rzbill
Well Known Member
My thoughts were stirred by Flyguytkis experience with the stuttering engine.
It made me search the forum for discussions about the nitty gritty of planning a first flight. I remember a few short threads but not really what I was looking for.
So.. I want to share with others what I did, for consideration. Constructive discussion is welcome.
The flight profile I used is more applicable to longer runways such as KAVL
My gut says 3000 ft or longer to make this useful in any way.
To start:
Briskly in with the throttle to give opportunity to confirm full rpm.
Break ground
Climb a little (20 -30 feet)
LEVEL OFF
Build speed, glance at oil pressure and CHT.
At the point where I could no longer land on the runway, I smoothly pulled into a right hand zoom climb that ended at pattern altitude with my craft oriented parallel at the end of the runway on downwind ready to turn and land if necessary.
Again, glance at oil pressure and cht
Continued climbing and circled the airport in a left hand rectangle to keep myself in a gliding position as much as possible.
Circled a few times and came in to land.
There is a percieved advantage to this zoom climb method in that the intent is to maximise the useful time/length of the runway (by not climbing far from it in the beginning) and also to minimize the residence time in the impossible turn zone.
Merely as an example for discussion, I apply what happened to Flyguytki to the profile above.
1) There was one cylinder reading out of whack pretty early. Enough so that an immediate abort might be possible depending on the length of the runway. The 8K at KAVL would have given plenty of time.
2) The power loss appeared at about the time my zoom would have been finished and I would have been in downwind position ready to turn and land.
SO, in my case, I would have been in a good position but my only course of action would have been to complete an immediate downwind landing.
This pattern was suggested to me by a very good friend and highly experenced military pilot and homebuilder a number of weeks before I flew. I considered it at length and decided I liked it. I still do after doing it.
Gents, let the discussion begin. I hope this can be useful and safe for some other first flight in the future.
It made me search the forum for discussions about the nitty gritty of planning a first flight. I remember a few short threads but not really what I was looking for.
So.. I want to share with others what I did, for consideration. Constructive discussion is welcome.
The flight profile I used is more applicable to longer runways such as KAVL
My gut says 3000 ft or longer to make this useful in any way.
To start:
Briskly in with the throttle to give opportunity to confirm full rpm.
Break ground
Climb a little (20 -30 feet)
LEVEL OFF
Build speed, glance at oil pressure and CHT.
At the point where I could no longer land on the runway, I smoothly pulled into a right hand zoom climb that ended at pattern altitude with my craft oriented parallel at the end of the runway on downwind ready to turn and land if necessary.
Again, glance at oil pressure and cht
Continued climbing and circled the airport in a left hand rectangle to keep myself in a gliding position as much as possible.
Circled a few times and came in to land.
There is a percieved advantage to this zoom climb method in that the intent is to maximise the useful time/length of the runway (by not climbing far from it in the beginning) and also to minimize the residence time in the impossible turn zone.
Merely as an example for discussion, I apply what happened to Flyguytki to the profile above.
1) There was one cylinder reading out of whack pretty early. Enough so that an immediate abort might be possible depending on the length of the runway. The 8K at KAVL would have given plenty of time.
2) The power loss appeared at about the time my zoom would have been finished and I would have been in downwind position ready to turn and land.
SO, in my case, I would have been in a good position but my only course of action would have been to complete an immediate downwind landing.
This pattern was suggested to me by a very good friend and highly experenced military pilot and homebuilder a number of weeks before I flew. I considered it at length and decided I liked it. I still do after doing it.
Gents, let the discussion begin. I hope this can be useful and safe for some other first flight in the future.