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9 Aug 10        Today 0.3

Well, I had to wait until the MT headquarters guys returned from Oshkosh so they could approve the warranty work on my prop.  That came through so I talked to Juergen at MT Propellers USA in Deland, FL and he said it would be okay to fly the airplane so long as there is not additional delamination that can be detected with a fingernail.  So, I flew it to Deland and he examined it.  He had a set of the new type blades which have carbon fiber the full length of the blade down to within about 10 inches of the hub.  There is less flexing and no delamination with the new style.  The color of the blades is different - silver with black and white tips - but they appear to be a more uniform finish.  The blades can always be painted later if needed.  With the old blades, I could see the laminations of the wood core, even through the paint.  That always bothered me.  The new blades show none of the interior construction.

MT has been very fair with their assessment of the damaged blade and pulled the new blades out of their new stock to replace them.  I dropped off the airplane today and it should be ready for pickup tomorrow.  In addition, Juergen is going to go up with me to check the RPM with an electronic RPM detector.  I'm showing 2670 RPM and can't seem to get any more so he's going to check it for accuracy and tell me how to adjust it.

10 Aug 10        Today - 1.8        Total - 90.8        FC = 19.3  Actual = 17.5  L 9.7  R 7.8  Adjusted FC Comp to 715

Got the new MT prop blades installed.  MT was very fair with the situation and stood firmly behind their warranty.  They have a 2 year warranty from installation date.  Well, I had gone over the 2 year date from the installation, but I only had 63 tach hours on the prop, so they warranted the replacement.  The replacement blades are not a sexy looking as my old blades, but they can be painted in the future.

Juergen of MT Propeller USA went up with me and used an electronic prop tach, which counts the blades, and determined that my RPM indications on the engine monitor are exactly correct.  We got about 2680-2690 RPM maximum.  It took a minute to get up to speed, but it registered 184 KIAS just as with the old blades.

16 Aug 10

A number of things done today.  Removed the oil cooler air deflector and reshaped it to change the attachment points and increase the air flow.  It appears to be an improvement, but flight test will tell.  Added some heat insulation between the oil cooler bracket and the firewall in hopes of reducing the amount of heat transfer to the firewall - and inside.  Turned the hot air duct for cockpit heat toward the oil cooler exhaust.  Others have told me that they use the hot exit air from the oil cooler for cabin heat.  Never thought of that before, so thought I'd try it since I don't like the exhaust pipe heat muff and duct layout.  It appears that it might work.  Adjusted the ram air butterfly to eliminate binding and straighten the valve a bit.  Removed the troublesome left exhaust hanger, trimmed the length and tightened it to help reduce exhaust movement.

17 Aug 10        Today - 1.7        Total - 92.5

Needed a flight today to see what improvements, if any, were successful.

Flight goals:

Climb to FL 200

Check Oil temps

Check cockpit heat operation

Check oxygen tanks operation

Check VOR ops

Try IQue GPS

Try iPhone GPS

A nice flight late afternoon.  Took off using filtered air and performance is noticeably reduced.  At 1K' switching from filtered air to ram air increased the MP by 1.4" - so it is significant.  The speed came right up to 177-78 with the power at 26/25.  I used 150 KIAS in the climb for as long as I could (about 9K') and then held 160 KTAS.  The IAS bled to 120 by 17,500 feet.  It will probably climb into the flight levels, but IAS at FL200 will be about 105.  I couldn't get ATC clearance above 17,500' today due to traffic congestion.  So, I stayed at 17.5 for some turns and engine analysis.  The EFISs don't like being that high - as well as the engine sensors.  The EFIS One mag heading began drifting terribly.  Once it settled down the EFIS Lite tumbled and had to be erected several times.  Both of them settled down when back at lower altitude.  Same seems to be true with the engine sensors (or maybe it's the engine monitor).  The fuel flow indications became erratic as did the oil temp and oil pressure.  I should have tried the fuel pump to see if the FF settled down.  That would have resolved any doubt about whether it was actually erratic fuel flow or a sensor problem.

Assuming the oil temps were accurate, the oil temp reached a high of 192 airborne but mainly stayed near 180.

The cockpit heat worked great using oil cooler exhaust air.  I was surprised at how well it worked.

The oxygen tank worked great, although I need to learn how to preserve the oxygen for long flights.  I waited to put the mask on until I experienced my well-known hypoxia symptoms.  The symptoms cleared up right away and I had no problem all the way to 17.5.

The iPhone GPS does not work airborne, so it is not true GPS - it must triangulate from cell towers.

The IQue GPS works fine, but it's mostly useful only to a passenger who wants to see where you are in relation to cities and roads and to see that you are going 180 MPH.

At 15,500 the IAS was 122 and TAS was 160.

At 17,500 with 15.4" MP/2400 RPM and 8.5 GPH the IAS was 124 and TAS 166. (Note: FF readings are high)

At 17,500 with 15.4" MP/2300 RPM and 9 GPH the IAS was 120 and TAS 162.

So, a cross country cruise of 160 KTAS with 8.5 GPH will be conservative at pretty much any altitude.  Going high could be worthwhile on a long leg with a good tailwind.

Engine Readings at high altitude

22 Aug 10        Today - 2.0        Total - 94.5      FC = 36.9  Actual Fuel - 31.8  L - 18.7  R - 13.1  FC reset to 700

Interesting flight today.  Climbed to FL240.  It was still climbing and would have gone on up to FL250, but I decided to stop and call 240 the service ceiling for my RV.  I filed an IFR flight plan and JAX Center was very helpful with keeping me out of the way of the airliners.  Average FF for two flights to high altitude, cruise and descent was 8.6 GPH.

The airplane performed well, but high altitude cruise seems to be optimum near FL200.  At that altitude I can bring the RPM back to 2400 and about 7 GPH with a TAS of 160 knots.  The SkyOx oxygen system is very simple to use and performed as expected.

The next flights are to VT.  The current plan is to land at ORF for fuel and then to MHT to pick up Pat.  It's only 30 minutes on up to Warren-Sugarbush.  I'm planning a flight through the Hudson corridor at 1100'.

Engine Readings for today

FL200    IAS - 113    TAS - 160    GS -160    Peak EGT

FL 20.4    IAS - 104    TAS - 148    GS -148    60 ROP

FL240    IAS - 85    TAS - 129    GA - 126    50 ROP

FL240    IAS - 89    TAS - 135    GS - 132    70 LOP

FL240    IAS - 92    TAS - 139    GS - 142    40 LOP

FL240    IAS - 88    TAS - 134    GS -135    60 ROP

At FL240 the best power/speed tradeoff seemed to be WOT, 2400 RPM and 40 LOP

But the more comfortable power/speed altitude is FL200 using WOT, 2400 RPM, Peak, and FF about 6.2 (Note: FF computer is reading high in engine numbers above)

28 Aug 10

Big trip to Vermont during the past three days.  Went up the coast line - CRG - SAV - ORF - Hudson VFR Corridor - stop at MHT to pick up wife - and on to Sugarbush.  Then came back the same route except I stayed high over JFK.

The airplane did fine, but my butt is sore.

TAS up and back was 173 at higher power and 160 TAS at low power.  More info to follow on speeds and engine readings.

Pulled the airplane out of the hangar at 0530 and was airborne at 0548.  The weather was very cooperative the entire trip.  I began a climb to 11,500 and contacted JAX Approach for flight following.  Each controller handed me off all the way.  Route of flight was CRG to SAV to KSFQ (Suffolk Executive - chosen for fuel price).  It was a nice ride at 11.5 and I had to use a bit of cockpit heat to stay comfortable.  The Blue Mountain worked well most of the way up and drove the autopilot okay - most of the time.  It is very convenient having an autopilot to hold course and altitude.  At 11,500' MSL with 2250 RPM and 20" MP, I was indicating 137 KIAS with 166 KTAS and 147 KGS (19 Kt headwind) and fuel flow indicated about 8.5 (although actual FF was less).  I could have easily made one stop on the way to VT, but I needed to pick up Pat at Manchester (she went up commercial).  Fuel at Suffolk Exec was $3.78 and at MHT it was $4.73.  Flight planned fuel to Suffolk was 34 gal and actual was 33.8 gallons, but the fuel computer indicated 37.5 gallons.  It took 16.6 in the left and 17.2 in the right, so the both selection on the fuel selector is great - I didn't have to worry about switching tanks at all.

After Suffolk, I climbed to 11,500' again to top weather and with 2300 RPM and 20.1" MP, I indicated 142, trued 172 and GS was 157.  OAT was 58F so I had to use a bit of heat from the new setup with the oil cooler exhaust air - which worked fine.  Passing Atlantic City, I began a 300 FPM descent so as to be under the NY Class B.  I got handed off to New York App and they made me hold south of Class B and handed me off to Newark Tower.  He wanted to give me an IFR clearance up the Hudson at 1500' MSL but I told him I wanted to fly the VFR corridor at 1100' MSL.  He was surprised and said, "Okay, no need to talk to me, but be careful there is a lot of traffic in the corridor today."  I squawked 1200, descended to 1100' and headed for the VZ bridge entry point.  It was a beautiful day and a few airplanes in the corridor, but not too bad.  I saw 8 or 9 helicopters below 1000' and one other fixed wing above 1000'.  Radio traffic was light as well.  Otherwise I had the corridor to myself.  At the far north end (Alpine Tower) I began a climb to 7500" enroute to Manchester.  Very nice weather all the way to MHT and Pat was waiting for me in the FBO.  Got a gas fillup, did a gas download, checked the WX, got a sip of water, loaded Pat up, and off we went to Warren-Sugarbush K0B7.  We arrived about 1430.  I had rented a hangar for two nights there so we parked the plane and took the rest of the day off.  We stayed at a neat little B&B called Johnnycake Flats.

It didn't take long to realized the people in VT are mostly not from VT and they are far left liberals.  They like to make rules for everyone else to follow without having to be bothered with following them themselves.  They are mainly out of state people who summer in VT and really don't want you there.  "You're just polluting the air and making noise.  Could you just go back to where you came from?"  Let me think about that - NO.

Anyway, to the distress of some locals (temporary locals), I took 7 people up for their first flight in a small airplane.  Everyone was thrilled and nobody got sick.  Most of them took the stick for a few minutes and listened carefully to my instruction and did a nice job of handling the airplane.

The trip home was to MHT (drop off Pat), then MCZ (Martin County - I don't recommend stopping there, but fuel was $4.00) and then on to 7FL6.  I basically reversed the routing except for the Hudson corridor.  I stayed at 10.5K' and crossed directly overhead JFK.

Here are some shots from the trip.