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Posted for "Fred Moreno" <fmoreno@direcpc.com>:

Some of you know a bit about this story.  Here are the full details.

Fellow aviation enthusiast John Forker bought Chris Toms' non pressurized
Lancair IV which was constructed in New Zealand and has been flying about 5
years.  John contacted me at the suggestion of Gary Burns via the Internet
to discuss a long range tank.  Turns out John is a neighbor living in Palo
Alto, about 15 minutes away.  Together (and using ideas from others) we
constructed a tank container in my shop, and John ordered a custom fuel
bladder to fit within the container with about 75 gallons capacity bringing
the total fuel on board to 185 gallons, the maximum allowable while staying
within the center of gravity limits.  The tank was completed and shipped to
New Zealand where it was installed by Chris.

A bit more than a week ago John arrived in New Zealand, did some flight
testing and became familiar with the airplane.  The H.F. radio had
interference problems arising from a LightSpeed CD ignition system
installed in lieu of one magneto, but by turning off the ignition system he
could establish H.F. communication.  Interviews with ferry pilots disclosed
that most H.F. systems were of questionable value over the
ocean, and the common mode of communication was to use VHF to the airliners
overhead.  It turns out that the airliner guys are bored and are happy to
chat and relay reports.   (As an aside, a friend who formerly flew
747-400's to Hong Kong confirmed that even their H.F. radios were
problematical, and they relied primarily on satellite phones to their
dispatchers who relayed messages.)

John launched to Pago Pago in American Samoa and flew at an economy cruise
setting of 15 gallons per hour.  The trip was largely uneventful. Arriving
in Pago Pago he found that the promised avgas was not available.  The local
folks suggested flying 80 miles to Western Samoa to search for fuel which
he did.  Turns out that there is one airplane in Western Samoa, an ancient
172 owned by the governor.  John persuaded him to sell fuel from a Mobil
tank trailer.  The trailer was modern with fuel filters and such, samples
were clean, and the gas was green, so he topped off, and headed for Hawaii
the following morning.

During the flight it became apparent that something was amiss.  Once
leveled off, the fuel flow to maintain cylinder head temperatures were high
(18 gallons per hour) and cylinder head temperatures were not stable.  John
would adjust the settings, obtain steady state conditions, and then minutes
later the cylinder head temperature would begin to climb.  He would richen
the mixture, adjust the throttle, and keep fussing until he got a steady
condition, and then after a few minutes conditions would change again.

 From the ground speed and fuel flow numbers, John concluded that he would
not have reserves at Hawaii, and so turned a bit right and landed at
Christmas Island, about half way to Hawaii.  The warm and friendly
reception committee said that if he did so again in the future he would be
arrested and jailed.  They apparently do not like surprises.

There is nothing at Christmas Island.  NOTHING, except a modest hotel 5
miles from the airport (no transportation), no hangers, no tools no
mechanics, no avgas, no Internet connections, no nothing.  Thus started a
long series of satellite phone calls to figure out what to do.

My initial thought was that problems arose from fuel leaks since I had
experienced a similar situation about a year ago in Derek Hine's Lancair IV
which we traced to a cracked fitting on the fuel spider.  So we sent John
out to the airport to inspect the fuel system and fuel injection
atomization system for leaks or other problems.  Everything was OK.

Gathering more details from John and talking to Brent Regan, Monty Barrett
and others, we concluded that it was probably a bad load of fuel.  And with
only 87 octane motor fuel available, fuel would continue to be a
problem.  Research showed that shipping avgas could only be done via ship,
and the next ship arriving at Christmas Island would do so in November.  So
that was out.  So I began researching octane enhancers and talking to
engine builders, EAA, and STC holders about burning motor gas in the
turbocharged Lycoming in John's airplane.  (It has 8.5 to 1 compression
ratio pistons.)

While reading about octane, I read one article that noted when fuel of one
octane is added to a fuel tank partially filled with fuel of another
octane, the result does not mix well, but results in stratification and
regions of differing octane in the tank.  This would be more pronounced
with wing tanks that are flat and partitioned.  So it appears that the
variable conditions John experienced were probably due to the octane of the
fuel coming to engine varying over time as the tanks were emptied.  One
hundred octane flowed initially, and then slugs of who knows what followed
by some mixture, then more 100 octane.  This would also explain the
progressive deterioration of performance John experienced as the trip
proceeded.  John's initial take was that he should have returned to Samoa,
but if he did so, he would have just obtained yet more bum gas unless we
had figured out the problem earlier.

I found sources of octane enhancer, but it turns out that being flammable
it can not be air shipped.  One manufacturer had dealers in New Zealand and
Australia, but all shipments went via boat.  Later on I found one
manufacturer with a product that could be air shipped, but I got the call
back from them far too late.

So then the question was: could John safely fly with 87 octane motor
gas?  Back to the phone and a day of discussions with various parties
including Klaus Savier of LightSpeed to learn more about his electronic
ignition system and its operation.  The general consensus that emerged was
that a flight test was needed, but with low power and rich operation at
lower altitudes, the engine should be OK.  However, an inspection was
called for prior to flight.

Brent Regan made a list of tools for changing plugs and resetting the
ignition timing, and I called John's friend in Maui who was part of the
team working the problems.  He called a friend on Oahu who bought the tools
and spark plugs, boxed them up, and got to the Aloha Airlines counter in
time to get them on the once a week flight to Christmas Island.

Upon receiving the tools, John pulled the plugs, inspected pistons, and
found them normal with no evidence of detonation damage.  Seems the low
power settings and flying with one eye on the temperatures and one hand on
the mixture and power controls prevented any damage.

John put motor gas in one tank, and then took off and climbed slowly to
cruise altitude.  Normal take off power settings are 35 inches and 2700
RPM.  At our suggestion he limited maximum manifold pressure to 22 inches
which gives about 50-55% power.  The flight was uneventful, temperatures
were normal, and after half an hour he landed and filled the plane with
auto gas.

The following morning John took off for Hawaii, and upon landing in
Honolulu reported that the auto fuel performed better than the stuff picked
up in Samoa.  At reduced power and loaded to about 3600 pounds the take off
roll was about 6000 feet, and the climb was anemic.  He still had to
monitor temperatures and fiddle with mixture as the octane of the fuel
varied over time.  We conclude that the stuff in Samoa must have been
really bad if it was inferior to motor gas.  John flew low to avoid
possible vapor lock problems with the auto fuel,and had to negotiate a line
of monster thunderstorms.  The ferry pilots recommended that Pacific
thunderstorms be avoided if possible, but are so large that they must
sometimes be traversed by flying through as low as possible.  So after
about 150 miles of weaving John flew through the line at 1000 feet in and
out of cloud with heavy rain that lasted 45 minutes (if I recall correctly)
but he got a smooth ride.  He had filed for Maui, but ATC told him to land
at Honolulu for customs or pay a BIG fine.  So Honolulu it was for a flight
of a bit over 7 hours.

At Honolulu John had the airplane carefully inspected including a
compression check, and the mechanics gave it a clean bill of health.  He
then went to Maui to stay with friends.  Sunday morning he left at 5 am
with a full load of pure avgas (having drained out the dregs of the prior
flight).  Switching to H.F. radio, he used the prior strategy to
communicate.  However, ATC would not accept him with a noisy H.F. radio,
and directed him to return to Hawaii which he did.  So after all the
problems and travails earlier in the trip, the only thing that stopped him
was an ATC bureaucrat.

John will leave the airplane in Hawaii since it will be safe there (that
was not the case on Christmas Island), and return in a few weeks.  At that
point he will ferry the plane to Honolulu, and have an avionics shop work
on the H.F. radio installation.  It may require also shielding the CD
ignition system or replacing it with a second magneto.  But for now John
has to get back to his day job.

The moral of the story seems to be: if you want to fly around the world in
a piston airplane, pick your landing spots very carefully, make absolutely
sure that the promised fuel is really there, and bring lots of tools and
spares and a gallon or two of octane enhancer as well.  And think about
using a turbine engine or a diesel capable of using jet fuel, neither of
which is an option for most of us today.

Fred Moreno

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