly without inverted fuel and routinely starve the engine during negative G manuvers (along with pouring oil out the breather).  Although I don't think it is a good idea to take combustion temps from 1100+ to ambient air, none of these acro guys seem to think much about it.  Cracked cylinder heads and warped exhaust valve stems over a period of time maybe?


What can I say. Abusing a single motor aircraft is never a good idea.  EZs are made for cruising and finding that sweet RPM number that keeps it humming.  When your cruising through the Rockies and other hostile terrain you hope that you have taken care of your single motor vice having abused it.

When the B-29s first came out, they were changing motors out left and right by 50 hours before they finally got a handle on the 3350s.  If you want your Lycs and Conts to last 2,000 odd hours to TBO, you have to take care of it and listen to it.

One day they might have a viable replacement for aircraft motors that were basically designed 50 years ago and still keep on trucking.

Jack

8
Hangar Flying / Re: thermal shock
« on: November 20, 2007, 09:05:22 PM »
Quote from: djrise
Jack, Could you direct me to Lycoming, or Continental documentation about this?
All I can find says. Fuel starvation is how to turn off the engine.


Mixture kill at idle is far different than running a tank empty at cruise.  Check the NACA database or do a goggle search.  The study I was referring to was covering cooling shock from a fast, idle descent and they went into thermal shock from fuel exhaustion at a cruise power setting.

Just think about it. Your at a cruise power setting, cruise speed and you run a tank dry.  That's a helluva of a shock on the motor.  Something you would like to avoid.

Jack

9
Hangar Flying / Re: Hi heat shut down
« on: November 20, 2007, 08:10:14 AM »
Quote from: djrise
I think he means a turbo-ed engine.


Nope.  The thermal shock involved running out of fuel in a cruise throttle setting is pretty high in any motor.  As for checking it out, just monitor your engine and keep a closer eye on it in your future flights.

In all of the recips I have flown in a descent I always tried to keep some power up.  2800s on down to little motors.

Iraqijack

10
Hangar Flying / night vfr
« on: November 18, 2007, 05:44:16 PM »
Quote from: Snappy

As a last resort, I did some heavy stick work and jinked the airplane abruptly in all directions hoping to get some fuel into the lines and get power back.  It worked!  The Lyc started popping and by playing with the throttle and mixture, I got 1500 to 1700 rpm which was enough to limp to the airport.  After shutdown, I sat in the cockpit for a long time until the shaking stopped .


You kept trying something after you did the proper procedures. Always keep trying something till it's a smoking hole.  

On the downside, better check your motor out.  Besides the crap in the gas you had a high heat shutdown.  An old study out found that running a tank out of fuel then switching over was harder on a motor than cooling the motor off in a high speed low power descent.

Nice story.  Visual cues at night basically suck.

Jack

11
Hangar Flying / Re: IFR / Night
« on: November 08, 2007, 02:01:05 AM »
Quote from: GlennBob
T  I guess I'm one of the guys who is comfortable flying at night.  I do try to minimize the risk though.

Glennbob


I am comfy flying in any weather day or night assuming the aircraft is properly equipped.  When I started flying GA aircraft I had to reset my flight limitations because they weren't ready for icing of any type. You really don't want to hit any ice with an EZ. Starting with no pitot heat.

My old Quickie was a pure stay near the airport VFR machine.  With the legs of a Long you can cruise across the country very easily.

Cheers;

Jack

12
Hangar Flying / night vfr
« on: November 07, 2007, 05:11:57 AM »
Quote from: Drew
A

The big point is---I fly easy IFR---no reason to do "crazy stuff."  There are way more easy IFR opportunities than not.  The IFR license will let you safely not get stuck in a lot of circumstances.  And the hard IFR gets me stuck rarely.  In the above case, I should not have taken off that day.


Tis good to see a debate on night flying.  I spent 12 years flying in the Navy and some carrier landings.  Visual cues at night are few and far between and when your moving along at jet landing speeds the water gets close to damn fast.

The US is one of the few countries that allow non IFR pilots to fly at night.  I was somewhat hammered for stating that if you fly at night, you should be capable of full IFR flying.  Tis a damn good reason for that, I have been burned many times at night because you can't see clouds coming at you. Let alone some serious weather changes.  In the Navy we were IFR trained almost from the start.  In fast movers you need the IFR training.

Big hint about night flying. All this night flying gear we have in the air is basically just trying to change the night into day.

Sure you can buzz around your local airport if your real comfy with the weather.  With an EZ flying out a couple of hundred miles doesn't take much time at all.

As for being well lit at night. I go with the big sky theory and hope for the best.  On a very clear night I saw San Francisco from over 220 NM out one night. I was flying  Herc inbound and it was beyond clear.

Right now am in Amsterdamn awaiting further transport to the sandpit.

Cheers;

Jack

13
Hangar Flying / Checklist for O-320
« on: November 05, 2007, 09:37:55 PM »
Quote from: Drew
 Flight testing-wise, you get this curve by going to full power, pulling back your airspeed with pitch and then climbing up through a base reference altitude like 3000 ft---and then timing the climb for a couple thousand feet.  .


To add some more flavor you want to keep the variables standard as much as possible. Ambient air, wind, fuel load, etc. Once you have a base line profile from your home airport you can test each mod one at a time.

It's been a bit, but I was testing a ram air induction, electronic ignition and using glider tape on gaps.  Each item required a test flight for my standards. Keep the variables as low as possible to have a good test flight. I always started my roll with punching the clock to establish a timeline.  Then my knee board had my test profile with blank data entry lines.  Now I would use at least one if not two digital cameras to ensure all the data was stored for review at the end of the day.

Jack

14
Hangar Flying / Re: night vfr
« on: November 05, 2007, 09:24:08 PM »
Quote from: Reb Wallace
I wan't to set up veze for night flying. know what fars require but looking for a source for position lights and other lights already have inst lit.any info would be very helpful can post or email me. :D


I wouldn't sweat the position lights, strobes, etc. as much as being full IFR. You don't know your in clouds or IMC until you hit them.  IMO, you and your aircraft need to be current in IMC before any night flying.

Jack

15
Hangar Flying / Re: Checklist for O-320
« on: October 31, 2007, 11:47:46 AM »
Quote from: allen
I am in the process of writing some custom checklists for the new plane. Preflight, cruise, landing, emg... These will be shrunken and laminated for Ez use in the cockpit. I have found that writing information out helps me memorize it, so that is a large chunk of this exercise.

.


Great idea and I always fly with them.  Especially with one retractable wheel you can forget at times.  I try to hang takeoff and the landing checklist on the dash somewhere.  My kneeboard carries the full checklists and other data.

Jack

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