Monday, July 23, 2007

Flying again!

The fairings make quite a difference in flight. I gained more than 20 knots in cruise at the same power settings, and climbout now feels less like an airplane and more like a rocket. RPMs have changed a lot -- I was worried this airplane was overpropped as I couldn't really get the RPM above 2400. Now 2600 is no problem (limited by prop placard).

Landing is quite a bit trickier as well, it just keeps on floating. Need to reduce approach speeds and idle RPM (again).

Unfortunately, my "half-RPM" indication from the Lightspeed ignition happened in flight for the first time, so I really need to get that fixed. It has been happening usually only the first 60 seconds after engine start. I have done much debugging of this but it looks like there's more in store.

Virga south of Hollister

Just stayed around the home patch (lower left) today -- looking north up toward San Jose.

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