For those of you still building and needing motivation or for those wondering about -14A performance, here's something more to look at.
I've got 330 hours on ours now in two years. Two days ago we flew it nonstop from home base in Grand Junction, CO to Torrance, CA (KGJT-KTOA), by far our longest non-stop trip.
IFR routing was via airways at 12,000 to 14,000 with a 30 knot headwind. We had three minor route revisions from ATC along the way so the trip ended up being 596 NM. Total flight time was 5.1 hours.
My red cube totalizer has never held accuracy very long and showed us landing with 10 gallons fuel remaining. The much more accurate float sensors in the tanks showed 15 remaining, or almost two hours reserve after 5 hours in the air.
When I refueled in Torrance the pump agreed with the float sensors and indicated the airplane took 36 gallons to top off both tanks so the actual reserve was 14 gallons.
Average ground speed was 120 knots given about a 150 knot TAS at those altitudes (approx. 50% power) so fuel burn was just a little more than 7 GPH at full throttle and 2300 RPM.
This is just a normal RV-14A kit airplane with IO-390 and Sensenich CS prop, built per the plans. There is no added fuel capacity. So far it has been trouble free and continues to impress me with its performance.
I've got 330 hours on ours now in two years. Two days ago we flew it nonstop from home base in Grand Junction, CO to Torrance, CA (KGJT-KTOA), by far our longest non-stop trip.
IFR routing was via airways at 12,000 to 14,000 with a 30 knot headwind. We had three minor route revisions from ATC along the way so the trip ended up being 596 NM. Total flight time was 5.1 hours.
My red cube totalizer has never held accuracy very long and showed us landing with 10 gallons fuel remaining. The much more accurate float sensors in the tanks showed 15 remaining, or almost two hours reserve after 5 hours in the air.
When I refueled in Torrance the pump agreed with the float sensors and indicated the airplane took 36 gallons to top off both tanks so the actual reserve was 14 gallons.
Average ground speed was 120 knots given about a 150 knot TAS at those altitudes (approx. 50% power) so fuel burn was just a little more than 7 GPH at full throttle and 2300 RPM.
This is just a normal RV-14A kit airplane with IO-390 and Sensenich CS prop, built per the plans. There is no added fuel capacity. So far it has been trouble free and continues to impress me with its performance.