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Join the 200Kt club

Not as fast as some of you guys... but not too bad for something I cobbled together in my garage!


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200 KT Club

Congrats on the 200 KT Club, I managed to reach that goal as well on Saturday. I had a little help from mother nature with a little push out of the south. Still was exciting..... Ok, allot of help !!! lol


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Today was the day. 210 knots ground speed, admittedly in the descent.

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Also set an altitude record for us -- 15,500'. I was trying for 17,500, but ran out of time on the flight from McAllen to Port Aransas, TX.

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It was a beautiful day down on the gulf coast. 73 degrees, and gloriously sunny!

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Joining the Atlantic Track 'U' on Thursday evening, we had a 212kt Tailwind !!!

At .82 that made us supersonic across the ground - quite a feeling :cool:

Smooth as silk as well.
 
230knots

232 knots yesterday in central florida
Had a 35 knot tailwind. = 266mph.

I'm guessing every Rv model except the 12 could have joined "the club" yesterday.
 
Tailwinds are a funny thing. We always want them, but we have so much less time to enjoy them than we suffer through the killer headwinds. Has anybody ever flown past their planned destination just to enjoy the tailwinds longer? :)
 
Jesse,

Yup! A few years ago I picked up my son from college and on the way home encountered 70 mph headwinds. The trucks on the x-way were making better headway than I was. Just for the fun of it, turned around to see just how fast we really could go. Problem is, that 10 minute joy ride cost me a half hour getting back.
 
I've been close several times in my first 10 hours but finally joined the club today!! I haven't even installed the wheelpants and fairings yet!
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Cross country flight coming back from Wyoming to North Dakota.

My first real cross country. Hope I can get this often.

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You cut off the fuel flow! What were you burning? It looks like you may want to cut down the fin in front of cyl 2 or maybe even remove it. Also, how are your tanks reading 30 each at 9,500 ft?
 
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Jesse, it was burning 13 GPH

here is another that was taken just a few minutes before that.

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Yes, I have been gradually cutting down the front tabs to get the temps down. Probably going to have to just remove it.

Tank readings go crazy when it is at altitude. I have capacitance tank senders and calibrate on the ground, they work fine. As soon as there is a temp change, they go do weird things.

Till I get them fixed, using the gallons used. This has been very accurate so far.
 
Looks like you got the right side taken care of. Let me know how much #2 drops when you remove the dam.

I'd be very nervous without functioning floats, besides not being "legal". If you had a leak, especially on a long flight, you would have no idea that your tank is emptying or how much fuel you have left. With accurately calibrated floats (or cap sensors), I'd take the tank readings over the fuel totalizers, especially when the tank sensors are reading lower. He lower of the two systems should be the one planned by.
 
You are correct on those not relying totally on the totalizers. The capacitance readers do start to function at just under half tanks, however are only reliable at just above a quarter tank. I have been working with Rob on these and this week am changing out the dynon converters. If there was a leak, I would no it but unfortunately not until the tanks were half empty. Not what I am comfortable with and need to get them figured out. If you have any input on the capacitance issue, would appreciate any thoughts.

Will certainly let you know the drop when I remove the air dam.
 
Actually, I know almost nothing about capacitance sensors. The first -10 I helped build in 2006 had the normal float-type sensors and after getting them all set up with a Dynon EMS D-10 and seeing the accuracy (especially compared to a Cessna or Piper needle, that basically will tell you if your tanks are close to full or close to empty), I never even considered another type of sensor. I have always only used the float type sensors and am very happy with them.

Speaking of which, does anybody want to buy an EI dual capacitance fuel level instrument?

On the air dams, I have started leaving them off completely on all of the fwf installations I do and that leaves the front two cylinders warmer than the coolest and cooler than the hottest cylinders.
 
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Every once in a while the tailwinds on the return trip are as strong as the headwinds on the way out.
 
Sort of amazing...

"Every once in a while the tailwinds on the return trip are as strong as the headwinds on the way out."

Even when they are a perfect match it still takes longer to make the trip!!! :D
 
"Every once in a while the tailwinds on the return trip are as strong as the headwinds on the way out."

Even when they are a perfect match it still takes longer to make the trip!!! :D

Yes, but otherwise you can't get in "the club"!
 
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Coming home from Lake Havasu a few weeks ago. That's Nitty in front and Webble behind me. ADS-B is sweet! And for those with inquiring minds, it was on a weekend and the MOA was cold. :)
 
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Allow me to play the "anti-Van"

Couple of winters ago, flying from BWI to PHX, insane winds, MEL limit restriction at .65 Mach due to leading edge flap transit light, our groundspeed for a time dropped BELOW 200 kts ...

In a Boeing 737!

Ended up diverting into ABQ for more fuel. Leg paid well though!

Along the way we heard radio chatter from a Citation theorizing that there were cars passing him on the freeway below and an eastbound TBM who wanted an altitude block while trying to top 500kts.
 
Thanks for the laugh - just picturing all the misery on the radio...meanwhile, the guy in the TBM having a GREAT time.

Along the way we heard radio chatter from a Citation theorizing that there were cars passing him on the freeway below and an eastbound TBM who wanted an altitude block while trying to top 500kts.
 
I don't have a pic, but my slowest flight was -3kts. I was "hovering" at crown point on the Columbia river gorge, headed east, of course, and saw 3 kts@270?. crown point sticks out into the gorge winds, and a sort of Bernoulli effect will significantly raise the winds speeds there. very strange feeling to be flying and see the horizon go away from you.
 
I don't have a pic, but my slowest flight was -3kts. I was "hovering" at crown point on the Columbia river gorge, headed east, of course, and saw 3 kts@270?. crown point sticks out into the gorge winds, and a sort of Bernoulli effect will significantly raise the winds speeds there. very strange feeling to be flying and see the horizon go away from you.

That's cool. Did a GPS indicate minus sign? My slowest so far is 7 kts but I am working it down every year :D
 
no, it indicated westerly direction.

I have experienced 80+mph headwinds over the medicine bow mtns near Laramie. I ended up flying around them rather than over because the wind just kept increasing as I got closer to the summit. they are just mild ridges, not rugged mtns per se. it's funny how when you see 80mph ground speed in your RV it's no good, but in the t-craft I learned on, that was great.
 
I also hit that 200 knot number last weekend in my RV-9A. But I was more impressed with the low speed when I turned 180 degrees and slowed it down to 13 knots. I think I could have hit Vlad's low if I squeaked it a little slower. It was interesting that it would have taken me 44 minutes to go the last 10 miles to the airport. What was weird is that this was at 3000 feet in smooth air and it was almost calm at the surface.

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Wow, I thought it would be harder than that! Congrats. Yeah, 15 years and still an FO. still a pretty good gig though.

I have a photo over the Atlantic cracking 615 kts, but cant get it to load correctly. Romeo Yankee has seen 205 kts coming home from Idaho. Unfortunately no screen shot so doesn't count!
 
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I had a 163 kt tailwind in the jet stream over the Sea of Japan about 13 years ago. I wish I had taken a picture (I wrote it in my logbook though). That's the same jet stream that our B-29s discovered and then took advantage of back in WWII. Oh how I would love to catch a tailwind like that in my RV-8! :eek:
 
OK, I finally joined the club and have a picture to prove it.
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I could have gone higher and picked up another 10 knots of tailwind but since this was the second time I used oxygen, I thought it best to work my way up, over multiple flights.

As for people who worry that an O-360 will run an RV-9 past VNE, I don't see how this is going to happen. I was at WOT and pushing around 55% power I was running at 168 KTS (193 MPH) true, which is well below the 182 KTS (210 MPH) VNE True Airspeed Van's has set for the -9.

Yes, going down hill you have to throttle back but I had to do that when I had the 135 HP O-290 in the plane. Also, when it gets bumpy, I throttle back to keep it out of the yellow arc.
 
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Hi Bill,

I think you qualify!

Holding 168 ktas at a density altitude of 15.7 is pretty impressive. That modified Ronz airfoil on the 9 just does not want to give up airpseed as altitude increases. Makes for a great x cntry flyer.
I agree with you that a stock RV9/a airframe, with a stock 180 hp 360, can not exceed Vne in level flight at any altitude. BTW, the 210 mph Vne is actually north of 182 ktas.

Enjoy your RV9/180----we have certainly enjoyed ours---for the last 8 yrs.

Cheers,

db
 
.... BTW, the 210 mph Vne is actually north of 182 ktas.

Enjoy your RV9/180----we have certainly enjoyed ours---for the last 8 yrs.

Cheers,

db
I stand corrected. (and updated my post)

Yes, the -9 is a great airplane and it just loves flying high and fast. The super slow approach speeds (55 Kts solo / 60 Kts heavy) make me smile every time I'm in the pattern.
 
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On the way to the paint shop...We'll see if the new paint job makes it any faster! :)
 
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Went for a flight to test the new plenum top (isn't sealing as well as I'd like as is obvious by oil temp shown). I'm towards the end of engine breakin so running it hard still...sure am enjoying the speeds if not so much the fuel burn. Was very bumpy down low so I enjoyed a stout climb, took this pic then returned to the barn to address the plenum seal. 210 knots! Woohoo!

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4th of July

Joined the club and saved almost 30 minutes flying to NE Montana. I will pay back the wind gods on the home though.
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11,500' over the tall stuff. Great view too.
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222 kt



We had great tailwinds coming back from Manitowoc, WI in June, but I had forgotten about this thread. We climbed up to 15,000 ft to go over Lake Michigan (I had planned for 17,000 ft, but the tailwinds were so high that I only got to 15,000 ft before hitting the middle of the lake).

We went back down to 9,000 ft once we hit the east shore, but Toronto wanted us back up at 15,000 in their area, or take a big vector over Lake Ontario. I really like to stay within gliding range of land, so back up to 15K we went.

The average ground speed for the whole flight was 201 kt, including two climbs to 15,000 ft, and going 10 nm east of the airport for a GPS approach to get through the flag to land.
 
Flew to MYEM Eleuthera, Bahamas for a week at the beach and managed to follow a cold front on the way down. Nice tailwind that managed to take about half hour off the trip.
205 kts @ 6.6 GPH
Cant't beat these RV's
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This helped make up for the 60 kts. head wind I had going to OSH this year.
 
New to the club

Went out to check the wheel pants and found I gained a few knots in cruise. Surprised that the winds were 28 kts at 2500 feet I was able to get 200 GS with 26/26.

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Not bad for not having all of the fairings on!

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