Saturday 07 Mar 2009
1.5 air time
1.6 flt time

Events:

  1. Fuel gauge calibration point - Prior to landing, in level flight, the R fuel gauge indicated 10 to 11 USG of fuel remaining. The landing was conducted on the L tank, so no fuel was used from the R tank after noting this gauge reading. When refueling prior to this flight, 48.57 l (12.83 USG) of fuel were required to fill the tank. Assuming the total tank capacity is 21.5 USG (as measured on the L tank), and assuming that the fuel pump quantity reading is accurate, the actual fuel remaining was about 8.7 USG.
  2. Level flight performance tests at 7500 ft at various conditions from 65 kt to max power. No EFIS data was available, so hand recorded data was taken. The initial impression is that speeds are slightly slower with the MT prop than they were with the Hartzell. Data analysis has not yet been conducted to confirm this suspicion.
  3. Trialed music input into the intercom, using an iPod and a connector cable. The intercom mutes the music if any signal is heard on the radio, and then ramps it back up a short time after radio reception ceases. Further testing is required to determine whether this function adversely affects the ability to identify radio transmissions that are directed at my call sign.
  4. Oil pressure check. The oil pressure is now about 81 to 82 psi if the oil temperature is around 185 deg F to 195 deg F. The oil pressure drops to 75 psi if the oil temperature rises to 200 deg F.
  5. Three touch and go landings, one with zero flap, using a 75 kt approach speed.

New Snags:

  1. Pitch trim speed of movement is very slow during a touch and go. Full nose up trim is used on approach, and the trim must be moved to about 3/4 nose down during the "go". The current trim speed is optimized for cruise conditions, when very small adjustments are needed. The trim speed should be increased to attempt to find an acceptable compromise. Alternatively, some other means to control trim speed should be found that provides fast trim movement at slow speed, and slow trim movement at high speed.

Existing Snags:

  1. RPM still low in level flight with max rpm selected. An e-mail was sent to Aero Technologies support asking for advice.
  2. EFIS does not power up. It is in a continual reboot cycle at about 1 Hz. Thus no EFIS data is recorded. The EFIS was removed to send back to Dynon.
  3. SD-8 Alternator does not seem to be working. Will defer troubleshooting until engine break-in is completed, as it would be useful to check for AC output from alternator during an engine ground run.
  4. Loud buzz at high speed from aft part of canopy skirt. Try some stick-on Velcro or felt.
  5. Turn needle in turn and bank not working. The OFF flag is removed when power is applied, so power is getting to the instrument.

Notes:

  1. The aircraft now has 25 hours of flight time. However, the 25 hour "clock" to release the aircraft from the flight test phase restarted when the engine was removed for inspection and new prop was installed. The aircraft has 7.6 hours of flight time since that event occurred.
  2. I was in Montreal all week, conducting avionics testing in a full flight training simulator. Unfortunately, the paying customers got the civilised slot times, so our testing was conducted in the late evening, and early morning. We would typically finish testing around 3 AM. I managed to claw my way back to a semi-normal body clock for the weekend, but will be doing several more days of testing with a similar horrible schedule starting Monday evening. Ugh.

Results of Data Review:

  1. The RPM during the initial take-off was about 2685 at the start of the take-off roll, decreasing to about 2675 by the time the aircraft lifted off. The oil temperature was about 145 deg F, with 95 psi oil pressure. I did three touch and go landings at the end of the flight, and the rpm on each of them was about 2600. The oil temperature was about 182 deg F, with 85 psi oil pressure. There certainly appears to be an effect of either oil temperature or oil pressure on the governed rpm.
  2. The manifold pressure prior to start was 29.8 in HG. The manifold pressure during the take-off roll was 30.0, which suggests that there is some pressure increase due to prop wash, and that this pressure increase is greater than the losses in the induction tract.