Our Vans RV10 which had its first flight in January of 2021 now has 135 hours on it. It flys straight and true hands off and the full Garmin avionics combined with the Lycoming Thunderbolt IO540 make this a confidence inspiring cross country machine.
Description: A shorter flight than the previous trying to get back before the gusting cross-wind picked up into the 20s (I made it back when it was still 10kt right cross). With a little more trust in the autopilot, flew most of the flight via the Garmin. 1) I was able to get a nice slow mixture lean in order to gather another set of data before I start swapping on injector sizes. 2) I got some decent numbers at 4500 for 60% power LOP and 75% power ROP. I wanted to grab those numbers because I am going to start putting the wheel pants on. 3) I finally remembered to calibrate the pitch offset on the PFD. 4) I calibrated two of the AoA settings (viewable and caution). The controllers were busy all around, good job guys.
Objectives: Fuel topoff, preflight and run-up of the aircraft, normal take off with 0 degree flaps, depart the pattern for engine break in, auto pilot deployment, engine leaning data gathering, pitch offset calibration, AoA calibration, return to base, normal full flap landing.
Airplane Start Condition: 60 gallons of fuel, 9 qts of oil as read on the dip stick, 50lbs of ballast in the baggage compartment, single pilot (150lbs)
Airplane End Condition: 39.4 gallons of fuel, 8.75 qts of oil as read on the dip stick (probably .25 on the belly), 50lbs of ballast in the baggage compartment, single pilot (150lbs)
Test Flight Track Log:
Pilot Notes:
Autopilot was pretty rock solid. Heading, Nav, Alt, IAS, VS mode all functioned well
AoA calibration will need to be dialed in more as well as the actual Stall run needs to be calibrated yet.
9qts of oil is still too much for that sump. A fair bit of oil on the belly and post flight checks verify that is all coming from the crank case vent.
Heat vents are pretty difficult to push open (yes, I thought I was being smart and installed them as a push rather than pull to open). Once at airpseed, there may just be too much force to have this in a push configuration, it feels like it is going to bend the push pull cable. That said, heat works well.
Left tank fuel vent is much better. I pulled it up further to the top of the tank as it was pissing fuel when the fuel trucks were filling to the bottom of the filler neck.
There is an odd behavior with what I think is mono/stereo on the audio panel. Either my audio recording works and the "alert" noises have a little static, or my phone wont pick up the transmissions but the audio alerts sound perfect.
Open Squawks:
1) COM2 breaking squelch on COM1 TX. COM2 sensitivity weaker than COM1. COM2 could use a ground plane.
2) Need to set "Flight" vs "Ground" calibration on the fuel levels.
5) While the charging system is stable, I would still like to see if I can get the 0.2v differential out of the x-feed contactor. That is, my AUX bus when the alternator is on runs at a voltage 0.2v lower than MAIN. It is not that surprising given the number of connectors between the two busses. In order for the AUX battery to get alternator voltage it has to get through terminals on the MAIN contactor, X-FEED contactor, and then the AUX contactor. One or more of those terminal to terminal connections needs to be cleaned.
Description: A very busy airspace, but overall productive flight. With extended time on the ground I worked on ground leaning procedures a bit and that turned out well with a very clean ignition check. Each ignition was a drop of 50 or so. Audio recording finally worked, but a couple of notes on that. My helmet ANR was set for mono, 3D audio on the GMA245 was on. I changed those two settings as well as unplugged and plugged my phone in after the audio panel was booted and everything finally started working. CHTs came down a good 50 degrees from the previous flights. My max CHT was in the 345 range on a WOT 85 knot climb. I ran a slow injector data gathering leaning run. My injector spread is .8 GPH. I will run that again before I start swapping out restrictors. Climbs were awesome being able to hold stable at +2000 FPM without hitting CHT overtemp. (it was 46F though)
Objectives: Fuel topoff, preflight and run-up of the aircraft, normal take off with 0 degree flaps, depart the pattern for engine break in, auto pilot deployment, verification of squawk resolutions (max RPM, Autopilot servo configuration), engine leaning data gathering, race track Vx and Vy runs (1 minute pulls), return to base, normal full flap landing.
Airplane Start Condition: 60 gallons of fuel, 10 qts of oil as read on the dip stick (fresh after oil change) , 50lbs of ballast in the baggage compartment, single pilot (150lbs)
Airplane End Condition: 38.4 gallons of fuel, 9 qts of oil as read on the dip stick (A lot of this went to the oil filter), 50lbs of ballast in the baggage compartment, single pilot (150lbs)
Test Flight Track Log:
Pilot Notes:
1) Max RPM on takeoff was 2700. The governor appears to be perfect now. Also adjusted the cable itself and got rid of the play at the full forward end.
2) Autopilot HDG, ALT, YD modes function well. Used the following settings:
Roll Servo Servo Direction = Normal Max Torque = 75% Servo Gain = 0.80 Fine Adjust Time = 0.20 Fine Adjust Amount = 0 (disabled)
Pitch Servo Servo Direction = Reversed Max Torque = 100% Servo Gain = 2.50 Fine Adjust Time = 0.20 Fine Adjust Amount = 1
Pitch Gain Min Airspeed Limit = 70 kt Max Airspeed Limit = 180 kt Vertical Speed Gain = 1.40 Vertical Accel Gain = 1.00 Airspeed Gain = 1.35 Airspeed Accel Gain = 1.00
Yaw Servo Servo Direction = Normal Max Torque = 100% Servo Gain = 1.50
Manual Electric Trim Airspeed Threshold = 80 kt / 140 kt Roll Trim Motor Speed = 100% / 50% Pitch Trim Motor Speed = 100% / 50%
3) CHTs really came down. Pushed the engine hard for VX VY testing and only saw 379 as a max CHT on a 85 KIAS climb.
4) Worked on engine leaning at cruise. Got some good data on EGT/CHTs on leaning again. My Fuel Flow spread is .8, but I think I need to take a look at cylinder 2 and see if perhaps that injector needs a cleaning before I start messing with restrictor sizes.
5) There is something weird with recording the audio if the phone is connected before the plane is powered. Reset the connection after the avionics were powered and everything was fine. Also though I turned off 3d audio and flipped my helmet to stereo opposed to mono mode.
6) Flew some initial Vx and Vy tests. Used 4500ft as my floor, would stage at 4000, set the auto pilot for an IAS climb, mixture forward, prop forward, power forward. Upon crossing 4500 when stable, start a 1 minute timer. After 1 minute drop back down to 4000ft while turning to the reciprocal heading and starting over again.
7) I realized after doing this that I did these runs in Reflex mode. Re-run this test again with 0 flaps.
Open Squawks:
1) COM2 breaking squelch on COM1 TX. COM2 sensitivity weaker than COM1. COM2 could use a ground plane.
2) Need to set "Flight" vs "Ground" calibration on the fuel levels.
5) While the charging system is stable, I would still like to see if I can get the 0.2v differential out of the x-feed contactor. That is, my AUX bus when the alternator is on runs at a voltage 0.2v lower than MAIN. It is not that surprising given the number of connectors between the two busses. In order for the AUX battery to get alternator voltage it has to get through terminals on the MAIN contactor, X-FEED contactor, and then the AUX contactor. One or more of those terminal to terminal connections needs to be cleaned.
Verified Closed Squawks:
1) CHT1 is no longer the hottest cylinder. Cut back the Right air dam and now Cylinder 2 is the hottest but the spread is much smaller. Going to run it like this for a while.
2) Max RPM on takeoff was 2700. Proper Governor Max RPM is good.
3) Flaps are now configured for position based deployment. Confirm working well
4) Autopilot servo settings are holding heading and altitude well
Test Flight: 2 Date: Monday January 18th Description: Second flight of the aircraft Objectives: Extensive preflight and run-up of the aircraft, normal take off with 0 degree flaps, verification of squawk resolutions (oil door, alternator belt, prop governor max RPM), depart the pattern for engine break in, initial auto pilot deployment, initial flaps to 100% deployment, return to base, normal full flap landing.
Airplane Condition: 60 gallons of fuel, 9 qts of oil as read on the dip stick, 50lbs of ballast in the baggage compartment, single pilot (150lbs)
Test Flight Track Log:
Pilot Notes:
1) Max RPM on takeoff was 2720. One more rotation of the max rpm set screw should be sufficient
2) CHT1 started getting warm on a 105KIAS climb. Probably would help to cut the air dam back more, but also the climb was a bit steep. Maybe more around a 120KIAS climb would be sufficient.
3) Autopilot initial deployment indicates that the pitch trim direction needs to be reversed, autopilot twice in a row ended up in a pretty steep nose down pitch trim attitude about 10 seconds after enabling. Yaw damper and Heading modes seemed to work perfectly, but it was a bit hard to tell when the pitch trim was trying to kill me.
4) I had the tanks topped off for this flight. Configuration of fuel levels with full tanks was pilot error. I set calibration points on both the left and right tanks at 60 gallons per side by accident. That threw off the curve to the point where fuel gauges were not accurate.
5) Screwed up audio recording again. The new sony recorder was not picking up the mic input. Audio in video was from liveATC
6) 80 knots over the numbers with full flaps seems a little fast, had a long time over the runway and was fighting the float. I will lower this speed down after I get good stall speed numbers.
7) During runup, left ignition had a drop of 200 RPM, two cylinders looked to have fouled plugs. Ran for 10 seconds at 55% power while leaning for max RPM. That cleaned up the EGTs and mag check was back to matching the right side after that. I have been been running too rich, no doubt there. I have been focused on CHT numbers, but will start testing leaning on the next test flight. Also need to lean for ground ops.
8) Used Left tank for takeoff. The first flight I used Right. I have been making some steeper banks, but I should test right turns next flight.
9) COM1 audio is great. The COM2 antenna needs a ground plane. COM2 RX/TX is fine when the other side is in range. Everyone reads my 5/5, however two things. COM2 will break squelch from COM1 TX depending on selected frequencies. Also COM2 has just a touch less sensitivity when trying to get things like ATIS from the air from afar.
Squawks:
1) COM2 breaking squelch on COM1 TX. COM2 sensitivity weaker than COM1. COM2 could use a ground plane.
2) Max RPM on takeoff was 2720. Proper Governor Max RPM needs further adjustment
3) CHT1 is still the hottest cylinder. The spread is only 40 degrees from hottest to coldest, but CHT1 could probably benefit from some additional right side air dam reduction
4) Fuel level curve is out of sync with reality. Delete the 60 gallon erroneous calibration points and re-calibrate 30 gallons on each tank before next startup.
5) Autopilot pitch trim running away. Reverse autopilot pitch trim direction.
6) While the charging system is stable, I would still like to see if I can get the 0.2v differential out of the x-feed contactor. That is, my AUX bus when the alternator is on runs at a voltage 0.2v lower than MAIN. It is not that surprising given the number of connectors between the two busses. In order for the AUX battery to get alternator voltage it has to get through terminals on the MAIN contactor, X-FEED contactor, and then the AUX contactor. One or more of those terminal to terminal connections needs to be cleaned.
Test Flight: 1 Date: Sunday January 10th Description: First flight of the aircraft Objectives: Extensive preflight and run-up of the aircraft, high speed taxi / aborted takeoff, normal take off, initial systems checkout while in the pattern, depart the pattern for engine break in, return to base, normal landing.
Airplane Condition: 40 gallons of fuel, 9.5qts of oil as read on the dip stick, 50lbs of ballast in the baggage compartment, single pilot (150lbs)
