June 9, 2002 - A trailer pulled up in front of a simple but comfortable
home in Houston.
Lots of trails, tribulations blood, time, money, recreation,
education, fun, friendships, anger, frustration, problem solving,
sweat, pondering etc....repeat and repeat again and again.
Fast forward (it did go fast)
June 9, 2012<x-apple-data-detectors://1 - Ellington Field - A lone,
very nervous man arrives at the airport shortly before 0900 hrs.
Pushes onto the ramp the contraption composed of fiberglass, metal
et al and the ingredients listed above. He sits down and writes a
simple holographic (hand written) will and short note with information
to call "Mom" and work. Calls tower to relay intent via the phone.
Preflights the contraption. Gets in, goes though basic Checklist. Cranks
up the
engine, which fires right up at about 0920 hrs. Taxi to Juliet. Calls
tower to verify
intent and to taxi to active, 35L. Taxis to Taxiway Echo. Checks temps.
Pushing 195
with OAT reading 95 degrees (geesh it is only about 0930 hrs).
Cleared to take active and hold. Taxied out. Lined up castering
nose wheel down center stripe. Cleared to take off. Added power
and engine smoothly ran up. Airspeed coming in. 30 kts...50 kts
....60 kts, approximate rotation speed. Lots of runway
(9000 ft).....hold it....70 kts....72 kts... Slight pull on the
yoke....AIRBORNE!!!
Leaped into ground effect. Screw this, pulled back on yoke and I am
climbing. Jiggled
the yoke a bit to verify control authority.
Climbed to about 400 feet and turned right pattern to crosswind.
The Dynon altitude and airspeed seem to be working. That's
reassuring. Pattern altitude is only 600 feet and I was there
already as I turned to downwind. Leveled off and noticed the clouds
were lower than reported and appeared on the ground. Also, noticed coolant
temps had
dropped to 190....but oil temps were flashing at me and had
reached 225
(synthetic Royal Purple). Damn. Ok. Fly the airplane, the oil is
not at not a critical level. , but let's just finish the pattern
and land. I grabbed my phone while on downwind and attempted to
record some data but while I can hear the engine the video is
awful....uh, in my defense, I was a bit distracted and way more concerned
with
flying. I called the tower and informed them I was coming in. I
think they were looking out for me since as I turned to base I
noticed the fire department staged just off the runways threshold
I noted I was a bit far out on down wind so I stared easing over
to turn base. Wow. I really overshot it as I blew by the runway
and had to use full right rudder to get back to the runway. I wish
I had had more rudder. In hindsight I think I was not using much
aileron as I was cognoscente that I had no idea of stall characteristics
so I did not yet wish too strep a turn. I was able to get over the
runway and dump some altitude as I got over the numbers and pulled
power. Crap, I am fast. I am lined up and right on the numbers but
at 95 kts. I come and touchdown and bounced. Pulled power to idles
and settled down easily but fast at 90 and rolled out and exited at
Delta. The tower was clearing me back to the city hangars as I was exiting
the
active. I taxi back and noticed the oil temps had decreased but I don't
recall how
much, just noticed they were lower.
I got back to my hangar and popped the door and shut her down. The
engine went silent without any hissing or gushing.
I called my mom.
I am mowing informing the world.
I did a walk around and did not see anything missing. I am about
to pull the cowl and check things out.
I did notice I did not develop a slight hand shaking until after I
landed and exited the aircraft. ;-) Hey, how about that, it really
is an aircraft now. Ten years to the day following delivery.
Thank you for your support.
Christopher Barber, JD
Houston, Ellington Field (EFD)
Velocity N17010
Turbo Rotary 13b
RWS Re-drive and engine computers
Dynon Skyview
Mistral intake
You made me laugh Chris :)
Congratulations. You are almost there on the oil cooling.
Paul Lamar
Congratulations on a job well done!
Kevin Alderman
You are an inspiration to all us builders out there, thanks for your
post, I'll be there someday hopefully soon with my Cozy MK IV 13b
Turbo. Good luck to you and safe flying, congrats. James Ealey
Ok, here is new information to me. I posted on the Velocity list
regarding my oil temps and was informed that oil temperature should
be measured coming OUT of the coolers, not out of the engine like I
have set up. This is just the opposite from the way the factory has
the coolant plumbing run as the stock coolant temperature sensor is
near the thermostat housing as it comes out of the engine and into
the radiator. I do not know where the stock oil sensor is located
(if I did, I now forget) but Al G. and John Dibble state the temp
should be taken for oil coming out of the coolers. Heck, if this is
the case, my oil may be quite a bit cooler than I was thinking.
Opinions please. It should not be too difficult to add a sensor to
where the oil enters the engine. Don't know if the Delta will be
much, but perhaps enough.... What say Ye? Chris
You can learn a lot by having both.
Paul Lamar
Coolant radiators are designed for a 10*F differential across them. Oil
coolers I would expect to be similar. Conventional petroleum oil begins to
break down at 250F. Synthetics are quite a bit higher. More like 325-350F.
Dale Davies
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