Ragsf15e

I question where your red lines are and why the range is red? The continuous operation one is yellow on mine and the max is 2700. Are you talking about the markings on the tach or the note under it limiting your climb? I don’t think either of them do?

I had my F at 15,500 last week and didn’t notice significant engine differences except that you’re only running on about 105-120hp, so don’t expect much. I saw 141kts at 15,500, so yours does seem low since im in an F. I have a Surefly mag and pretty fresh fine wire plugs though, so i think ignition was good. In fact, it ran fine both ROP and lop.

I would also recommend keeping full throttle and 2700rpm as you climb in addition to the target egt mentioned above. Additionally, most people will climb at a little higher airspeed to keep temps a little lower than your 405. Say maybe 115-120kts for below 390. The old 25/2500 thing has been mostly discredited at this point as full power is quickest to climb and not harmful to the engine.

Yeah, the access to that drain isn’t fun. And did it really need to be riveted in?!

You can get to it from the front inspection panels which are only screwed in. You will also have to take apart the pilot’s side lower interior panel to reach through to the pitot drain. Are you pretty sure the drain isn’t leaking? That’s a susceptible part. I just had my static test done and had similar results. The tech unhooked from the pitot tube and hooked up to a pitot line behind the panel to finish the test. So everything passed, and then we troubleshot the pitot line between the cockpit and the pitot tube. It turned out to be the drain leaking and just needed a few actuations and a little lube, and then it sealed good.

Thanks. That’s good to know because there’s no real troubleshooting in their documentation. I’ll try with a warmer battery first and then call them if it’s still giving me the same issue.

I agree, I did think it’s the sensor which is why I t’d a manual sensor. However, putting a T and extra fuel line dampens any fluctuations, so it likely hides the issue. I think the eis and sensors are picking up a fluctuation that isn’t perceived by the manual gauges. Why it’s there? No idea.

You're not going to like my somewhat related story and conclusions. I have had a jpi-930 on my airplane for the whole time I’ve had it (10years). It’s an F, so fuel injected. So yes, it’s totally different. I have the downloaded engine data that shows what I’m about to say… For the first 6 months of ownership, fuel pressure was steady. Then it suddenly started varying by 10psi (which was concerning but still in the green). No change in engine performance. I had a mechanic look at it and said all my fuel system was working fine. It stopped jumping again about a year later. Stayed steady for a year or so then started bouncing all of a sudden one day. Does it on the ground too. I went so far as to hook up an external manual pressure gage to the line and it was stable, but in doing that, my jpi was also stable. Ugh. Then I put a snubber in the line which didn’t work and I also gave myself a self inflicted fuel leak. I took it off and have watched it fluctuating since (but happily without the leak). I use Saavy analysis and they have noted the flucuating ff twice when I submitted data for their flight test profile. Both times they suggested a snubber… One other thing I did… replaced engine driven fuel pump. No change, but it had started leaking oil so it needed changed. I had hoped it would fix the fuel pressure issue, but alas… So yes, different engine, slightly different presentation, same jpi sensor. Take it for what it’s worth.

If you’re seeing 14v at the bus, the alternator is working. Which implies the vr is also working. You need to look at the wiring for your alternator light and see what exactly it indicates and why. If you’re concerned about the battery not getting a proper charge, (safely) have a friend hold the brakes and start the engine. Use a digital voltmeter to measure voltage back at the battery. It should be ~14v just like your bus is indicating.

Yeah that’s where the issue is. Getting a J cowl and then relocating everything is difficult and expensive. There use to be a few people doing it but I don’t think J cowls are easy to get and they aren’t cheap. It would be a great mod to have though for several reasons.

I’m not convinced that “mixed” and “atomized” are necessarily the same things. I’m also not convinced that I’m right, but slightly longer priming and giving it a little longer on a cold day works better than a short prime and immediately cranking even though that’s ok on a hot day. Again, maybe it’s me, but it does seem to work…

Ha! So part of @N201MKTurbo ‘s theory lives on!

Yeah, if it’s cold and I’m going to prime, I’ll do it then wind my clock for ~15”. If the engine is hot, don’t prime. If you do prime, push the throttle and mixture all the way in so you actually get the fuel in there, then reset them to cutoff and ~1000rpm and then crank.

So 38ppm definitely isn’t “dangerously high”, but it does seem a little higher than most of us see. I have seen close to that much on the ground with a quartering right tailwind, and the window probably makes that worse. The house alarms don’t go off until 50ppm for 8 hours or more, so 38ppm isn’t so bad. I had an exhaust riser come completely disconnected and was seeing around 40s on the ground and 20s in flight. I might poke around your exhaust but probably just pay attention to the winds and see if you notice a difference?

Awesome day over there! I’m glad to hear Amelias is open again, I think it was closed for a while? Not quite as nice on the other side of the Cascades today, but we flew down to Pullman and checked out WSU. It was crazy college Valentines Party day, so that was fun to see.

Consensus here has been that any 3 blade costs you a few knots. That being said, 5 seems high. Were they able to check the rigging carefully and make sure the flaps come all the way up? Rigging costs more speed than most people think. Gear not fully retracting (worn gear parts or not set up right) could also be an issue. Here’s how my gear looks when up.

Yeah the airplane was great and it was a beautiful day, but the heater is only marginal at -22c!

It was really cold, so DA was only ~14,400’. Ff was 9.4 at 100 ROP (I was ROP and pointed downwind for the picture because I knew someone would look at the groundspeed). I was light, so that helped with the ktas. I was just messing around, so tried ~5-10 lop and only lost 3 kts. Ff was 7.3! Since this is MOONEYspace maybe I should have posted a picture of that almost 19mpg instead of the faster ROP one? I wonder how much advance from the Surefly is at those altitudes?

The benefits of coordinating all the Blue Force assets in one network very much outweigh the risks of someone breaking the encryption… unless of course someone actually does it. I sat on the ground hundreds of miles from a battle in iraq in 2003 and could see all the aircraft, callsigns, frequencies, weapons, fuel, targets, etc. before I even took off. It is like the difference between flying a P-51 in WW2 and flying a radar equipped jet fighter with guided missiles. I wish we had registration privacy and adsb privacy as well. Even some simple encryption would be helpful.

This one landed with no tail… https://theaviationist.com/2021/01/11/that-time-a-b-52h-stratofortress-bomber-lost-its-tail-over-new-mexico-but-managed-to-land-6-hours-later/

Sometimes you’ve just got to take the old bird up to 15,500’ for the fun of it! 17.3” mp (ram air on), but still managed 142kts. G5 oxygen concentrator kept the pulse ox at 98%.

Maybe I spoke too soon… tested mine today and got the 121.5 signal, but 5 beeps. “High vswr”. After flying and fiddling with the antenna connections, same result. The internet seems to say that can happen with a cold battery and it was very cold, so I’m going to retest when it’s warmer.

Not sure what they might allow in France, but I save about 8 billable hours just by pulling all the screws to open every inspection panel and cowling before the inspection begins, and then putting them all back on after. Your mechanic might entertain that idea as it’s not fun work and it’s only pulling screws.

I have an older (F) model but it’s got similar weight and balance characteristics as the J. I did a sample load with 4 adults at 79kg each and 34kg in baggage and 30gallons of fuel. Still in the middle of the envelope (although maxing out my useful load). You will find that lots of shops make an error on measuring your cg/arm. I promise these airplanes are hard to load to an aft cg.

You should fly over Spokane sometime when they launch them. Maybe every 8-12 hours or so? ATC issues a warning, “Be advised, uncontrolled balloon launch approximately 5 miles north of Spokane airport, surface and above.” Then they proceed to vector you right near there. I’ve never see the actual balloon, but I think it would be very exciting to find it in a cloud someday! There doesn’t seem to be any kind of deconfliction, especially if you were vfr over top of the class C minding your own business.