I love flying east

[IndyTim]

Heading west, I usually wish that 252BH had more power to better buck the headwinds. 

 

But coming back east, it's easy: fly as high as I can, up to FL210.  Above that, I start to worry about O2 glitches popping up - they have a way of doing that.

 

Recent trip back to Missouri from Flagstaff AZ, after a stop in Holbrook (P14) for cheap gas.  I saw 330 MPH on the 796 for a few minutes, level.  70% power, and all CHTs below 380.  Fuel burn, 14.5 GPH.  TAS was 194-199 KTS.  Of course, even with the tailwinds, I was still wishing for more power. 

 

 

 

 

[FloridaMan]

That was the first mooney I touched the controls in, thanks to Parker.

Sent from my iPhone while intoxicated via Tapatalk

[rbridges]

a mile every 12 seconds.  that's awesome.

[RocketAviator]

Sweet...

I hear you as I frequently travel El Paso to Dallas.... Usually good going and pay for it returning!

Last week 230TAS level @ 16.8 gph @ FL11 going 175 TAS returning... Same power settings....

Never much issues with CHT my limiting factor has been TIT running LOP.

TAS calculated by Garmin G500 not a WAG!

[chrisk]

I think this is one of the areas where having a turbo makes the flight planning a tiny bit more complex.   This is because you have a large altitude range and when east bound, you can often pick an altitude with a mostly good tail wind component.  And like wise, when heading west, you can pick an altitude which minimizes the head wind.  

The extra complexity (at least for me) comes when heading east on long flights.  200 kts+ ground speed means your covering a lot of ground, and the optimal altitude can change over a 5 hour trip.  And if I am flying direct, the flight planning tool I use (AOPA FlyQ) doesn't do a great job at calculating the true winds across the route. It seems to pick winds aloft at the start or end.  I often add extra way points when flight planning to try to get the time en route more accurate.      And I find getting a good visual picture of the winds at different altitudes (and in time) is very helpful. I typically use skyvector, as it seems very responsive and gives good visuals across a wide area.  It's lots of fun to see a quartering wind at 3000 to 5000 ft turn into a tail wind in the low flight levels.

[bonal]

Impressive flight, I seem to recall on a recent thread a challenge from someone to race our Comanche 400 brother. I think you guys would win.

[Mooneymite]

....And if I am flying direct, the flight planning tool I use (AOPA FlyQ) doesn't do a great job at calculating the true winds across the route. It seems to pick winds aloft at the start or end. I often add extra way points when flight planning to try to get the time en route more accurate. .

 

Try fltplan.com.

The wind matrix is given for every 50 miles on a direct flt for multiple altitudes. It makes wind optimization easy. Generally the wind info is right-on accurate if you update within an hour, or two of departure.

 

(Click on "Winds aloft Matrix" at the bottom of the flight log page, otherwise the info is limited.)

[FloridaMan]

I've written software that computes the total travel time and selects the nearest winds aloft across multiple points in the trip. I guess I should go ahead and publish it. 

[Parker_Woodruff]

Nice tailwind.  Kept increasing as time went along.

[Danb]

I'm in the other camp Chris I feel the turbo lessens my complexity giving me many options when plann and eventually altering my flight plan..

[chrisk]

I'm in the other camp Chris I feel the turbo lessens my complexity giving me many options when plann and eventually altering my flight plan..

I think we are in the same camp.  More options means more choices, so it's harder to pick the very best one.  But more choices is also a very good thing because it makes it easier to eliminate the bad and marginal choices.

[FloridaMan]

You guys are over the tops of the clouds while I'm getting kicked around and worrying if there's a build up that I can't see.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[carusoam]

What are you guys using for winds aloft data for altitude selection while you are flying?

I am currently looking at an ad for an ADSB box with display...

Best regards,

-a-

[RocketAviator]

What are you guys using for winds aloft data for altitude selection while you are flying?

I am currently looking at an ad for an ADSB box with display...

Best regards,

-a-

I have the Garmin G500 / GTN package with the 88, but find the winds aloft much easier and better defined on my IPad with FlyQ. I use the Clarity SV as backup ADS-B / AHARS.

The G500 is most excellent to calculate accurate TAS & the actual wind component during flight!

[IndyTim]

I've written software that computes the total travel time and selects the nearest winds aloft across multiple points in the trip. I guess I should go ahead and publish it. 

 

Antares -- I've been looking for something that will help with this task.  It would need to run on an iPad -- doesn't do much good if it only runs on a desktop since winds change and I need to recalculate on the fly.  (pun intended).

 

Let me know if you want help testing or product managing - I've been through a whole bunch of SW lifecycles.

[IndyTim]

Try fltplan.com.

The wind matrix is given for every 50 miles on a direct flt for multiple altitudes. It makes wind optimization easy. Generally the wind info is right-on accurate if you update within an hour, or two of departure.

 

(Click on "Winds aloft Matrix" at the bottom of the flight log page, otherwise the info is limited.)

 

Fltplan does a good job of calculating wind effects at various altitudes, as long as you have set up your A/C performance correctly.  It takes the cruise speed you've entered for your A/C at each altitude and uses it as the basis for the computation.   I'm still dialing in my speed data -- right now it's still a bit of a guess.

 

The nice thing about Fltplan.com is that it lets you do a "Quick Trip" estimate without entering all the parameters of a flight plan, and it will use your A/C performance.  Another nice thing is that it lets you set up default east-bound and west-bound altitudes.

 

This is the chart generated by the Quick Trip function, for the flight I tracked in my original post.  It's using wind speeds for today, and I don't have historical info for windspeeds on my earlier flight.  But, aside from that qualifier, fltplan looks like it's nailing the performance.

 

And, to Parker's comments, today's winds show the same behavior of a steadily increasing component along my vector:

[carusoam]

There is something uneasy about flying west...

Sunsets?

-a-

[IndyTim]

What are you guys using for winds aloft data for altitude selection while you are flying?

I am currently looking at an ad for an ADSB box with display...

Best regards,

-a-

 

I was using Sirius/XM weather, and just recently changed to a Garmin GDL-39 with ADS-B display on my 796.  It doesn't offer quite as many weather products as XM WX does, and the winds data isn't as granular, but for $60 less per month, I'm making it work.  I was hesitant to go this route, since I tried it early on and at that time there was no Winds Aloft data.  Now there is, and I find it suits my purposes.

[IndyTim]

There is something uneasy about flying west...

Sunsets?

-a-

 

Headwinds, no question for me.  Since they almost always increase with altitude (when westbound), they can offset or even null out the K's improved performance with height.  

 

I've been trying to work out rules of thumb for my increase in cruise with altitude, so I can make a decision in the air whether I should go high or stay low when heading west.  I think it's 3-4 knots per 1,000 feet, from 8,000 to 16,000 or so.  Then 4-5 knots/1000 from there into the flight levels, up to FL230 beyond which I don't care.  

 

But interestingly, on the 3 or 4 trips where I've really tested this, even when the winds increase by more than that rate of 3-5 knots/thousand feet of altitude, I still "win" if I go higher.  I don't know why that is....

 

I really need to go collect some more rigorous data and graph it...

[Ned Gravel]

What are you guys using for winds aloft data for altitude selection while you are flying?

I am currently looking at an ad for an ADSB box with display...

Best regards,

-a-

 

Carusoam:

 

I use Foreflight with a Stratus 2 ADS-B in box.  The ADS-B function feeds my iPad with the winds aloft data.

[carusoam]

Indi,

That is what I found interesting.

With a desk top and old data, the calculations were great but no longer represented reality after T/O...

In the air, the calculations become more challenging especially if the data is hard to find.

252BH has some special skills!

Best regards,

-a-