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The RV6A and I love Winter

AlexPeterson

Well Known Member
Well, maybe one of us does...

Some ramblings:

Aside from being cold when pulling planes out, while risking life and limb on ice and dealing with snow, winter is a wonderful time to fly. I haven't cleaned bugs since about late October. One hasn't truly experienced their RV in maximum climb mode until you've flown with really cold temperatures. Today it wasn't too cold, with the surface temperature about 10F, light winds and clear sky. I should have done a screen capture (I was too busy grinning, even after 18+ years...), but the VSI was between 2500 and 3000fpm, at a pitch angle of about 15 degrees sustained. I hit pattern altitude (about 1900msl) just after leaving the airport boundary:

LkbfJPNCR5NcFT5A65EBslrEGnNwyp19R8d-6z9uFKx1YELfZMaHhEhHKNFD7N9sDWuYezSGYFOywnPL1EosMIiNmYIb7uAW7Q1er5H457ehM3cdqViRxPUvUDLU0ifyGrgrtNZePCvP0rMAxcTjOipldZSe7xVdNCcKk39icEOWjrnxWyytymPZ1I8sQcIepUUK_fKBi12pvBlO2ob6cQWs0f8Zphb7cRCfGSVTjhL--s2692QtcdSa0kzH7ElB1DQDttA35fH9fexR93wZKz_jX7KboaJ3dO6SusXOqJG-XC8mJ-KmsNOQsGKrymGpXgnT0AKFMZMEFvjOJK__bfR5jDJHrYcsHclyY_RMiGGytgixdSAcDKOXcVyrCQRjMpQP1zRWSIv9zUQI2l2tfM_IttR5ZagG30KzlUwVN3A8e-d8puU1mL4lStyxpXi4mYLFa9Gzqh2S9ppV8FE8-M4KvYhnuD4UYU98rEwuexrC_7Zq0i_-vPCrhIIPK4GYcyz20rA2u2oo6gfNIyL2eaDvA3r7qjui9EIIXLxpbSzbPJ6f2nwoAPtMFk9d66IJc-CZ36MqQR7GBiZT-oTet6rLwP_R6fTlZqEmRwTMFXuTYHwblx7Q0kAx8WqwXaWr67qvvwmZ4nK6Rh4lZBq6E6Ubk6_pjOxwIa6wrMj56A17rdRdqS5GDhoZpySbon7I2OGtWFPmBxy2Tom1FYWLKSG_Yx2mu4sesY7ARriBKw-fvLj7=w640-no


I leveled off at 3500' msl, just below the class B floor, while only maybe 3 miles north of the airport. I usually give the tower a heads up that I'm going to be climbing steeper than usual, as they sometimes have transitioning traffic that wouldn't typically be a conflict with normal airplanes.

Later in the flight, I was at 7500msl and dialed this up just for fun, delivering 178 ktas!:

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I've never cruised at fuel burns nearing 10gph, as this is a more typical cruise fuel flow:

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Many of us typically dial up an RPM, set a MAP and then lean the old fashioned way of lean till sounds a bit different, then twist the knob a bit. I do then take note of the fuel flow and make further adjustments as needed. The OAT was -6F on this flight, and the air is dense! That same fuel flow in the summer would be at a MAP of about 23" as opposed to this MAP of about 20.
 
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