RAF and son Jeff

[StanFoster]

Jeff really enjoyed another nice evening flight tonight. He lost a little weight and is down to 260. I am 220..and I had 18 gallons of fuel abord. I was curious what minimum flight rpm would be to hold altitude. I kept throttling back and 4700 I could gain just a little altitude...4650..I would start descending. It ended up being 4680 to just hold altitude with 70 degree air temperature.

Here are the two of us having a ball for an hour.

[Harry_S.]

Stan: Between 4650 and 4750 is a good range for two people. If your holding SnL with that heavy load, you're doing great. I don't think my machine would hack it.

How long did it take you to climb to 500 ft.?

[barnstorm2]

Stan,

You have brought up a topic I have been meaning to ask about but was planing on waiting until I had gathered up more performance data on my machine.

I have heard that alot of instructors wont take up passingers at fly-ins that are over 200lbs.

I however, have several friends in the 220-260lbs range that I would like to give rides to once I get my ticket.

If you flew ok with 260+220 at 70F OAT that gives me hope that my machine can hack it.

I have an EJ-22 and I get about 535lbs static thrust on 730ish lbs gyro weight.
I can't hold 18 gal (only 10 plus ext range tanks 7 but I don't like to use them ). That is ok because I only plan on giving 'local' rides.

Have you ever checked your static thrust?

Can you tell me how much your RAF weighs?

I know these are only general guidelines but enquiring minds want to know ;)

[KenSandyEggo]

Don't assume that RAF supplied 68 inch Warps. They quietly reduced them to 66-inchers several years ago because they thought that would solve the problem of the blades hitting the prop during "unusual" situations. I thought I had 68 inchers as advertised, but when I measured, they were only 66.

[StanFoster]

Tim: My climb rate isnt that great...but the machine handles nice...like a Mac truck...I also did fly with Jeff with full fuel on a day when the temp was 85 and humid. The climb rate sucked but it took more rpm to keep altitude.


I never checked my static thrust....the prop has exactly 13 degrees of pitch.

[asmuzsr]

Hi Stan
Of course it's been over a year, but seems to me my prop pitch was around 12 degrees. Had it set so at full throttle climb it was, lets see 6200rpm? Any way the point I'm trying to make is if you have some room at full throttle, before you red line, to come down a degree in pitch you should see a better climb rate.

Tony

[Russell]

Stan did you use the Warp drive tool to set the pitch or do you use a smart level??
At 13 deg of pitch I only get 4950 rpm on climb out. I used the warp drive tool.
Thanks Russ :(

[KenSandyEggo]

I think Tony meant 5200 rpm. Most RAFs/SHs top out at anywhere from 4900 to 5200, depending on prop pitch. When I first got my Prince, I was turning around 5300+ on take-off, which gave me a high-revving cruise. Lonny put on anothet coat of epoxy to slow it down to around 5100. I'm hoping to set my IVO for 5400 for take-off for max h.p.and as low as I can get for cruising without bogging down the engine. I bought a manifold pressure gauge and it has been added to my installation list.

I only mention this because I forgot to do it once....duh....level the keel to get accurate pitch settings. They'll all be the same pitch anyway, but you won't know the actual degree if the keel is not level. But then again, how accurate is it really if your gyro flies a few degrees nose up or down...or doesn't that matter? I'm thinking maybe it doesn't.

[StanFoster]

Russ: I used the warp drive tool to set my pithc to 13 degrees.

Ken: I did level my keel...but it really wasnt necessary. My prop plane is exactly perpendicular to the keel...so any tilt of the keel is just zeroed out with the warp drive tool...and then the pitch is set in to each blade.

Stan

[asmuzsr]

Your right Ken. Been a long time since I did mine.

Tony