Cross Country In An RV-12
 

Now that I have been able to clean the bugs off, wash my clothes, change the oil, and cleaned out the Florida "dirt" I would like to report on the cross country capabilities of the RV-12 during my round trip flight of nearly 2,300 miles from Lincoln, NE to Lakeland, FL. for SnF.

I left Crete, NE (KCEK) Friday, April 9th, 2010, wheels up at 5:00am on the dot. I like to watch the sun come up and the forecast was for haze and clearing skies the rest of the day. No weather was forecast for the entire trip, and I had 35-40 MPH tail winds at 9,500 MSL. :D I did not see one cloud the entire trip down. A pretty amazing day!

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. I normally flight plan using AIRNAV so I can find airports that have credit card readers and MOGAS along the route. I usually don't plan on stopping at a specific airport (unless they have mogas) rather I stop at one that is near the end of my usable fuel. In the -12 (as with most RV's) after 3 hours I am ready to see if I remember how to land the plane again. ;) My goal is to have an hour of fuel in the plane minimum at all times, in the -12 that is 4-5 gallons so burning 5 GPH I have a range of 3 hours.

Going to SnF
KCEK - KPOF in 3.1 hours (.7 at night) 459.4 miles / 148.2 MPH average
KPOF - 11A in 2.9 hours 451.1 miles / 155 MPH average
11A - KLAL in 2.5 hours 340 miles / 136 MPH average

I did not keep track of the fuel I added at each stop because the Dynon and the "Bender/Santic Marine Gage Mod" is so accurate I just added fuel and went. At no time did I add more than 17 gallons so my plan to have at least 5 gallons remaining got bumped once. Remember, you can't switch tanks like other RV's, when you out of fuel you are OUT! :eek:

Before I left I set the ground adjustable prop for max cruise and ran the engine at 5300 - 5400 RPM most of the way. Temps were all really good; oil was 200F - 210F, CHT's were under 190-200F. I was burning between 5.0 - 5.3 GPH. The engine was incredibly smooth as I dynamically balanced the engine and prop after painting.

Please do not let the unavailability of mogas keep you from going CC in your -12. IMHO, only constant use of 100LL should be avoided. Several tanks in a row are not going to hurt the engine. Just change the oil & filter when you get back home, and every 25 hours for the next couple of oil changes just to flush the lead out.

I took off from SnF around 9:00 am for the return trip. They did have mogas at Winterhaven, FL 15 miles east of Lakeland (SnF) so I hopped over there and filled up for the start of the return trip. Coming home I had 5-15 MPH head winds most of the way at any altitude so it was "sit back and enjoy the ride" time. I really like going low & slow so I can get to see the country side and this trip did not disappoint. We live in an incredibly pretty country. This was the first time in 10 years of going to SnF that I was able to make the trip each way in 1 day.

Return Trip:
KGIF - KTOI 390.9 miles, 3.1 hours, 126 MPH average
KTOI - KNQA 335.5 miles, 2.8 hours, 119 MPH average
KNQA -K3GV 352.2 miles, 2.8 hours, 125 MPH average
K3GV - KCEK 196.2 miles, 1.5 hours, 130 MPH average Landed at Crete, NE around 7:30 PM. What a great day!

IMHO, the -12 is a capable cross country machine. I do not have an auto pilot so I hand flew the entire trip. Most of the time I was using my finger tips and the plane was rock solid once trimmed out. Altitude holding was amazingly steady for no AP. I will be adding a lumbar support for long trips and I suggest you do the same if you are over 18. My legs got a little "ansy" but I could move my right leg over to the passenger side and stretch out a little.

I did use the arm rest to life myself up a few times and was greeted with the Dynon telling my my wing spar pins were "BAD" My heart jump a beat, until I realized it was my last actions that cause the alarm. :o

All in all, the -12 is more than capable of long cross country trips so keep pullin those rivets and start making plans for your cross country adventure.

Please add any info you have for going CC in the RV-12.

Tailwind X-country
 

WOW, it'd be really nice to have that kind of crosswind travel. What was it like on the return trip? Any headwinds?
Meade
kit 16

Florida RV12 #2
 

Actually there were five customer built RV12's at Sun and Fun (Larry got there first!). If you include Mitch of course there were six. It was neat to see the same plane painted different colors. I think Larry had the longest trip...Nebraska...no wonder he left so fast. My trip was from the DFW area and went great. The plane performed as advertised. I flew mostly at 5200/5300 RPM's because of the lead. Too hard to find Mogas so I used 100LL which the Rotax can tolerate but prefers car gas. I have the autopilot and flew high (7500 to 9500) where it was smooth. Used flight following and listened to my IPod on my Zulu's. Life is good.

Total NM: 1773
GS down: 91.5 kts (9.7 hours)
GS back: 112.0 kts (7.9 hours)
Ave: 100.0 kts (includes all engine running time...start up/taxi/climb/cruise/down etc)

Used: 92 gal AVgas
Cost $365 $3.91/gas
Gal/hr 5.23

The use of 100LL is not noticable to the pilot....I will be changing the oil at 25 hours instead of 50 hours like you do with car gas.

Day trip
 

Tuesday 4-20-10, a friend wanted to go to western Iowa ( Spencer ) to see a plane a guy was modifying.

It was 175 miles, 350 round trip.
Flew at about 5500' MSL ( our area is about 950' )
Total logged time 3 hours. ( about 2.8 actual flying )
Averaged 125 MPH. Running at about 5200 -5300 RPM.
Used 15 gals Mogas. ( about 23.3 MPG. )
On initial take-off, slightly under gross.
Very light winds. Super day.

John Bender
Iowa

SnF Cross Country Numbers
 

Larry,

Those numbers are incredible. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

Doug
RV-7
Fuselage

100LL in Rotax
 

You can also add TCP and that will keep the lead under control. However, a quart of TCP costs about the same as an oil change in my AirCam (with two 912S engines). There's another product, don't remember the name, which has TCP as that active ingredient and costs half as much. It's not legal for use in certified aircraft, but...

Ed,

I think the product you are thinking about is Decalin.

Larry you were at Sun-n-Fun!

Another advantage of Decalin is that it may be carried in the aircraft. TCP cannot.

Trip
 

What EGT's are you seeing at 5200 and 5300?