Geico266
Well Known Member
One of the "exercises" I had to complete before I could get my ultra lite instructor's license years ago was to dead stick a UL in, 3 times, successfully, without a restart. I'm not talking about engine pulled to idle, I'm talking about a stopped prop. It was some of the best flight training I have ever received. Thank you Frank Cuba, Lite Wings Aviation. http://www.litewings.com/home.html
Today, I had the wheel pants done, 17 gallons of fuel, I weigh 200 pounds, and I was at 7,500 MSL over my airport at 1,500' MSL. 67F was the OAT, and 80F on the ground. I was ready to find best glide.
The POH says best glide is 60 MPH if you have an engine out in the RV-12, so I sent out to see if that was right. I climbed to 7,500' and pulled the throttle back to allow the engine to cool. I pulled the throttle back to idle after 5 mins, pulled the nose up to bleed off airspeed down to 60 MPH and I killed the mags. The engine came to a stop as the airflow slowed over the prop and soon it stopped around 50 MPH, and I immediately pushed nose down, AND turned the mags back on just in case I needed an emergency re-start.
I was a glider!
After I silenced the Dynon alarms (I had to do this several times) I settled back to find best glide and to attempt a dead stick landing at my airport. There is no traffic in the area and after announcing my intentions I started with airspeed of 75 MPH and I was loosing about 800 - 1,000 FPM. I knew I could do better than that so I pulled the nose up and trimmed for 65 which came in at 500 FPM. MUCH better! I slowed down even more and found 60 MPH airspeed was about 400 FPM! SWEET!
After writing down some notes and talking to the air I decided I had better try a restart just to make sure. I hit the starter and had INSTANT POWER! I killed the engine again and now it was time for the "dreaded" dead stick landing. I had plenty of altitude to make the MIDDLE of the runway. I emphasize the MIDDLE of the runway if you are doing a dead-stick. This is no time to "hit the numbers". It is your runway, use the whole dang thing! (I can remember Frank reminding me of that!)
I turned downwind, base, and final all in one gentle sweeping left hand "carrier approach" turn to get a feel for the rate decent of the -12 in a turn. There was only a slight increase in the decent rate in a gental (less than standard rate) turn. Finally on final, I needed to slip to loose a little altitude to make my touchdown point (MIDDLE OF THE RUNWAY! )
Everything looked good, felt good, and after deploying flaps I touched down prop stopped and came to a complete stop before firing up the engine and taxiing to the hanger.
Not only is the RV-12 a capable cross country machine, it makes a good glider also.
Best glide = 60-65 MPH
Fun factor on a scale of 1-10.... it's a -12!
Today, I had the wheel pants done, 17 gallons of fuel, I weigh 200 pounds, and I was at 7,500 MSL over my airport at 1,500' MSL. 67F was the OAT, and 80F on the ground. I was ready to find best glide.
The POH says best glide is 60 MPH if you have an engine out in the RV-12, so I sent out to see if that was right. I climbed to 7,500' and pulled the throttle back to allow the engine to cool. I pulled the throttle back to idle after 5 mins, pulled the nose up to bleed off airspeed down to 60 MPH and I killed the mags. The engine came to a stop as the airflow slowed over the prop and soon it stopped around 50 MPH, and I immediately pushed nose down, AND turned the mags back on just in case I needed an emergency re-start.
I was a glider!
After I silenced the Dynon alarms (I had to do this several times) I settled back to find best glide and to attempt a dead stick landing at my airport. There is no traffic in the area and after announcing my intentions I started with airspeed of 75 MPH and I was loosing about 800 - 1,000 FPM. I knew I could do better than that so I pulled the nose up and trimmed for 65 which came in at 500 FPM. MUCH better! I slowed down even more and found 60 MPH airspeed was about 400 FPM! SWEET!
After writing down some notes and talking to the air I decided I had better try a restart just to make sure. I hit the starter and had INSTANT POWER! I killed the engine again and now it was time for the "dreaded" dead stick landing. I had plenty of altitude to make the MIDDLE of the runway. I emphasize the MIDDLE of the runway if you are doing a dead-stick. This is no time to "hit the numbers". It is your runway, use the whole dang thing! (I can remember Frank reminding me of that!)
I turned downwind, base, and final all in one gentle sweeping left hand "carrier approach" turn to get a feel for the rate decent of the -12 in a turn. There was only a slight increase in the decent rate in a gental (less than standard rate) turn. Finally on final, I needed to slip to loose a little altitude to make my touchdown point (MIDDLE OF THE RUNWAY! )
Everything looked good, felt good, and after deploying flaps I touched down prop stopped and came to a complete stop before firing up the engine and taxiing to the hanger.
Not only is the RV-12 a capable cross country machine, it makes a good glider also.
Best glide = 60-65 MPH
Fun factor on a scale of 1-10.... it's a -12!
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