From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Todd Bartrim
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 4:47 PM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: 1st Flights -

Hi Joe;

    I hate to always be echoing Rusty's thoughts (well except for the Lyc thing), but I agree with him here once again. When I first flew I didn't want to use any boost so flew a few hours with zero boost thinking that it would be like an NA engine (wrong) and was a little disappointed with performance but still very happy to be flying my own creation. As the hours went by and I took care of a few issues, I became very comfortable with the plane, then began to push the performance. As I was more comfortable at the controls it was easier to start concentrating on engine performance. Like you I was a very low time pilot (<100hrs.)

    Fly your plane for a few hours more, concentrating on reliability until you are very comfortable and far past bored before you begin pushing for performance. I really know almost zero about flying canards, but I suspect that they are less forgiving in emergency landing situations than a conventional aircraft (conventional being defined by me as an RV9) (correct me if I'm wrong) Once I started pushing for performance I was very pleased, but it also revealed some shortcomings in my fuel system (header tank.. it's in the archives) that resulted in a few engine outs including one emergency landing, then there was the oil press switch that failed spewing oil all over the exhaust (lotsa smoke and another emergency landing) then the time I over-boosted on T/O and detonated the engine (a "precautionary" landing - less paperwork than an emergency landing).

    Fortunately I survived all of these as I'd drilled myself over & over as to what I'd do in every imaginable situation and had a few hours to be comfortable in the cockpit.

    If your plane is running reliably with enough power to be safe, then go and put a few more hours on it before you worry about performance. If Dave Atkins is willing to come out that would be great, but undoubtedly he will have lots of questions for you that you will be able to answer better after a little more time in the air and you may get more out of him.

    But above all, make sure you enjoy this whole darn process, because it really is a blast!!

Todd Bartrim    (just wrote the biggest exam of my life and am probably too drunk to be writing emails :-)

Turbo 13B RV9