N1BZRich(at)AOL.COM
Guest
|
 Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 4:03 am Post subject: Wow - a Tailwind |
 |
|
All,
As most of you know I normally try to provide a "trip report" when I make a somewhat lengthy cross country in 31BZ. My latest last Thursday had me once again heading for Shelbyville, Tennessee - an early arrival for the Second Annual Lightning Fly-In (I wanted to get a good parking space). Actually, I am here early to help Nick with some flying duties - yes, tough duty, but someone has to do it. We are finishing the Operational Testing and Evaluation of the new wing tip extensions (Vx, Vy, best glide, etc.) and starting preliminary flight testing for the future Special Light Sport Lightning. Plus I have also flown several demo flights for potential customers and will be doing more of those this coming weekend during the fly-in.
The flight to SYI from N31BZ's home field in Williamsburg, Virginia (JGG) is basically due west. I make a few heading changes to avoid some restricted areas, but as you all know flying west normally means a headwind. Some past trips to SYI have been into headwinds up to 50 knots, but a more normal west bound headwind this time of year would be around 20 knots. Well this trip had a high pressure area north west of Tennessee that actually gave me about an average of a 10 knot tailwind on the westerly headings. Wow.
Once again with fuel prices being up, I decided not to "set my hair on fire" with the throttle way up there, so I used my technique of setting a fuel flow and just accepting what ever speed that would give me. That technique is generally my cross country mode, but I some times vary the rpm to adjust the fuel flow if fuel quantity on arrival is going to be low. With the Grand Rapids EFIS (built in GPS) and fuel flow system you always know how long it is going to take to get to your destination and how much endurance you have with your current fuel flow. Really a comfortable situation to know, for example, that you will have well over an hours flying time after you arrive. You get the picture.
Here are the numbers for Thursday's trip. >From taking the runway at JGG for departure until turning off the runway at SYI, my average speed for the entire trip was 169 mph. If you factor in the time to climb to 8,500 my cruise speed was well over 170 mph. The trip had flight planned with a total speed of 159 (from brake release to off the runway) so I had an average tailwind of about 10 mph. Fuel burn for the trip turned out to average 5,8 gallons per hour. For you car guys, that is over 27 miles per gallon for the entire trip. If you take out the climb mileage, the mph would be over 30 for the cruise portion of the trip. Overall - not too bad.
Hope to see many of you at the Lightning Fly-In. It is going to be a great time- just like last year. There may be some surprises in store, so be ready to have some fun.
Blue Skies,
Buz
Looking for simple solutions to your real-life financial challenges? Check out WalletPop for the latest news and information, tips and calculators.
[quote][b]
| | - The Matronics Lightning-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Lightning-List |
|
|
|
Get Email Distribution Too!
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
