Getting legal

[Ed_Wischmeyer]

So I've been doing paperwork for the two planes. Neither had the operating limitations on board, neither had weight and balance numbers on board. A call to the Atlanta FSDO got me the operating limitations for the -8, which had gone into hiding, and I'll print all those tomorrow at reduced size.

I also cobbled together W&B spreadsheets for each plane and did sample loadings: typical, very light and very heavy. Turns out that you can't load my RV-9A out of the envelope unless you overload it, and that the RV-8 needs no more than half fuel to be legal for aerobatics with two aboard... not that I can do aerobatics any more, but at least the info is there. Sample loadings are great, as you can tell at a glance more of less where the c.g. is (I always use %MAC, not moment), and if you really need to get things precise, you can do that calculation. On the other hand, when you're in the middle of the envelope, a percent or two MAC makes little difference.

All this information is on the back of the latest versions of the checklists, which are customized to my style of flying and the equipment and flows in my airplanes. I also have frequencies and runway numbers for the local airports, some of which I don't go into all that often, as well as light gun signals, just in case.

I also had a real good BFR (yes, I know) with a buddy, and we did steep turns and stalls under the hood, and a forced landing. Hadn't done one of those in years... and again, I've now really wrung out the RV-9A and I've actually done all those things that I told myself would be no problem.

I've also been double checking all the interconnects on the G3X system, and what happens if each component fails. I learned a lot doing this, and that's knowledge you really want to have if you're going to fly actual IFR. The days of vacuum failure and electrical failure being the only main failures are long gone.

The good news is that I'm now much more in command of my aircraft. The bad news is that I've been BSing myself on what the planes can do. Turns out that I've been mostly right, but with my level of experience, and with aging effects starting to show up around the edges, mostly right is not something I should have ever tolerated.

[RobinHou]

Agree; I do sample loadings when I get a new-to-me airplane to get familiar with its W&B loading range.

Bet, What is MAC?

Robin

[MercFE]

Mean Air Cord... Used is heavier aircraft as a measure average width of the wing, for another method of describing the CG location.

Originally Posted by RobinHou

Agree; I do sample loadings when I get a new-to-me airplane to get familiar with its W&B loading range.

Bet, What is MAC?

Robin

[scsmith]

Ed, I'm curious what the planes can't do that you thought they could?

[Ed_Wischmeyer]

Must have been sloppy writing. They do everything I expected, but now I've actually done it.

The RV-9A will do 300 knots, by the way. Takes two flights...