07/26/2023 T67 to KMBY Moberly data (1 stop en route OSH)

We were blessed with a fun & mostly uneventful flight to the ultimate destination of Airventure at OSH.

 

Take off weight: 2022 lbs.  CG 99.9"  (800 lbs. of people, fuel and baggage).  Ballast was removed from the nose.

OAT: 87F (take off & landing)  Take off distance was before midfield so less than (1/2 of 3740'=1890).

Fuel @ take off: 46.4 gallons. Landing: 18.6  = 27.8 used. Distance 460 NM @ 16 NMPG or Flightaware shows 537 miles = 19 statute MPG (includes take off and taxi fuel). 

Titan 370 with 9.6:1 pistons, Superior cold air sump, SDS EI/EFI:  Fuel Flow 15.6 at take off.  Cruise FF ranged from 9.3-11.1 GPH @ RPM 2510-2530  CHT @ 388-417F.  We kept the mixture rich enough to keep the CHT  (380-418) & Oil temps (210-217F) comfortable.  At Moberly, the exhaust pipe residue was grayish and minimal smoke residue on the prop.

Cruise PALT was mostly at 4500' (DALT 7100-7300').Take off DALT 2450', 3035' landing.

Highest KTAS: 181.5 @ 2500', Ground speed 192.3 knots (220 MPH). IAS average about 149 Knots.

AMPS: ~30 Amps for 5 minutes after startup.  13-14 for the rest of the flight with Nav & Strobe lights on (@ 2 Amps).

Weather:  Starting wind was 170@20 KTS and near the destination changed to 254@47.  Sky mostly clear in the South with some light turbulence in cruise and a lot of turbulence when landing.  Wind near KMBY at 3000' was 54 knots, gusting 24 on the ground.  We landed on the short runway 23, braked hard enough to avoid a back taxi.  Brake heat shield temps after taxi were L=54C & R=67C.  

Squawks:  AP still seems to need some tweaking, the Hanka roll trim spring needs more plies.  Also found the roll trim actuator was slipping a little inside the adel clamp.  Bolus tape shredded on the top of the right strake at the wing intersection.  Suspect the HPVC foam gap seal wasn't holding the cowl pressure in and blowing out the top of the strake which caused some more right roll than the weak trim spring compensate for and the #2 CHT ran warmer than usual.  Probably is why the oil was a little warmer than usual too.

Start to shutdown time: 2h 41m 31s   

ADS-B working well with the new SV-ADSB472 module and double bazooka antenna above the canard.  The VOR receiver's double bazooka antenna also worked.  Occasionally the panel indicated we had dropped out of radar coverage but still had ADSB ground stations in range.

Comments:  This is the first long flight with a copilot that needs stick time for canard insurance.  The dual HDX1000 panel's ability to quickly and easily reconfigure to display flight instruments and map eliminated the need to scan the entire panel.  The Skyview Wifi was connected to several EFBs.  The enhanced ADSB information displayed on the tablet provides additional info that isn't seen on the PFD.  The features were explored, finding ways to reduce pilot work load.  The copilot has a background with military avionics & simulators was pretty happy with all the information and features that were available.  The fuel burn seemed high, but with ground speeds at around 220 MPH...."it burns gas & hauls ass".   Hope to get some higher altitude cross countries with favorable winds, leaner mixture & explore economy cruise.

Flightaware: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N724CZ/history/20230726/1221Z/T67/L%2039.42719%20-92.45886

More Oshkosh prep

 I installed a cigarette lighter power plug in the copilot headrest.  It's powered off a 15 AMP circuit of the VPX and activates when the Alt Field is energized.  I have a nice one to three lighter socket multiplier and will round up some USB power adapters to make sure they work without noising up the radios.

The Kenda nose wheel is set to 30 .lbs and the main Air Hawk tires to 50 .lbs.   I tweaked the left axle nut a bit to reduce the preload some as it seemed excessive.

Weight and balance were calculated with a 210 .lb copilot, 52 gallons fuel and 100 .lbs of luggage.  It appears we could haul up to 375 .lbs in the back seat, full fuel, two in the front and still be okay.  I'll pull the ballast out when we load up tomorrow night.

Normally when I add oil, I open the door, remove the dip stick and just stick the neck of the quart oil container into the fill stick.   Today, I'm not sure why but I stuck the plastic filler extender on the qt. and managed to dump enough oil to make a mess.  Gah.  I pulled the cowls, cleaned up the mess.  Spotted a few places where some lacing tape could be added to keep some wires from jiggling. 

Since the last tweak on the lower cowl cooling ramps, the oil temp has been running a bit warmer so I've taped a straw in front of the oil cooler exhaust vent on top of the cowl.

I've made a pile of items to haul along (most of them are on the other list I posted).

Occasionally I checked the plane tracking sites, listened to ATC at OSH and shared photos to the Cozy FB page.  Watching weather, looks like there might be some showers to dodge on Wednesday. 

7/19/23 update - ADS-B IN repair

 The SV-ADSB-472 module's LED was green, flashing yellow once per second which is supposed to mean it is connected to the network, yet the widget on the panel says "no signal", even when it's in the air.  It was purchased in 2018 and is beyond the 3 year warranty so I removed the screws, pulled it out of the enclosure and see a fried tiny coax with smoke residue around it.   I ordered a new one ($800) from ACS and picked it up this morning.   

The transponder signal may have fried the module sometime after I moved the ballast out of the rudder pedal area into the nose.  It had worked for a year.  Maybe the Texas heat helped fry it too.

I'll mount a new antenna above the canard to get more separation from the transponder antenna.   This is how the Garmin GDL39 antenna is, usually setting on the glare shield and they seem to work okay.

I picked up the new 472 module and connected it.  The green led flashed yellow once per second but the PFD was not showing the unit connected initially.  A little futzing, reconnecting the DB9 connector, checking settings and it started working.   Messed with antennas and started getting the "Receiving" indication on the map panel widget.   More futzing with antennas and coax routing....intermittent signal,  then found the crimped barrel on one of the BNC connectors would slide a little bit and recrimped it. 

It seems there's a large transmission of ADS-B data every 15 minutes and the CONUS, Lightning data may be less frequent but they have their own age timers displayed.  It would be nice to find a "Theory of operation" for Dynon (uAvionics) and the FAA's system.  Also identify where or which tower is being picked up.

Zooming the map out, the map appears a brighter color for about a 200 NM radius.   There were patches at some of the larger airports further North.   

July update

 I've added a Blue Sea marine grade cigarette lighter on a 15 AMP circuit off the VPX J12-2.  It's mounted on the opposite side of the headset jacks on the co-pilot headrest.  The VPX is programmed to turn the circuit on when the Alt Field is turned on.  Otherwise, it can be turned on through the Dynon VPX interface.

The 415 O2 bottle and regulator will probably go in the copilot's extended strake.  My neighbor gave me some taller bottles that would have to be mounted behind the seat back. 

I've made a "double bazooka" ADS-B UAT 978 MHz antenna and mounted it near the copilot's rudder pedals.  The 1090ES transponder annular slot antenna sets in the most forward space ahead of the pilot's pedals.  I'm hoping the transponder antenna is in a slightly lower plane and cants forward a little so should reduce how much signal is hitting the 978 antenna.   The Dynon installation manual specifies there should be a 24" separation between the antennas.  I didn't recall seeing that several years ago so will look at the older manual to see if that was added in the updated manual.

Today, I'll fly to fly to KRPH for fuel and monitor the ADS-B IN as it had been losing signal West of XBP.   I also want to see if I can pick up the VOR near KMW after departing KRPH.  Using the VOR's will be handy since there are (currently 53) NOTAMed GPS and ADS-B outages in the CONUS.

On our last Friday night Zoom call it was nice to have some folks thank me for posting videos.  More than once I've heard "looks like you're landing fast".   I think the GoPro causes that speed illusion as I have a video riding my motorcycle and the video makes it look quite a bit faster.  But a Cozy isn't a Cessna either, so if you're used to a 152, yeah...the Cozy is landing faster.   I can drag the Cozy around the pattern behind a 150 now, but when they're flying square patterns at 1500' MSL at our 850' MSL airport, there's not much chance of getting back to the runway when they extend downwind a couple miles.  I'm preferring oval patterns, pulling power when abeam the numbers.  I need to remember to ask at control tower fields for a short approach if their patterns aren't busy.

Edit-The double bazooka for ADS-B didn't seem to work as well as the annular slot for some reason, at least setting on the ground and where it was positioned.   I found a bad Dynon module the next day and replaced it.