Oceanside to Vegas

[dabkb2]

I have been planning a overnight trip to Vegas for some time, the weather and timing worked out for this weekend.
259 miles, 22 gallons of fuel, 4 hours with a stop at Dagget KDAG, for fuel, each way.

Lined up on 25 at OKB and other pilots in the pattern said they could hear my motor not my voice. Grounded.

Tracked it down to a broken wire and got it fixed, but not before the window closed for getting to HND before sunset.

I'll get there just not this weekend.

 

[wolfy]

Wow that fuel consumption is getting up there, at what speed were you averaging?

wolfy

 

[okikuma]

I have been planning a overnight trip to Vegas for some time, the weather and timing worked out for this weekend.
259 miles, 22 gallons of fuel, 4 hours with a stop at Dagget KDAG, for fuel, each way.

Lined up on 25 at OKB and other pilots in the pattern said they could hear my motor not my voice. Grounded.

Tracked it down to a broken wire and got it fixed, but not before the window closed for getting to HND before sunset.

I'll get there just not this weekend.

Dave,

These are perfect "shakedown cruises" to test the durability and reliability of all systems of your gyroplane before attempting to fly to KOSH and back next year. There's much inherent vibration with a gyroplane in regards to electrical wiring. The EAA has many resources on aircraft electrical wiring and the prevention of premature wiring failure due to vibration.

Aircraft Wiring... Where Do You Begin?

Wayne

 

[dabkb2]

Wow that fuel consumption is getting up there, at what speed were you averaging?

wolfy

Well 70mph is my cruise speed, there was a little wind yesterday, it was going to take me 4 hours to go 259 miles. I have my Ifly set at 5.5 gallons per hour just to be safe, like anything the faster you go the more you burn

 

[Vance]

Thank you for sharing the fun Dave!

I feel Dave is being a good example of good aviation decision making.

To a slow moving gyroplane a little head wind can make a very large difference in how much time (fuel) is used to cover a specific distance.

I always figure my fuel consumption on the high side and try to take the winds into account .

I gave Dave a call and found out he had a somewhat indirect route from Oceanside to Daggett for airspace and mountains again demonstrating good flight planning.

Theory and procedure are nice but no substitute to actually flying.

 

[dabkb2]

Dave,

These are perfect "shakedown cruises" to test the durability and reliability of all systems of your gyroplane before attempting to fly to KOSH and back next year. There's much inherent vibration with a gyroplane in redards to electrical wiring. The EAA has many resources on aircraft electrical wiring and the prevention of premature wiring failure due to vibration.

Aircraft Wiring... Where Do You Begin?

Wayne

Thanks Wayne.

 

[wolfy]

Well 70mph is my cruise speed, there was a little wind yesterday, it was going to take me 4 hours to go 259 miles. I have my Ifly set at 5.5 gallons per hour just to be safe, like anything the faster you go the more you burn

Yes for sure, you are using the honda engine arn't you? Those Vortex machines are pretty dragy, so yeah 60kn airspeed would have taken a bit of power. When flying an open frame machine with 912uls I used to work on 16l per hour averaged over a normal mustering day with a range of flying style throughout the day.
Obviously your 5.5 gph is not bad just a little higher than I thought it would be.

wolfy

 

[Resasi]

Good info on your fuel burn Wolfy, your average of 16L/Hr gives me a good indication on what I can expect.

We did get quite a surprise with Lauren's 912 IS on his 'shake down' X-country to Oshkosh. One of his legs was just under 2hrs and we topped his tanks of with just five gallons so his fuel burn was exceptional. Rotax had claimed quite a substantial reduction over the 912ULS, which lots of people didn't believe but it did seem to be the case.