The purpose of the trip from Goheen Field to Ryan Field was to visit my (almost) 89 year-old Dad. The magic carpet for this trip was N544WB, an RV-6A that first flew in 1997 that I purchased flying earlier this year. This is a summary of the good, the bad and the ugly.
The Good
1. Seeing my Dad was really great. Since he's nearly 1200 miles away and 89 y.o., and can't really travel, who knows how many more opportunities I'll have.
2. I got a job a small job assignment in Bend, OR, so part of the flight was billable and travel expenses were partially reimbursable.
3. Except for some forest fire smoke, weather and visibility were mostly excellent.
4. The route of flight going was W52 (Goheen) - BDN (Bend) - BAM (Battle Mountain, NV) - 67L (Mesquite, NV) following the Colorado River to EED (Needles) then direct to RYN (Ryan Field Tucson). This was spectacular flying over some beautiful mountains and desolate desert. After waiting for ground fog to clear in the Battle Ground/Portland area, my start was late enough and work was long enough in Bend that I stopped overnight in Battle Mountain. I had flown most of the way from Bend to BAM at 11,500 and it wa a little bumpy. The combination of high altitude without O2 and hand flying was a little tiring. I thought that I could have easily flown another hour, but Mesquite was 2 hours away and I didn't think I would enjoy flying that far.
I had originally planned to cross the west end end of the Grand Canyon and go over Prescott and Phoenix to Tucson, but radio problems (see "The Ugly") caused me to change to a route "less traveled." I enjoyed the trip over the river. As a student pilot on my long solo cross-country flight, Needles was my fuel stop. I followed the Sectional map that time without any trouble. Another student pilot making the same trip a day after me got lost and wound up at the Ford Motor Co. Desert Proving Ground!
Coming into RYN, I apologized for my radio on the initial call. The tower controller was very gracious. After landing he asked where I wanted to go. I told him "the avionics shop" so he gave me progressive taxi instructions to SW Avionics.
5. For the return trip, because the radio issue was still unresolved, I elected to fly direct to Needles then to a fuel stop at Skyranch in Sandy Valley, NV. When I saw covers over the fuel pumps I was concerned, but they just turned out to be for protection of the pumps and hoses from the sun. The next leg was Skyranch to O43 (Yerington, NV) Where I took a 1.5 hr break for food and flight planning. It looked like I could make it all the way home, but with sunset at 7:30 PM, when I got near Redmond, OR, it looked like stopping might be a better choice than cutting it close since I am not night current. I had to wait for fog to lift in the Portland area before I could take off the next morning, when I had a spectacularly beautiful flight from RDM back to W52 home base. The entire Cascade RAnge from the Three Sisters all the way to Mt. Ranier was visible!
6. I estimate that I flew about 2400 miles and that flying time was somewhere between 13.5 and 14 hours. That means my average ground speed was somewhere between 171 - 178 including climbs, descents and time in the pattern. My cruise speeds are limited by the 2600 RPM Sensenich propeller red-line. Cruise speeds at that RPM setting ranged from 175 - 195 mph TAS. I used 108.8 gallons of 100LL at a cost of $467, which works out to 22 mpg. BTW, when I priced a commercial ticket for this trip, it was $480. So as far as I'm concerned, since I would have made this trip anyway, I flew the RV-6A for free (Note: my wife does not necessarily share this opinion.
The Bad?
1. For some as of yet undetermined reason, Cylinder #1 ran a CHT 25 degrees less than 2 - 4 and 100 degrees less EGT. Mag drops were the same both sides and normal RPM drop. I plan to pull the spark plugs on #1 to see if I can learn anything. I assume that the wires are 12 years old, although the engine has only 425 operating hours. Is it likely that I could have a plug wire issue that doesn't show up in the pre-takeoff mag check? I will also trade thermocouple wires to see if it is a sensor problem.
The Ugly
1. I continue to have a radio issues. Transmission and reception is scratchy and weak with the engine running. I pretty much need to be within 10 miles of an airport to have readable transmission and reception. SW Avionics bench-tested the ICOM 200 and told me that an audio amplifier was "weak."
I purchased a Vertex hand-held just so I would have a back-up radio for this trip. When I plugged my Halo headset into the Vertex adapter and tried to transmit, all I got was a loud feedback squeal. Is it possible that the in-line volume control in the Halo is not well enough shielded to be used that close to the Vertex antenna? Since I couldn't use the Vertex, I fiddled around with the ICOM some more and found that it was slightly better when I used my old DCs instead of the Halo. That was a pain since I am tall and don't have much canopy clearance. You "pilot-sized" guys are lucky! When the audio amp is "weak" in the ICOM, does that mean that the signal-to-noise ratio is diminished to the extent that normal sources of RFI become more prominent?
2. Upon return to W52, I found the P-lead shield wire to the left mag was broken. Unfortuantely the attaching screw to ground the shield wire to the mag case has been reefed on really tight and the screw head is damaged, so it it going to be a real adventure getting it off. The shield wire for the right mag is hanging on by just few threads.
3. My plan is to fix the P-lead shield wires and properly ground them at the mags, then see what kind of radio performance I get before shipping the ICOM off. (Apparently ICOMs have to be sent back to the manufacturer for repair).
Summary
As far as I'm concerned the Good tremendously overwhelmed the Bad and Ugly for this trip. As I have about 50 hrs. in a no-radio T-Craft I managed to deal with my radio issues OK. I'm curious about the variation in CHT and EGT on #1, but my airspeeds and fuel economy were sure great.
If you have had the perservernce to read this far and have any suggestions, please feel free to reply.
LarryT
The Good
1. Seeing my Dad was really great. Since he's nearly 1200 miles away and 89 y.o., and can't really travel, who knows how many more opportunities I'll have.
2. I got a job a small job assignment in Bend, OR, so part of the flight was billable and travel expenses were partially reimbursable.
3. Except for some forest fire smoke, weather and visibility were mostly excellent.
4. The route of flight going was W52 (Goheen) - BDN (Bend) - BAM (Battle Mountain, NV) - 67L (Mesquite, NV) following the Colorado River to EED (Needles) then direct to RYN (Ryan Field Tucson). This was spectacular flying over some beautiful mountains and desolate desert. After waiting for ground fog to clear in the Battle Ground/Portland area, my start was late enough and work was long enough in Bend that I stopped overnight in Battle Mountain. I had flown most of the way from Bend to BAM at 11,500 and it wa a little bumpy. The combination of high altitude without O2 and hand flying was a little tiring. I thought that I could have easily flown another hour, but Mesquite was 2 hours away and I didn't think I would enjoy flying that far.
I had originally planned to cross the west end end of the Grand Canyon and go over Prescott and Phoenix to Tucson, but radio problems (see "The Ugly") caused me to change to a route "less traveled." I enjoyed the trip over the river. As a student pilot on my long solo cross-country flight, Needles was my fuel stop. I followed the Sectional map that time without any trouble. Another student pilot making the same trip a day after me got lost and wound up at the Ford Motor Co. Desert Proving Ground!
Coming into RYN, I apologized for my radio on the initial call. The tower controller was very gracious. After landing he asked where I wanted to go. I told him "the avionics shop" so he gave me progressive taxi instructions to SW Avionics.
5. For the return trip, because the radio issue was still unresolved, I elected to fly direct to Needles then to a fuel stop at Skyranch in Sandy Valley, NV. When I saw covers over the fuel pumps I was concerned, but they just turned out to be for protection of the pumps and hoses from the sun. The next leg was Skyranch to O43 (Yerington, NV) Where I took a 1.5 hr break for food and flight planning. It looked like I could make it all the way home, but with sunset at 7:30 PM, when I got near Redmond, OR, it looked like stopping might be a better choice than cutting it close since I am not night current. I had to wait for fog to lift in the Portland area before I could take off the next morning, when I had a spectacularly beautiful flight from RDM back to W52 home base. The entire Cascade RAnge from the Three Sisters all the way to Mt. Ranier was visible!
6. I estimate that I flew about 2400 miles and that flying time was somewhere between 13.5 and 14 hours. That means my average ground speed was somewhere between 171 - 178 including climbs, descents and time in the pattern. My cruise speeds are limited by the 2600 RPM Sensenich propeller red-line. Cruise speeds at that RPM setting ranged from 175 - 195 mph TAS. I used 108.8 gallons of 100LL at a cost of $467, which works out to 22 mpg. BTW, when I priced a commercial ticket for this trip, it was $480. So as far as I'm concerned, since I would have made this trip anyway, I flew the RV-6A for free (Note: my wife does not necessarily share this opinion.
The Bad?
1. For some as of yet undetermined reason, Cylinder #1 ran a CHT 25 degrees less than 2 - 4 and 100 degrees less EGT. Mag drops were the same both sides and normal RPM drop. I plan to pull the spark plugs on #1 to see if I can learn anything. I assume that the wires are 12 years old, although the engine has only 425 operating hours. Is it likely that I could have a plug wire issue that doesn't show up in the pre-takeoff mag check? I will also trade thermocouple wires to see if it is a sensor problem.
The Ugly
1. I continue to have a radio issues. Transmission and reception is scratchy and weak with the engine running. I pretty much need to be within 10 miles of an airport to have readable transmission and reception. SW Avionics bench-tested the ICOM 200 and told me that an audio amplifier was "weak."
I purchased a Vertex hand-held just so I would have a back-up radio for this trip. When I plugged my Halo headset into the Vertex adapter and tried to transmit, all I got was a loud feedback squeal. Is it possible that the in-line volume control in the Halo is not well enough shielded to be used that close to the Vertex antenna? Since I couldn't use the Vertex, I fiddled around with the ICOM some more and found that it was slightly better when I used my old DCs instead of the Halo. That was a pain since I am tall and don't have much canopy clearance. You "pilot-sized" guys are lucky! When the audio amp is "weak" in the ICOM, does that mean that the signal-to-noise ratio is diminished to the extent that normal sources of RFI become more prominent?
2. Upon return to W52, I found the P-lead shield wire to the left mag was broken. Unfortuantely the attaching screw to ground the shield wire to the mag case has been reefed on really tight and the screw head is damaged, so it it going to be a real adventure getting it off. The shield wire for the right mag is hanging on by just few threads.
3. My plan is to fix the P-lead shield wires and properly ground them at the mags, then see what kind of radio performance I get before shipping the ICOM off. (Apparently ICOMs have to be sent back to the manufacturer for repair).
Summary
As far as I'm concerned the Good tremendously overwhelmed the Bad and Ugly for this trip. As I have about 50 hrs. in a no-radio T-Craft I managed to deal with my radio issues OK. I'm curious about the variation in CHT and EGT on #1, but my airspeeds and fuel economy were sure great.
If you have had the perservernce to read this far and have any suggestions, please feel free to reply.
LarryT
