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First solo

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josok-e(at)ukolo.fi
Guest

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 6:18 am Post subject: First solo

Hi Folks,

Finally, some 4 years after the decision was taken to built my Europa and will learn to fly, i had my first solo in my own plane  

End of the worries, i could built it, i could learn to fly, i can fly the mono. 

It went great, as a matter of fact so good, that i will never be able to improve these these take-off and landings. As expected, climb rate and speed and landing characteristics are better as with the instructor on board. My thanks go to him, Pentti Niemi who is absolutely the best instructor i have met, Ivan Shaw, who was the test pilot and instructor for Pentti for 20 minutes :-)It has been a very interesting period, and if somebody is interested in a write up of my personal experiences with the mono, i will post it here. Once the rest of the paperwork is ready, the transponder finally arrives and is installed, and there is still some good weather somewhere, i will fly out and hopefully meet many of you. Looking forward to the next period of this phantastic adventuere!



Regards,



Jos Okhuijsen

Visit -  www.EuropaOwners.org

rlborger(at)mac.com
Guest

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 6:58 am Post subject: First solo

Jos,

Yee-Haw!!  as they would say here in Texas.



Congratulation on your first Europa Monowheel Solo Flight!!



Yes, please do provide us a write-up of your personal experiences in training in the little beastie.



Looking forward to joining you in the sky.



 Great flying,

Bob Borger

Europa Kit #A221 N914XL, XS Mono, Intercooled 914, Airmaster C/S

http://www.europaowners.org/N914XL

(90%) tail kit done, wings closed, cockpit module installed, pitch system in, landing gear frame in, rudder system in, outrigger mod in, Fuselage Top on, lift/drag/flap pins in, wing incidence set, tie bar in, flap drive in, Mod 70 done.  Baggage bay in.  Flaps & Main Gear complete.  Mod 72 complete.  Instrument panel complete, except for testing.  Rotax 914 installed (for the 3rd time).  Airmaster Prop installed.  Electrical complete, except for testing.  Fuel system complete except for testing.  Working in - 32 Tail, 34 Door Latches & 35 Doors, 37 Interior & Finishing.  Airmaster arrived 29 Sep 05.  Seat arrived from Oregon Aero.  E04 interior kit has arrived and is being installed. 

3705 Lynchburg Dr.

Corinth, TX  76208

Home:  940-497-2123

Cel:  817-992-1117

 



 [quote][b]

SteveD

Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 50

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:36 am Post subject: First solo

Great news Jos! What a feeling that must be.

As you guys can tell from my lack of postings lately the building has pretty much stopped for me. Two kids off to collage next week, work life changes, my shop now has cars in it. etc etc etc the excuses are endless.

Some time before years end I'm going to drag said pile of parts to FL and have creations or crafters help put an end to the building phase.

Well thats the plan anyway..........

Once again congratulations and the best of luck......

Post Pictures and videos!!!!!



Steved



P.S. Hows that oil / coolant heat exchanger working out?

Visit -  www.EuropaOwners.org

josok-e(at)ukolo.fi
Guest

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 8:12 am Post subject: First solo

Hi Steve, 



Put your hands under your armpits, pull yourself up and finish your plane, i would say. It's more then worth it. If i can possibly help, eventually hands on, let me know and we'll arrange something. That counts for everybody here. I had the luck that at the right moment somebody would be there to give me the little push i needed. Usually they never realized that  



The oil/water heat exchanger seems to work fine. Together with a water thermostat,  the oil is always around the 100 Celsius. Today the temperature was 10 c, and i climbed to 7000 feet, 75% power in about 10 minutes. Oil 110, and water 120 c Then down, throttle almost closed, near VNE and the oil came down to 70 C, just like the water. No danger of shock cooling on this one. I had to change the Evans though, because it would run too hot too soon. That problem is gone now, i probably can run 100% forever. But easy does it, something to try later with some more hours on the block. 



Kind Regards,



Jos Okhuijsen

Visit -  www.EuropaOwners.org

karelvranken(at)hotmail.c
Guest

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 11:41 am Post subject: First solo

Jos,

You are a fantastic guy and I am, as so many others of the forum, looking 

forward to meet you somewhere. With the Europa, Europa becomes a small 

country you know.

Happy landings.

Karel Vranken.

---

europa(at)pstewart.f2s.co
Guest

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 12:12 pm Post subject: First solo

Jos



Many congratulations.



I would be very interested sometime in your experiences. My co- 

builder Richard and I are both currently non flyers and getting into  

the latter stages (we hope) of our very prolonged build. It has  

always concerned me that taking on a mono with low airtime was a big  

ask - your experience to date might suggest otherwise.



Regards



Paul

G-GIDY

On 19 Aug 2007, at 15:16, josok wrote:



 	  Quote: 	
		   



 Hi Folks,

 Finally, some 4 years after the decision was taken to built my  

 Europa and will learn to fly, i had my first solo in my own plane 

 End of the worries, i could built it, i could learn to fly, i can  

 fly the mono.

 It went great, as a matter of fact so good, that i will never be  

 able to improve these these take-off and landings. As expected,  

 climb rate and speed and landing characteristics are better as with  

 the instructor on board. My thanks go to him, Pentti Niemi who is  

 absolutely the best instructor i have met, Ivan Shaw, who was the  

 test pilot and instructor for Pentti for 20 minutes :-)It has been  

 a very interesting period, and if somebody is interested in a write  

 up of my personal experiences with the mono, i will post it here.  

 Once the rest of the paperwork is ready, the transponder finally  

 arrives and is installed, and there is still some good weather  

 somewhere, i will fly out and hopefully meet many of you. Looking  

 forward to the next period of this phantastic adventuere!



 Regards,



 Jos Okhuijsen

 Visit -  www.EuropaOwners.org

n100rh(at)sbcglobal.net
Guest

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 3:40 pm Post subject: First solo

Congratulations Josok... gives all of us hope that we too will complete 

the build!



Ralph

Reno, Nv



josok wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		   



 Hi Folks,

 Finally, some 4 years after the decision was taken to built my Europa and will learn to fly, i had my first solo in my own plane  

 End of the worries, i could built it, i could learn to fly, i can fly the mono. 

 It went great, as a matter of fact so good, that i will never be able to improve these these take-off and landings. As expected, climb rate and speed and landing characteristics are better as with the instructor on board. My thanks go to him, Pentti Niemi who is absolutely the best instructor i have met, Ivan Shaw, who was the test pilot and instructor for Pentti for 20 minutes :-)It has been a very interesting period, and if somebody is interested in a write up of my personal experiences with the mono, i will post it here. Once the rest of the paperwork is ready, the transponder finally arrives and is installed, and there is still some good weather somewhere, i will fly out and hopefully meet many of you. Looking forward to the next period of this phantastic adventuere!



 Regards,



 Jos Okhuijsen

 Visit -  www.EuropaOwners.org

UVTReith(at)aol.com
Guest

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 12:04 am Post subject: First solo

Hi Jos,

  

 herzlichen Glückwunsch zu Deinem ersten Soloflug mit Deiner  Monowheel.

 Have a lot of fun and happiness with your plane.

  

  

 ALL THE BEST TO YOU,

  

  

 Bruno (Reith)

     [quote][b]

raimo.toivio(at)rwm.fi
Guest

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:51 am Post subject: First solo

Jos, 



the warmest congratulations!



I agree too: I am totally satisfied

for the combination of the water

thermostat and the water-oil exchanger.



Ambient temp is around 20-25C and

I see typically water 90C and oil 100C.

No matter the power and how long 

- it can be what so ever between 0-100% 

and temps are always between limits easily.

I think also it is better to fly w/o Evans.



I hardly can wait next winter and the

future cold flying season: what will be

water and oil temp when air is -40C?

Probably more ok now than flying 

WITHOUT thermostat...it is like keeping

the window open when very cold.



About a year ago I got plenty of warnings

concerning water thermostat - I am happy 

I kept my thoughts. You too?



Regards, Raimo

===========

---

josok-e(at)ukolo.fi
Guest

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:34 am Post subject: First solo

Thanks Raimo, and all the others who answered in email or forum.



Yes, at least in our conditions the exceptional cooling system Pertti came up with, seems to work. Today i climbed at 100% power to 9500 feet, OAT -5 and had 120 C on oil, don't have a coolant meter, the hottest CHT was around 130 C under the spark plug. Then on 55 % a long descent, lowest oil temp was 65 C. 0 % power will probably produce lower temps, but i forgot to try that for some reason  There is however an annoying difference, especially on climb out between the front 2 and rear cylinders. Today it showed 40 C difference. Number 3, above the turbo and air inlet is always the hottest. I suspect the naca scoop and the shroud over cyl 3 to work against each other. Maybe i have to close the gap around the air filter in the air filter chamber. Anybody to offer any insight before i try?



Regards,



Jos Okhuijsen

Visit -  www.EuropaOwners.org

raimo.toivio(at)rwm.fi
Guest

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:14 pm Post subject: First solo

Jos,



***0 % power will probably produce lower temps, but i forgot to try that for some reason  ***



sorry - I meant idle power and prop windmilling.



BTW I have seen real 0% when I practised standing prop landings.

I have some nice pics where a standing blade is visible.

I did not record water & oil temps in that situation!

I was quite a busy in the cockpit.



***There is however an annoying difference, especially on climb out between the front 2 and rear cylinders. Today it showed 40 C difference. Number 3, above the turbo and air inlet is always the hottest. I suspect the naca scoop and the shroud over cyl 3 to work against each other. Maybe i have to close the gap around the air filter in the air filter chamber. Anybody to offer any insight before i try?***



Have you noticed those gills are almost useless?

I just tried and covered them and saw nothing influence.

Of course they look nice anyway!

Do you have an extra air "shroud" over your (all) cylinders?

It is fitted very tight over the engine and it is glass fiber made.

I am not sure - maybe it is only for 912S ? 

I think it has a big role to equalize temps between front and

rear cylinders.



Regards, Raimo

Gilles.Thesee(at)ac-greno
Guest

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:38 pm Post subject: First solo

Raimo Toivio a écrit :

 	  Quote: 	
		   Do you have an extra air "shroud" over your (all) cylinders?

 It is fitted very tight over the engine and it is glass fiber made.

 I am not sure - maybe it is only for 912S ? 

 I think it has a big role to equalize temps between front and

 rear cylinders.

   


	


Raimo and all,



The Rotax shroud can be installed on any 91X engine. We are using one on 

our 914 project.

We took great care to seal it as best as possible, so that every 

molecule going into the inlet is used for cylinder cooling.

BTW we are using the regular Rotax pickup points and published 

temperatures for cylinder heads, so I don't know how they correlate to 

spark plug probe measurements.



Best regards,

-- 

Gilles

http://contrails.free.fr

grahamsingleton(at)btinte
Guest

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 1:34 pm Post subject: First solo

Raimo & Jos

imho it is complicated by the different mixtures the cylinders receive 

cause by the convoluted shape of the inlet manifolds. Heavy unvapourised 

fuel droplets will tend to be sent forward at open throttle The 

butterfly will change things at part throttle settings.

You will probably notice that the hottest cylinder changes at different 

power settings

Graham



Raimo Toivio wrote:



 	  Quote: 	
		   It is fitted very tight over the engine and it is glass fiber made.

 I am not sure - maybe it is only for 912S ? 

 I think it has a big role to equalize temps between front and

 rear cylinders.

 

 Regards, Raimo

josok-e(at)ukolo.fi
Guest

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:06 pm Post subject: First solo

Hi Raimo,



Closed and filled the gills before paint. I was talking to Ivan about them, and he knew them to be useless in flight, but had them to vent the cowlings after shutdown. I open the inspection covers instead, if there is no wind and a warm day. 

Have the shroud, and would measure coolant, which Rotax decided to name CHT, but 2 consequitive software versions of the Dynon Flightdeck had a bug and did/do not show that sensor properly. They located the bug they say, and it will be cured in the next software version, that is about 6 monts away.  

I did use the oil temp indication, which uses the same sensor, to find out the difference between CHT and Rotax CHT, it's about 10 to 15 degrees. CHT follows much faster, as can be expected. 

The Dynon went black after 6 hours flight time, and i installed the standard VDO analog as replacement during the repair time, to keep the flight test program going. The VDO meters confirmed the temperatures. 



Options now are to seal the gap between cowling and shroud, seal the gap between air filter housing and turbo, partially or fully close the standard inlet openings in the top cowling. Although temperatures are well within limits now, i really want to get the temperature differences on the engine smaller, for stress reasons. 



Regards,



Jos

Visit -  www.EuropaOwners.org

sidsel.svein(at)oslo.onli
Guest

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:09 am Post subject: First solo

Jos,



Congratulations on getting your pride in the air, and safely back onto the 

runway every time!



I, too, had significantly lower temps on the two front cylinders than on the 

two rear ones, until I realized that the cause was mainly air cooling of the 

front temperature sensors.  I have the Grand Rapids EIS with ring type 

thermocouples, too small to put under the spark plugs so I have put them 

under bolts where the two Rotax VDO senders otherwise are fitted, plus under 

bolts on the two other cylinders.  I cured this problem by insulating the 

thermocouples (on all 4 cylinders) by red, heat resistant silicone from 

Locktite, smeared liberally on the exposed parts of the thermocouples after 

fitting and on the bolt heads and immediate surroundings.



As an example, this morning's flight showed the following (912S, cooling 

shroud, sealed):



- Outside air temp:  17 C



- CHT Cyl 1-2 (front):  62 - 69 C

- CHT Cyl 2-3 (rear):   73 - 76 C



I have also noticed that the four (2 x 2) front fitted spark plugs have 

signs of running colder than the rear ones.



Since you have thermocouples under the spark plugs, which are recessed into 

the cylinder heads and therefore more shielded from direct air cooling, your 

situation (and possible cure, if due to same phenomenon as in my case) may 

be different.



Last winter I installed the oil thermostat approved by Rotax, since my oil 

temps where too low even when blanking off 50% of the cooler (need some area 

open for the cockpit heat intake).  Works very well, oil temp always abt. 95 

C in cruise (i.e. above 100 C when returning to the oil tank, which is good 

for water evaporation).  Today, at top of climb of 2000 ft it reached 100 C 

(highest CHT 109 C).  I use 50/50 water/glycol.



Regards,

Svein

LN-SKJ

---

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