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From: "Ed Anderson" <eanderson@carolina.rr.com>
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
References: <list-4406660@logan.com>
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Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Didn't make it to Oshkosh
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:31:04 -0400
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Well, Finn,  if it was over a 12 mile glide, you're the new title holder. 
{:>)  Glad you made it down safely, gets the old ticker to thumping a bit 
faster doesn't it?
I'm a bit surprised that your rate of descent was 1000 ft/min.  When I did 
my 12 miles glide, I had a bit of time on my hands, so I experimented 
(probably wasn't the smartest thing to do) as I glided toward the airport 
and found that at 87 MPH IAS my minimum rate of sink varied between 500 - 
750 fpm.  Your airspeed was a bit higher than what I used, so perhaps you 
were in more of a "dive' than needed for minimum rate of descent.

Not quite certain why Rusty/you would have problem with a fascet pump 
transferring fuel.  I use one during take off and landing (same one for over 
10 years) and it appears to transfer loads of fuel with no problem. 
However,  Probably wise to change out those EFI pumps if you ran them dry 
for more than 30-60 seconds.  May not have hurt them but they do have a 
warning against running them dry - and you probably do not wish to repeat 
the engine-out again anytime soon.

In any case, get that fuel flow calibrated and/or your fuel tanks sealed - 
check with Richard and see if he had any problems along those lines.

Fly safe

Ed

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Finn Lassen" <finn.lassen@verizon.net>
Sent: Sunday, July 25, 2010 10:56 PM
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Subject: [FlyRotary] Didn't make it to Oshkosh

> I finally decided I'd have a go at it, flying to Oshkosh in my (Rusty's, 
> Richard Nadig's, mine) RV-3B.
>
> I still hadn't put the facet transfer pump back in that Richard had 
> removed (and per archives, Rusty had a hard time getting it to work 
> properly). I figured I could use rudder to make sure that fuel would flow 
> from the proper tank. Not so. I saw the fuel gauge on the right tank go 
> down to zero and had 6 to 8 gallons left in the left tank but could just 
> not get it to drain into the right tank no matter how much I stepped on 
> the rudder. Even tried circling to the right. Just as I had decided I'd 
> better land and was looking up airport info, the engine quit. Fortunately 
> I was at 8 or 9,000' feet and made an uneventful landing at the nearby 
> airport (4A4). Saw about 1,000 fpm descent at 95 to 100 mph with stopped 
> prop. Topped up both tanks and returned to Shady Bend. I could probably 
> have made it to Oshkosh using more frequent fuel stops. But I was worried 
> about having damaged the fuel pumps. I don't know exactly how long I let 
> them run dry, could be as much as a couple of minutes. Didn't want to 
> press my luck and returned home. This time the tanks drained equally (with 
> a nudge of rudder input). Go figure!
>
> Situation was compounded by the fact that my fuel flow calibration appears 
> to be off.
>
> Or the tanks are leaking gas when near full. While flying and looking at 
> the wings I saw some moisture (drops) sitting at the front lip of the fuel 
> caps. O-rings appear to seal OK, but I guess there could be a leak between 
> the tank skins and the rings riveted onto them.
>
> Looking at actual fuel used flying back to Shady Bend, it comes to an 
> average of about 8.5 GPH.
> Fuel flow most of time indicated 6 GPH. I had calibrated the EM2 over more 
> than a hundred gallons of gas used, but never been flying with full tanks 
> when I did that.
>
> Anybody with similar experiences that can shed some light on this (tanks 
> loosing fuel)?
>
> And just to reiterate: you cannot safely T tanks together on a low wing 
> aircraft and no fuel selector valve!
>
> Finn
>
> (I don't think I beat Ed's longest glide record.)
>
> --
> Homepage:  http://www.flyrotary.com/
> Archive and UnSub: 
> http://mail.lancaironline.net:81/lists/flyrotary/List.html
>
Ed Anderson
Rv-6A N494BW Rotary Powered
http://www.andersonee.com
http://www.eicommander.com
Http://www.dmack.net/mazda/index.html
http://www.flyrotary.com