Ok, so I'm getting around just now ! Just thought I'd pass on some
thoughts on the latest trip. I always feel that it's encouraging when
Europa pilots relay there experiences to others. I promise the quoted
figures
are accurate. (except where indicated !)
I'm just back from Scotland where I had a good weekend at my brothers
near Aberfeldy.
I had hoped to land in an adjacent field, but it's being used for making
hay at the moment so I was forced to use Perth Airfield near Scone.
Perth is a very attractive area, and the staff there were most helpful.
The aircraft sat on the grass from Friday to Sunday.
The trip from Rayne to Perth is of the order of 304 nm (direct line) in
a single step. On Friday I used the west route via Huddersfield, Kendal
and Carlisle. The final hop is over the Forth near Kincardine, and then
across West Fife to Perth. There is a great deal of mountainous terrain
---From the Cumbria onwards and, despite having a narrow window of
opportunity I made the journey on Friday evening.
There was a more or less continuous headwind component which on occasion
reduced progress to double figures (mph). In addition, clouds over the
mountains forced a
number of minor course diversions. It's just too easy to get stuck above
cloud or to box yourself into a corner with reduced visibility. It's bad
enough when this happens over level terrain. The views of the Lake
District were spectacular though.
After Lockerbie, a change in the weather system produced a stiff
westerly (wind veers at altitude) which promptly became gusty and fresh
to strong. My landing on tarmac at Perth wasn't my best. Fortunately no
one was there to witness it ! Light levels fell, shortly afterward
(9.30pm).
On my return yesterday, I elected to use the East Coast route over Dunbar
and down the spine of England, shadowing the distant coastline, finally
over The Wash and back into Cambridgeshire and Essex.. Both these routes are
fairly direct and don't require too much deviation from a straight line.
This time the weather was kinder, with superb views over the Forth
Estuary, gradually giving way to misty haze with significant thermals as
I ventured down towards the home counties. The headwind of Friday had
become the tailwind on Sunday and I completed the journey faster than
anticipated.
Long journeys in the UK frequently involve a number of weather systems.
This weekend was reasonable for flying, but for me, it does remind me of
the necessity of closely scrutinizing the forecast. Tom Dawes-Gamble's
aviation TAF and METARs pages are invaluable in this process.
The Rotax behaved impeccably. Temps were low (except EGT) with Cyl head
temps of 75-80 centigrade for much of the journey, and coolant temp was
frequently in double figures (even on such a hot day). My fuel
consumption is consistently higher than the value others have given, but
this may be due to raised carb. jet needles. (around 16 litres/hour in
cruise).
Here are the flight details: Once again they give a close approximation
of the performance of my aircraft which I consider to be a standard
'classic' 912. I think it would be totally impractical to try to squeeze
any more than a few extra knots out of it without adding _tens_ of horse
power. This is it's natural speed. I find that 500 extra rpm seems to
equate to around 7 knots, but make it use fuel much less efficiently..
Hopefully these will help the average Europa pilot when considering longer
cross country trips. I _do_ think my fuel consumption is probably higher
than average though.
WD fixed pitch prop : around 18 degrees.
Rayne - Perth (west coast route).
En-route time: 3hrs 20 min.
Engine RPM: 4700 - 4800.
Fuel use: 54 litres. (just under 12 imp gallons)
Distance covered: 328 Nm (approx +- 3 Nm)
Average speed: 97 knots.
Perth - Rayne (east coast route)
En-route time: 2hrs 45 min
Engine RPM: circa 5000 - 5100
Fuel use: not know (yet).
Distance covered: 328 Nm (purely a coincidence!)
Average speed: 121 knots.
Overall average: 109 knots.
Obviously head/tailwind affects journey duration on such a long trip,
EVEN when comparatively calm conditions prevail.
alan
Following up on a previous thread, I'd expect to take just under 4 hours
Tatenhill - Epinal at 105 knots, allowing for drift/error and following a
realistic course across England and France.
Direct line distance 402 Nm.
Tatenhill (EGBM) - Baldock - Hythe - Le Touquet - Bethel - Epinal - 407 Nm.
At 120 knots (if it were possible), I would expect to take about 3 hr 30
min.
Alan Stewart
ab ASE - Advanced Systems Engineering
BT Adastral Park. Tel:- +44 (0) 1473 607571 / Fax:- 606845
mailto:alan.d.stewart@bt.com
|