was not sure if this thread belongs to the engine forum section. If so... i kindly ask the moderator to move it.
recently we had a discussion in our flying club to define the flight operational rules for our club members in austria/switzerland/germany. one question was how to save gas without cutting flying hours. fuel prices in europe are higher (especially for avgas twice or even more) than in northern america. i think it's a good idea to evaluate any possible measure to keep flying on an affordable level. several involved in the discussion stated that it wouldn't be a good idea to run an lycoming 320/360 on 40/45% or so power for a long period of time, because the engine will suffer but no solid explanations why.
there are a lot of myths in general aviation, but most times there's also a grain of truth.
I'm not talking about power setting for best range, rather max endurance? so if you just want to enjoy the scenery and you don't care how fast your ship is moving: does a very low power setting hurt the engine? my understanding is that you can run the engine low as you want as long CHT's and vibration is ok.
What ya think?
best regards from lake constance
Kay
PS: replies like "did not build RV to go slow" aren't very helpful.
recently we had a discussion in our flying club to define the flight operational rules for our club members in austria/switzerland/germany. one question was how to save gas without cutting flying hours. fuel prices in europe are higher (especially for avgas twice or even more) than in northern america. i think it's a good idea to evaluate any possible measure to keep flying on an affordable level. several involved in the discussion stated that it wouldn't be a good idea to run an lycoming 320/360 on 40/45% or so power for a long period of time, because the engine will suffer but no solid explanations why.
there are a lot of myths in general aviation, but most times there's also a grain of truth.
I'm not talking about power setting for best range, rather max endurance? so if you just want to enjoy the scenery and you don't care how fast your ship is moving: does a very low power setting hurt the engine? my understanding is that you can run the engine low as you want as long CHT's and vibration is ok.
What ya think?
best regards from lake constance
Kay
PS: replies like "did not build RV to go slow" aren't very helpful.