zkvii
Well Known Member
I've just had a week off the project and spent some time across the ditch in the West Island (Australia). Not one to miss the chance to catchup and see other RVers, in need of a bit of motivation as things seem to be grinding very slowly and keen to learn from those with more experience, I re-contacted Peter James (FODRV7) and he invited me down to Melbourne for a couple of days.
Apart from a (disappointing) <10 mins at the VANs factory back in March 2003, I haven't flown in an RV7x before, so my goal was to try and get a feel / understanding for some of the general handling, X-country use and some of the 'speed' aspects along with the glass GRT screens. My previous flying background is a bit limited with max cruise speed of about 140 knots and a slippery, straight and true RV7 with 180HP+ does rather more than that
.
We played hanger chess, took off from the local Torquay strip and cruise climbed quickly (1500+ fpm) into the deep blue skies with a bit of puffy cloud at about 5-6K. The slow speed handlings was something I was interested in and got an early chance to feel and try the stall with and without flaps, all what I was expecting from a short stubby wing - the challenge was to not over control - it is more of a 'release pressure' rather than a 'push forward'.
Then onward to a gliding airfield, approach and first attempt at slowing down.... Pete was getting me to do most of the flying up to short finals where I was happy to pass control for the touch and go (didn't stop - no gliding going on) so then on to Ballart aerodrome for Lunch. After a cuppa and meat pie, we gassed up, did a compass swing, a couple of instrument configuration items and then headed back off in a generally South Westerly direction. After a review and report of a bush fire (sorry no photos), we then had a low level look at the 12 apostles and back along the coast line towards home.
We were going nicely, back up to 8K and I was playing / learning with the GRT screens and Pete decided to do some engine out glide testing. I looked up when the engine was stopped (see photo - with zero RPM on the RHS screen) and (a bit to his surprise) I was just keen to get more recording going to see how the data extraction works in practice. We tried various different airspeeds and broadly re-confirmed his original flight testing best glide figures - 80 to 90 knots depending on configuration. The conclusion from the data extraction was the flying speeds (IAS and VSI) hadn't stabilised enough to be able to get clear information - a future test is hopefully in the pipeline - and specific graphs can be extracted - watch this space.
After saving the fuel for the test, we decided a running engine was a good idea to help get home and a steep dive was used to get the engine to turn over - a new technique to me. Then back to base, landing and tidying, 2.5 hours flying total and a whole heap of learning for me and it was rather fun too!
The beginning / end of the flights from google earth,
Plus the recorded path / bank components in native Goggle Earth format from GRTDecode - http://www.rvproject.gen.nz/kml/VH-WHZ_Flight.kmz
The rest of the evening was lovely dinner and a wine or two, beer, pool, billiards and pocket ball - plus a few tall stories. The RV family really is a world wide group / resource - combining a huge range of experience, knowledge and ideas. Many thanks to Pete for your hospitality, help and time.
Carl
Apart from a (disappointing) <10 mins at the VANs factory back in March 2003, I haven't flown in an RV7x before, so my goal was to try and get a feel / understanding for some of the general handling, X-country use and some of the 'speed' aspects along with the glass GRT screens. My previous flying background is a bit limited with max cruise speed of about 140 knots and a slippery, straight and true RV7 with 180HP+ does rather more than that
.We played hanger chess, took off from the local Torquay strip and cruise climbed quickly (1500+ fpm) into the deep blue skies with a bit of puffy cloud at about 5-6K. The slow speed handlings was something I was interested in and got an early chance to feel and try the stall with and without flaps, all what I was expecting from a short stubby wing - the challenge was to not over control - it is more of a 'release pressure' rather than a 'push forward'.
Then onward to a gliding airfield, approach and first attempt at slowing down.... Pete was getting me to do most of the flying up to short finals where I was happy to pass control for the touch and go (didn't stop - no gliding going on) so then on to Ballart aerodrome for Lunch. After a cuppa and meat pie, we gassed up, did a compass swing, a couple of instrument configuration items and then headed back off in a generally South Westerly direction. After a review and report of a bush fire (sorry no photos), we then had a low level look at the 12 apostles and back along the coast line towards home.
We were going nicely, back up to 8K and I was playing / learning with the GRT screens and Pete decided to do some engine out glide testing. I looked up when the engine was stopped (see photo - with zero RPM on the RHS screen) and (a bit to his surprise) I was just keen to get more recording going to see how the data extraction works in practice. We tried various different airspeeds and broadly re-confirmed his original flight testing best glide figures - 80 to 90 knots depending on configuration. The conclusion from the data extraction was the flying speeds (IAS and VSI) hadn't stabilised enough to be able to get clear information - a future test is hopefully in the pipeline - and specific graphs can be extracted - watch this space.
After saving the fuel for the test, we decided a running engine was a good idea to help get home and a steep dive was used to get the engine to turn over - a new technique to me. Then back to base, landing and tidying, 2.5 hours flying total and a whole heap of learning for me and it was rather fun too!
The beginning / end of the flights from google earth,
Plus the recorded path / bank components in native Goggle Earth format from GRTDecode - http://www.rvproject.gen.nz/kml/VH-WHZ_Flight.kmz
The rest of the evening was lovely dinner and a wine or two, beer, pool, billiards and pocket ball - plus a few tall stories. The RV family really is a world wide group / resource - combining a huge range of experience, knowledge and ideas. Many thanks to Pete for your hospitality, help and time.
Carl
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