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Arizona heat and RV10

rvdave

Well Known Member
The Arizona heat is in the news recently and just curious how that has been affecting RV10 performance? Some commercial flights have been grounded .
 
The commercial flights usually get grounded during these really hot days because they don't have performance tables for those temps, which are required for commercial operations. You may already know that. :)
The RV-10 really has a lot of excess power and is not usually a problem during high density operations from an iarcraft performance standpoint. However, engine operating paramters can be easily exceeded, such as CHT's and oil temps, especially during the climb phase. Climbing at airspeeds high than usual, and allowing for step climbs can help if needed. Really paying attention to ground ops during the heat is important, like making sure to perform runups facing into the wind and minimizing taxi time.

Vic
 
Shouldn't be a problem

The grounded planes are mostly RJ's. After the same issues in 1990 most of the manufacturers updated their FM's to include these high temps.

I had a 7 with IO 360 and used to fly it to work. The hottest I every took off was 117 degrees. No problems.

A word of caution, if you go to a higher altitude check the DA and your aircraft performance.
 
Heat and Altitude

Phoenix is only 1000', not normally a big problem. Try Ely at ~7000' in the middle of the summer. Had to lean the engine (carb O-320) at idle just to keep it running and the airplane rolls forever on Takeoff.
 
I can't speak to the RV10, but the overall performance of the RV series means less effect with high density altitudes. I flew Cessna for 40 years.... just like many others. Very hot days were very evident on takeoff in a Cessna with full fuel. Calculations and planning were imperative.
Now, as an RV owner... the added performance I experience on cool days, pay off in the heat. Even if I am back to the anemic 500 FPM climb rate I was used to in Cessna operations.... I am flying safely. I do see that I need to do some step climbs to keep CHT peaks within limits. But this is easy to accomplish.
When packing the plane, we often carry more than needed. I am sure the roomy RV10 can hold more than you might actually need for the flight.
Calculating partial fuel loads has an enormous effect. Liguids are HEAVY. Respect that fact in physics. In fact, we are heavy! I won't get into that here... but we are mostly liquid and fat... which translates to more lift needed.
On these hot days out west.... three things rule. 1. get up EARLY and fly.
2. Check fuel needed and don't top off if not required. 3. Check load in aircraft and adjust. THEN--- enjoy the best designed flying machines on the planet....
 
I just flew back from Southern Utah and Colorado yesterday where we had daytime temps of 103F when we were there. As Vic said, the RV-10 has a lot of extra power in general. Certainly power and lift won't be the issue in Phoenix in an RV-10. Oil temps and CHT's may be. You'll have to be careful here.

On my recent trip my daughter landed at Leadville, CO. Pattern altitude is 10,727' MSL, with field elevation 9,933'. It was a warm day, so DA's were a couple thousand more at least. The RV-10 departed just fine with tons of runway remaining, and it was very neat to see the altimeter hit 10,000' within seconds of taking off. No issue with performance in the RV-10. We are very lucky as RV pilots that we can almost ignore performance charts. It's actually almost sad that it can make us poorer and more complacent pilots in that we have less to worry about and calculate.

For flying around Phoenix this week, I'd recommend basically not bothering doing it unless you have somewhere to go where it isn't as hot. It just won't be comfortable. If you do have to fly, do it in the a.m. You'll want to manage the flight by CHT and oil temp, adding forward speed in the climb. We climbed out at 125KTS to keep temps in check when we flew in the west the past few days. Altitude is your friend, so get there and stay there. LOP operation also is a great benefit to cooling. Just don't get yourself in a position around terrain where you are forced to climb quickly. That may cause you to mis-manage your engine.

Also, I'd have to say that after being in the 103F dry heat, I'd say it's still easier to tolerate than the 85-90F humid heat where we are. I got home and this week we're looking at 70's all week long. I wouldn't mind mixing some of our air with that down there so that being on the lake would be warmer.
 
Fly in Arizona in the summer

We took off this morning from ktus in our RV10 at 6AM. temp on the ground was 90 deg. Amazingly 2000 ft above the ground we had a temperature inversion and 95 deg temp.

Aside from the warm temps the airplane flew well with only minor adjustments to our climb speed. CHT's were warm but still below 400 deg.

it was a 2 ship breakfast run with an RV8 getting us back home by about 8:30.

a little warm but any day I get to fly is a great day.
 
Two summers ago I flew my daughter out to Mesa, AZ for a grad school visit. It was high nineties when we got there early in the morning. We flew out of there after lunch when it was 112F! Thankfully, we were able to park the airplane under a shade structure during our short day trip. No problems climbing out, but we did have to stay under the PHX Class Bravo. As soon as we could climb to the next level, we did to look for cooler air. We cruised back at 9,500 and it was mid-70's, which really felt cool comparatively.

On the way back from Oshkosh last summer, I stopped for fuel in Evanston, WY on a hot summer afternoon. Field elevation is 7100'. Filled up with fuel and took off with a Density Altitude nearing 11,000'! Easily lifted off (single person, so well under gross wt.) and climbed at less than halfway down the runway. Climbing was mostly temperature limited, but snaked our way through Provo Canyon between the mountains, and on to SoCal (4.5 hours non-stop to Ramona!). Still had an hour in the tanks after that long leg of flying.
 
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