Well, with a large break for the holidays between first flight and today, we have managed to squeeze the first ten hours of flight time onto our new RV-3?s airframe. The first six hours were pretty much dedicated to engine break-in, with lots of high-powered laps up and down the gulf coast, and very conservative operations. This mostly straight and level time was used to debug a few avionics issues (we had an intermittent Air Data board in the EFIS, which Garmin replaced via overnight express, there was a bad Comm 1 antenna connection, etc?.) and get a feel for the airplane ? which continues to be delightful. We had to adjust the governor cable to get maximum RPM?s, and are tinkering with a flaky left fuel gauge ? but nothing else sticks out.( Getting use to all that traffic information took a little while as well!)The oil level only went down about a sixth of a quart in those first six hours, so I figure that the break-in was quick, and cleared the airplane for unrestricted engine operations.
When we got back from vacation a couple of days ago, it was back to Phase I, and the real beginning of the flight test program. First up was an ASI calibration using a four-course GPS leg and the excellent little application found on Kevin Horton?s web site. I flew several four-course legs at different altitude and power settings, and found the ASI to be within two knots over the normal sped range. EFIS airspeed matches the backup ASI to the width of the needle, so I?m pretty happy there. (The G3X is absolutely awesome when it comes to data recording by the way. Pop an SD card into the PFD before the flight, pop it out at the end, copy the file to the computer, and click it ? Excel opens it up right away, and all of the columns have labels. The data is at one sample per second, which is fine enough to find all sorts of interesting stuff. It should be a piece of cake to build performance tables efficiently.)
I am extremely impressed with the Silverhawk fuel injection and P-Mag combination on the TMXIO-320 ? starting is instant, and operation is very smooth ? I can use the mixture control like a throttle when it gets over peak, and it stays totally smooth as the power simply drops off. I can?t wait to see how the power tables turn out with this combination! Cylinder #2 is consistently hotter than the other three, so I probably will fool with the baffle dam a bit. EGT?s are very well matched, and I have detected no thrumming on the belly from exhaust pulses.
Yesterday I tried a few gentle aerobatic maneuvers to feel out the handling qualities ? some rolls and wingover, keeping the G?s low until we expand the envelope a bit. It is hard to understate the handling qualities ? this craft is simply superb. You can start and stop the roll rate instantly ? it stays where you put it, and goes where you tell it. All with almost no control motion ? simply delightful. It?s going to take a touch of rudder trim, and since I haven?t installed a moveable tab yet, we?ll experiment with a wedge.
Louise is warming up to fly it soon, and I can?t wait to see how she likes it! Once she?s familiar with the airplane, we?ll get her collecting performance data while I expand the CG and loading envelope incrementally. Of course, we need this Houston weather to start cooperating with us (which it didn?t today), or I?m going to have to continue cleaning up the shop instead?.
Absolutely no regrets at this point, and nothing that I would have changed!
Paul
When we got back from vacation a couple of days ago, it was back to Phase I, and the real beginning of the flight test program. First up was an ASI calibration using a four-course GPS leg and the excellent little application found on Kevin Horton?s web site. I flew several four-course legs at different altitude and power settings, and found the ASI to be within two knots over the normal sped range. EFIS airspeed matches the backup ASI to the width of the needle, so I?m pretty happy there. (The G3X is absolutely awesome when it comes to data recording by the way. Pop an SD card into the PFD before the flight, pop it out at the end, copy the file to the computer, and click it ? Excel opens it up right away, and all of the columns have labels. The data is at one sample per second, which is fine enough to find all sorts of interesting stuff. It should be a piece of cake to build performance tables efficiently.)
I am extremely impressed with the Silverhawk fuel injection and P-Mag combination on the TMXIO-320 ? starting is instant, and operation is very smooth ? I can use the mixture control like a throttle when it gets over peak, and it stays totally smooth as the power simply drops off. I can?t wait to see how the power tables turn out with this combination! Cylinder #2 is consistently hotter than the other three, so I probably will fool with the baffle dam a bit. EGT?s are very well matched, and I have detected no thrumming on the belly from exhaust pulses.
Yesterday I tried a few gentle aerobatic maneuvers to feel out the handling qualities ? some rolls and wingover, keeping the G?s low until we expand the envelope a bit. It is hard to understate the handling qualities ? this craft is simply superb. You can start and stop the roll rate instantly ? it stays where you put it, and goes where you tell it. All with almost no control motion ? simply delightful. It?s going to take a touch of rudder trim, and since I haven?t installed a moveable tab yet, we?ll experiment with a wedge.
Louise is warming up to fly it soon, and I can?t wait to see how she likes it! Once she?s familiar with the airplane, we?ll get her collecting performance data while I expand the CG and loading envelope incrementally. Of course, we need this Houston weather to start cooperating with us (which it didn?t today), or I?m going to have to continue cleaning up the shop instead?.
Absolutely no regrets at this point, and nothing that I would have changed!
Paul
