- Joined
- Oct 30, 2003
- Messages
- 18,363
- Location
- Santa Maria, California
- Aircraft
- Givens Predator
- Total Flight Time
- 2600+ in rotorcraft
Ed cranked herself up, took her meds and off we went to the hanger.
I feel like a preflight should happen before I fly so we did a full preflight and I cranked up the front of the oil cooler another half inch.
I called Lockheed Martin and got a briefer that was very familiar with the area. She knew what to look for and she said it was the best flying weather she had seen around here. I got to use my new PST briefer sheet.
We were lifting off the ground at 16:13 Zulu and I set the throttle at 2,350. 60kts gave us a hundred feet per minute climb and a very pleasant exhaust note. I showed Ed how we could climb by just slowing down and then I advanced the throttle and we began to climb in earnest.
I flew IZA’s pattern altitude at 70kts and announced to no one my intentions and progress. We taxied over to fuel and filled her up for the journey east.
The pilots lounge emptied out to watch our departure. I announced a 210 departure with a turn to the east along the river bed. We fly over the least sensitive houses that way. Take off with fuel and Ed has been a little challenging in the past but today we were off quickly and climbed with alacrity.
I again set the throttle at 2,350 but pulled the speed back to 50kts and we climbed to about 3,500 feet by the time we cleared the pass. It was nice to know that I had plenty of throttle left if we hit some sink. I skirted the Santa Barbara air space and let approach know what I was doing. They never talked to me again. We flew close to the ridge line in order to stay out of SBA’s airspace and eventually made it to 4,500 feet. We headed inland and over another lake when I picked up Santa Paula Unicom. They were using runway 4 so I headed to the east so I could enter the right pattern down wind.
Things were really hopping and there were as many as six planes in the pattern at any one time. I flew the pattern at 85kts so that the challenges would be in front of me.
When I announced mid field downwind I suddenly had the pattern to myself. I ran it up to 90kts as I turned final and dove at the runway over the fence. I flared at my target and floated for several hundred feet as I bled off the speed. Touchdown was as nice as could be and we cleared the active at 18:30. We used 22 gallons going down including Oceano, L52 to SMX from the day before.
Al Ball was there to greet us but there was no place to park. They let us back in at the end between a Pitts and some very small homebuilt and we went off to see what Al had been doing in the last three months.
Ed told me her camera had stopped working so I loaned her mine.
We eventually found a place to park and as I was tying her down John Ready made a somewhat inelegant landing in his Acrosport. John joined us for lunch
As usual the atmosphere was festive with lots of aviation passion in evidence.
We stopped by my old racer friend’s hanger and oddly enough he had watched us land and thought to himself that he knew someone with a gyroplane. He had not seen the Predator before so he didn’t know it was me. He commented on the way it sort of floated in. He is working with Rob North to get one of his road racing sidecars that he ran at the Isle of Man TT running again. He also wants to add some power to his airplane and he was interested in my recent experience. He was there to see our new high performance take off.
We made the rounds and it was time to go. I let Al know because he had requested seeing our take off and after a call to Lockheed Martin and a quick preflight we were ready to go. A crowed sort of gathered as I warmed her up and did my magneto check. Ed stopped counting at 30. I held her on the ground and then let her leap into the air abeam the primary crowed. Climb out was brisk and we departed to the west climbing at 65kts.
I called Santa Barbara approach from 20 miles out and they had trouble understanding my radio transmission because I was too close to the mountain. First it was a she and she didn’t seem concerned and then she was relieved by a controller and he gave me a code to squawk and asked me to ident and verify altitude. I was at 4,500 feet and climbing.
We cleared the pass at 5,000 feet and kept climbing, we eventually reached 6,500 feet over the mountains where we had tried to visit the snow last year. We ran into some severe down drafts. I pulled the power and let her coast all the way to Santa Maria. ATC asked a Piper to slow up for a slow experimental and I picked it up to 85kts. We landed at the taxiway and were to taxi to parking via right on Foxtrot, left on Alpha, right on Alpha 10 and monitor ground.
We used 14.5 gallons of gas on the return trip which worked out to 9.6 gallons per hour but was clearly better than the trip down or any trip to Santa Paula in the past.
Conclusions:
The ceiling with Ed in the back is somewhere considerably above 6,500 feet where I stopped. We were eventually climbing at 2,400 rpm. I still had lots of throttle.
I don’t know how to lean her properly and I need to get some learning tools.
She uses less fuel with the new engine, 15% less.
Ed doesn’t like more than 70kts indicated air speed without goggles. I hit 94kts, 108 miles per hour, and she felt the wind was abusive.
The Predator feels like she could wander across the country. She is relaxed and composed.
I need to continue to experiment with my oil cooler. Cylinder head temperature is typically below 360 degrees F but my oil creeps up past 200 degrees F if I use more than 2,450 or lean her out improperly. I don’t know if it will stabilize at a higher temperature because I didn’t want to hurt her new heart so I backed off every time the oil temperature would pass 200. She never overheats with me solo.
Ed is not feeling well so I don’t know if she will add something.
I downloaded some of the pictures she took with my camera.
Thank you, Vance
I feel like a preflight should happen before I fly so we did a full preflight and I cranked up the front of the oil cooler another half inch.
I called Lockheed Martin and got a briefer that was very familiar with the area. She knew what to look for and she said it was the best flying weather she had seen around here. I got to use my new PST briefer sheet.
We were lifting off the ground at 16:13 Zulu and I set the throttle at 2,350. 60kts gave us a hundred feet per minute climb and a very pleasant exhaust note. I showed Ed how we could climb by just slowing down and then I advanced the throttle and we began to climb in earnest.
I flew IZA’s pattern altitude at 70kts and announced to no one my intentions and progress. We taxied over to fuel and filled her up for the journey east.
The pilots lounge emptied out to watch our departure. I announced a 210 departure with a turn to the east along the river bed. We fly over the least sensitive houses that way. Take off with fuel and Ed has been a little challenging in the past but today we were off quickly and climbed with alacrity.
I again set the throttle at 2,350 but pulled the speed back to 50kts and we climbed to about 3,500 feet by the time we cleared the pass. It was nice to know that I had plenty of throttle left if we hit some sink. I skirted the Santa Barbara air space and let approach know what I was doing. They never talked to me again. We flew close to the ridge line in order to stay out of SBA’s airspace and eventually made it to 4,500 feet. We headed inland and over another lake when I picked up Santa Paula Unicom. They were using runway 4 so I headed to the east so I could enter the right pattern down wind.
Things were really hopping and there were as many as six planes in the pattern at any one time. I flew the pattern at 85kts so that the challenges would be in front of me.
When I announced mid field downwind I suddenly had the pattern to myself. I ran it up to 90kts as I turned final and dove at the runway over the fence. I flared at my target and floated for several hundred feet as I bled off the speed. Touchdown was as nice as could be and we cleared the active at 18:30. We used 22 gallons going down including Oceano, L52 to SMX from the day before.
Al Ball was there to greet us but there was no place to park. They let us back in at the end between a Pitts and some very small homebuilt and we went off to see what Al had been doing in the last three months.
Ed told me her camera had stopped working so I loaned her mine.
We eventually found a place to park and as I was tying her down John Ready made a somewhat inelegant landing in his Acrosport. John joined us for lunch
As usual the atmosphere was festive with lots of aviation passion in evidence.
We stopped by my old racer friend’s hanger and oddly enough he had watched us land and thought to himself that he knew someone with a gyroplane. He had not seen the Predator before so he didn’t know it was me. He commented on the way it sort of floated in. He is working with Rob North to get one of his road racing sidecars that he ran at the Isle of Man TT running again. He also wants to add some power to his airplane and he was interested in my recent experience. He was there to see our new high performance take off.
We made the rounds and it was time to go. I let Al know because he had requested seeing our take off and after a call to Lockheed Martin and a quick preflight we were ready to go. A crowed sort of gathered as I warmed her up and did my magneto check. Ed stopped counting at 30. I held her on the ground and then let her leap into the air abeam the primary crowed. Climb out was brisk and we departed to the west climbing at 65kts.
I called Santa Barbara approach from 20 miles out and they had trouble understanding my radio transmission because I was too close to the mountain. First it was a she and she didn’t seem concerned and then she was relieved by a controller and he gave me a code to squawk and asked me to ident and verify altitude. I was at 4,500 feet and climbing.
We cleared the pass at 5,000 feet and kept climbing, we eventually reached 6,500 feet over the mountains where we had tried to visit the snow last year. We ran into some severe down drafts. I pulled the power and let her coast all the way to Santa Maria. ATC asked a Piper to slow up for a slow experimental and I picked it up to 85kts. We landed at the taxiway and were to taxi to parking via right on Foxtrot, left on Alpha, right on Alpha 10 and monitor ground.
We used 14.5 gallons of gas on the return trip which worked out to 9.6 gallons per hour but was clearly better than the trip down or any trip to Santa Paula in the past.
Conclusions:
The ceiling with Ed in the back is somewhere considerably above 6,500 feet where I stopped. We were eventually climbing at 2,400 rpm. I still had lots of throttle.
I don’t know how to lean her properly and I need to get some learning tools.
She uses less fuel with the new engine, 15% less.
Ed doesn’t like more than 70kts indicated air speed without goggles. I hit 94kts, 108 miles per hour, and she felt the wind was abusive.
The Predator feels like she could wander across the country. She is relaxed and composed.
I need to continue to experiment with my oil cooler. Cylinder head temperature is typically below 360 degrees F but my oil creeps up past 200 degrees F if I use more than 2,450 or lean her out improperly. I don’t know if it will stabilize at a higher temperature because I didn’t want to hurt her new heart so I backed off every time the oil temperature would pass 200. She never overheats with me solo.
Ed is not feeling well so I don’t know if she will add something.
I downloaded some of the pictures she took with my camera.
Thank you, Vance
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