Xenon hours and experience?

[twistair]

Looking at Xenon construction I wonder how it feels after hundreds of hours? How much did you guys Xenon pilots collected on your Xenon?
Any comments about how parts/components serve, any replacements, problems?

How often are you inspecting mast root end? What about 912turbo engine reliability?

Any practical inputs are greatly appreciated.

I can tell for myself that I spent ca.40 hours in RST starting from September. First thing I found is that these 4 bolts which keep stab to verticals are coming loose every few hours. Not because of thread loose (they are loctited) but since bolts' heads make too much pressure on underneath composite nest due to inflight vibrations.

I also lost prerotator return spring (this one on motor unit) once - it just got broken.

Will be lucky to read about others experience.

[bones]

I probably got about 500hrs in the Xenons, never had a problem with the bolts you say are coming loose, the only trouble we have had is, the prerotator belts are/were not adjustable, had to fix/change the rotor greasing method, nothing major realy, all just little things but you can expect that i guess.
No problems with the motors all still going strong, i fly to WA tomorrow to deliever the number 10 in Australia, the first of the Gen3 models, will get lots of photos if you like :)

[MAK]

Alex

My wife and myself have done +- 200 hours now in our Xenon without much hassle. We had a problem with the bendix after 60 hours (I still blame her as it was on one of her takeoffs, only joking just teasing her), but after that no problem. Our recent 200 hour oil test results on the RST looked very good and a lot better than most of the 200 hour 914 results. We also had no problem with the bolts coming loose as you described.

[500e]

"Not because of thread loose (they are locktited) but since bolts' heads make too much pressure on underneath composite nest due to in flight vibrations."
Twistair have you found any explanation regarding above problem ? wear on mating surfaces ect. or is there obvious deformation of the composite structure? are there spacers or plates bonded in to take\spread the load or compression forces?
It would appear that your problem is not a generic fault.

[bones]

Highest hr machine here in Oz has 470hrs now, nothing major really, just a few small niggling problems to sort out, no probs at all with the engine still going strong.
Just finished assembly and test fly of the latest machine, it went together in about 12 hrs, we now have 22hrs on it in 3 days, only thing so far is a few electrical problems with the wiring, took about 1hr to sort out.

[twistair]

First I want to thank everybody who shares their experience here (and there ;)
The black Xenon I'm flying now has 70 hrs to the date.
Yesterday made a dozen demo flights with a group of local hanggliding club - they wanted to try what is a gyro. As I could see they were happy =) One of them published a small video of that day:
Полёт на автожире - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTd9Z8r2r4w)

It's finally winter here, air temp is -10 Celsius which showed that Xenon cabin heater makes practically nothing for this season - windows get frozen. Will try to find another way to make cabin warmer. Probably it would be more effective to get heat not from cooling system but from exhaust.

How often do you guys lubricate the teeter bolt? I wonder how it can be lubricated via that pin hole in the teeter block :suspicious: Standard lub nipple looks way better there..

[bones]

Alex,

Yes run a 5mm drill down approx half way through the top allu block then thread with a 6mm tap, a small straight 6mm grease nipple goes in, then about every 10 hrs put about 2 pumps from a grease gun, and then wipe off the excess from the sides so it doesnt fling every where making a mess.

Ps i havent forgotten about your other questions, i will reply just busy at the moment.

[Resasi]

Alex, great video I enjoyed both the ride and the music. It would appear that you did too.:)

[ckurz7000]

...It's finally winter here, air temp is -10 Celsius which showed that Xenon cabin heater makes practically nothing for this season - windows get frozen. Will try to find another way to make cabin warmer. Probably it would be more effective to get heat not from cooling system but from exhaust.

I know the problem, Alex, it's the same in teh Calidus. What's your CHT or coolant temperature? If it doesn't get up near 90°C you can forget about heating. I used ducttape and covered about 50% of the water cooler with it. Now I get warm air again.

Taking air from the exhaust bears the potential danger of carbon monoxide poisonong in the cockpit, by the way. But there are some stick on warning labels you can use to give you some early warning.

privjet, -- Chris.

P.S.: You're welcome to keep the winter. Over here we have early floweres rearing their heads at temps between 5-10 °C. Hope it doesn't freeze them if you send us a cold spell from the east... ;)

[twistair]

Chris,

yes, Calidus cabin heating setup is practically same useless for below zero temps. I have one more idea how to rearrange this - will try to check if it works this coming week. Will report with photos. BTW, I keep CHT at 85-90C partially covering radiators and wishing they have thermostats like Calidus has.

I know about CO danger and about CO alarm things. MGL device in Xenon's panel even has an entry to attach CO Guardian. Anyway thanks for the warning. Will keep winter here as long as possible if you keep summer at Meidl in turn :)

Mark,

Thanks for the advice, will install nipple this week. Hopefully 10 hours will come at least every week this winter so this nipple is definitely helpful thing.

[Jason O]

Install a bypass thermostat in the coolant circuit. Make sure the heater hose is connected between the engine and the thermostat. You will have basically the same coolant temp on a 0 degree day as you have on a warmer day.


Chris,

yes, Calidus cabin heating setup is practically same useless for below zero temps. I have one more idea how to rearrange this - will try to check if it works this coming week. Will report with photos. BTW, I keep CHT at 85-90C partially covering radiators and wishing they have thermostats like Calidus has.

I know about CO danger and about CO alarm things. MGL device in Xenon's panel even has an entry to attach CO Guardian. Anyway thanks for the warning. Will keep winter here as long as possible if you keep summer at Meidl in turn :)

Mark,

Thanks for the advice, will install nipple this week. Hopefully 10 hours will come at least every week this winter so this nipple is definitely helpful thing.