What's new
Van's Air Force

The definitive Van's Aircraft support community! Buying, building or flying an RV? Join our exclusive family of mentors and enthusiasts!

Getting high in my RV-12

bbaggerman

bbaggerman

Well Known Member
Sponsor
Today I went out for a test flight in my RV-12. Normally I bump along at 1500' to 3500', occasionally more. I was wondering what it would do at a higher altitude. My goal today was 9500'. I was able to climb from 1000' to 9500' in about 12 minutes, which averages to about 700 fpm. I was just me and a full tank. At 9500 I still seemed to be climbing at a pretty good clip and could have gone higher. As for official service ceiling, the POH just says "Service Ceiling Estimated 12,000 ft". Handling seemed OK at altitude and the engine seemed happy all the way up and all the way down, although the oil temperature really cooled on the way down.

IMG_5944.jpg

IMG_5949.PNG

I was just wonder how high others have climbed in their RV-12 and what experiences might have been.

BTW, my motivation for flying high is for flying to the Bahamas. The Bahamas crossing is on my bucket list.
 
Not an RV-12iS, but I have Sling LSA with a 912iS, and I have been just below 14.0K without issues across multiple XCs (Reno to Seattle, Seattle to Catalina Island, Seattle to Las Vegas), we do stay below 12.5K for safety (and legal) reasons most of the time, but I know of someone outside of the US who has taken their 912iS to 17K and that seemed to be their hard ceiling (not sure about weather conditions).

I'm planning to go to the Bahamas either later this year (~Nov/Dec), or early next year, and hopefully to Greenland and Iceland during the summer... we'll see.
 
Cross country flights are typically 7,500 (7,000) or 8,500 (8,000) for my -12iS. That is where this platform is most efficient. At times that is 10,500 (10,000) or 11,500 (11,000) however one late summer almost 100 degree day I struggled to get to 9,500 when searching for cool air to feed through the side vents. This platform does have its limits.
 
Based on this engine power chart for climb I kept my manifold pressure (MAP) at no higher than 27" through the climb until I ended up with wide open throttle. Based on the RPMs I was seeing during climb I could have gone with a higher MAP but figured 27" would be safe as long as my oil temperature didn't reach the limit (which it did not). I don't have the standard 2-blade Sensenich but rather a 3-blade Whirlwind so RPM / MAP combinations are different that what I see in the POH. For me that makes setting climb power a bit of a guessing game.

Engine Power Chart.png
 
bbaggerman said:
Based on this engine power chart for climb I kept my manifold pressure (MAP) at no higher than 27" through the climb until I ended up with wide open throttle. Based on the RPMs I was seeing during climb I could have gone with a higher MAP but figured 27" would be safe as long as my oil temperature didn't reach the limit (which it did not). I don't have the standard 2-blade Sensenich but rather a 3-blade Whirlwind so RPM / MAP combinations are different that what I see in the POH. For me that makes setting climb power a bit of a guessing game.

View attachment 85480
Click to expand...
As long as your propeller is not over pitched beyond what anyone would likely ever set, it is just about impossible to get into the caution range in a WOT climb once reaching 3000 ft or so.
 
Bob's write up about reaching 16,000' instantly dashed my hopes for 'highest' at 14,000' MSL 😄! I didn't have O2 at the time and limited my time between 12,500 and 14,000 to less than 30 min. Rate of climb was still 150 FPM. Image is blurry since it's just a phone shot, sorry.

-dbh
 

Attachments

  • IMG_5391.JPG
    IMG_5391.JPG
    854.9 KB · Views: 81
dbhill916 said:
Bob's write up about reaching 16,000' instantly dashed my hopes for 'highest' at 14,000' MSL 😄! I didn't have O2 at the time and limited my time between 12,500 and 14,000 to less than 30 min. Rate of climb was still 150 FPM. Image is blurry since it's just a phone shot, sorry.
Click to expand...
Ground speed 39, huh? Nice!
 
dbhill916 said:
Bob's write up about reaching 16,000' instantly dashed my hopes for 'highest' at 14,000' MSL 😄! I didn't have O2 at the time and limited my time between 12,500 and 14,000 to less than 30 min. Rate of climb was still 150 FPM. Image is blurry since it's just a phone shot, sorry.

-dbh
Click to expand...
My friend, Zhidao, was flying my RV-12 one day, trying to see how high it would go. He said that it was still climbing at 200 ft/min at 14,000' - where he stopped because of O2. I'm sure it will do even better on the new eProp.
 
I've got a 912ULS engine. Highest I've gone is 12,500 when crossing the Sierras, and was close to max gross. I climbed out in IAS mode and it got there eventually, but wasn't too happy about it. Fuel consumption wasn't stellar either, since the carbs start running out of ability to lean around 8k.
 
bbaggerman said:
Today I went out for a test flight in my RV-12. Normally I bump along at 1500' to 3500', occasionally more. I was wondering what it would do at a higher altitude. My goal today was 9500'. I was able to climb from 1000' to 9500' in about 12 minutes, which averages to about 700 fpm. I was just me and a full tank. At 9500 I still seemed to be climbing at a pretty good clip and could have gone higher. As for official service ceiling, the POH just says "Service Ceiling Estimated 12,000 ft". Handling seemed OK at altitude and the engine seemed happy all the way up and all the way down, although the oil temperature really cooled on the way down.

View attachment 85447

View attachment 85448

I was just wonder how high others have climbed in their RV-12 and what experiences might have been.

BTW, my motivation for flying high is for flying to the Bahamas. The Bahamas crossing is on my bucket list.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top