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Observations after first loooong cross-country (Oshkosh)

pstraub

Well Known Member
Please excuse the long post....After an approx 4K mile roundtrip from NorCal to Oshkosh, I just wanted to share some of my observations on the RV-12. I flew through 14 states, landed at 15 airports, put 40 hours on the hobbs (worked out to about 33 in-flight, 7 on the ground). Cruise altitudes were between 2500' and 12,500', and maybe a little 600'agl scud-running to get out of Custer, SD which put me at a 'cruise' altitude of 6200' :) My favorite power setting turned out to be 5200rpm, it just felt easy on the Rotax and consistently gave me 110-115kts TAS at just barely over 4gph. I brought a friend with me, so after each fuel stop, we were back at max gross wt.

I am happy to report that the RV-12 is an amazing little plane (as if most of you didn't already know that!). Even as I was building it, I considered it somewhat of a 'toy' airplane that would be fun and inexpensive to fly with a passenger, low and slow, mostly local sightseeing flights. Well the RV-12 far exceeded its mission profile....it was comfortable and capable, even on a trip like this, where I had to cross the Sierras and the Rockies. I am not saying it's a cross-country, high density altitude monster by any stretch, but it really did a great job!

One example....I had to depart Rock Springs, WY at about 3 in the afternoon. Density Altitude was approx 10,400' and I was at max gross. I ran the numbers and figured I should get about 250fpm climb, which was fine. I had a 10,000' runway and no high terrain or obstacles to out-climb. I was able to turn on course towards Devil's Tower, WY and slowly climb up to 12,500msl, which was pretty impressive considering the DA was well over 15K'. I am also super happy that I decided to install the autopilot servos when I was building, it's much better than I am when tracking to a waypoint while holding a steady altitude. It paid for itself on this trip alone.

I had 70 hours on the plane before I left home, so it was already pretty well tested, but the RV-12 (at least the E-LSA version) turned out to be very reliable. Nothing at all against E-AB, I am just saying that if you build it as designed, it's pretty darn good. It's certainly arguable that some of the changes E-AB builders make could make it even better, so please don't get me wrong!

In that first 70 hours, I burned premium unleaded mogas 95% of the time. I pulled and inspected my plugs at 25 and 50 hours, and they were like new. I also did a couple oil and filter changes, exclusively using Aeroshell Sport Plus 4, and the oil looked great at both changes. So, on my Oshkosh trip, I ran 40 straight hours of 100LL avgas. WOW!! what a difference! It ran great the whole trip but I decided that I would change the plugs and oil/filter as soon as I got home. The plugs all had heavy deposits on them, and the oil was much darker (dirtier) and had a 'filmy' look and feel to it. Now I really understand why Rotax recommends 25-hour maint intervals if you run 100% avgas!! I even used the Decalin Runup lead scavenging additive on the entire trip, but it didn't seem to make much difference. In the future, I will use more additive. The bottle recommends 1/2 oz per 10gal of fuel, so that's all I used. They support up to 2 oz per 10 gal, so that's what I will try next time I burn a ton of 100LL.
All in all, what a great airplane!! I still want to build an RV-14A, but I'm no longer in a big hurry to start! The RV-12 can hold its head up high! I would just love to dabble in some aerobatics, and have a solid IFR platform, so the 14A seems perfect for that. If anyone is interested, I put together a 20 minute video about the Oshkosh trip. https://youtu.be/SR69XQj4jZg
 
Good meeting you at the little RV-12 get together at HBC. You probably get the award for longest travel in a 12 to Oshkosh. Next visit try HBC.
 
OK, now you know it can get over the mountains-------come on over to Dayton and say Hi.

Congrats on the OSH pilgrimage.
 
OK, now you know it can get over the mountains-------come on over to Dayton and say Hi.

Congrats on the OSH pilgrimage.

Hey Mike, I love the pics of your new house at Dayton, can't wait to see it in person. Bonnie and I would love to fly in and visit! After all, you are kinda responsible for getting me into this whole mess!! And I will be forever in your debt! I will contact you and we can set something up.
 
If you are wondering about the spark plugs, here is a before and after pic of cylinder 1, lower plug. This is pretty much indicative of all 8 plugs. The before is after 70 hours of premium unleaded auto fuel (Chevron Supreme) and the 'after' is after the last 40 hours burning 100LL. Yikes!!

wkpqg0.jpg
 
Nice write-up and awesome video! thanks for another great one Paul!

Wow!! that is insane on those plugs and the oil
 
Another excellent adventure from Paul. I joined you virtually at Oshkosh this year checking activity day on the webcams and checking the One Week Wonder progress. Looks like you had a great trip and yes that weather delay/build up of arriving plane makes getting in very interesting, scary, challenging for sure.

Thanks for putting your trip on record and sharing the experience.
 
If you are wondering about the spark plugs, here is a before and after pic of cylinder 1, lower plug. This is pretty much indicative of all 8 plugs. The before is after 70 hours of premium unleaded auto fuel (Chevron Supreme) and the 'after' is after the last 40 hours burning 100LL. Yikes!!

wkpqg0.jpg

One thing that has an influence on the lead contamination problem on spark plugs is power setting.
Cruising at lower RPM makes the problem worse than cruising at up near 5500 RPM
 
One thing that has an influence on the lead contamination problem on spark plugs is power setting.
Cruising at lower RPM makes the problem worse than cruising at up near 5500 RPM

Thanks Scott, good info, I will try to use higher power settings when running the 100LL! I wanted to introduce myself at OSH but with OWW, you were always super busy. I went to the Van's banquet, but didn't want to disturb you. Hopefully say hello in Aurora some day, or at OSH next year!
 
Excellent report. Thank you for your insight.
This year was my first year to Osh in an RV-6 with an O-360.
Coming from Seattle, we got a little better TAS but your burn was incredible.
flying over the mountains and exploring our way across the Dakota's and Minnesota was incredible as we got to see country I've never seen before.
Congratulations on such incredible numbers in your 12. Thanks for sharing.

.:)
 
I wanted to introduce myself at OSH but with OWW, you were always super busy. I went to the Van's banquet, but didn't want to disturb you. Hopefully say hello in Aurora some day, or at OSH next year!

You mean there were other people there?

I never even noticed......... :rolleyes:
 
Hi Paul,

Thanks for putting this fun video together.

The more posts and videos I see lately on the RV-12 have me thinking that it is not just an inexpensive-Operating plane for fun/quick weekend flights, but it is also a pretty capable cross country machine.
 
I just want to thank everyone for the very nice comments. It was really fun to see what our collective RV-12 can really do. I tend not to think of it as 'Light-Sport' anymore, it's a very capable 2-place GA airplane and it holds up very well in the low end of the Cessna/Cherokee crowd (especially when you start talking fuel burn!!) ;)
 
Paul,

Great post and nice experience. With nearly 1000 hours on my Rotax 914 in my Europa, two comments come to mind:

After using 100LL, change not only oil and filter, but open the oil tank and clean it thoroughly. You'll be shocked at how much lead is deposited there.

Avoid 100LL!! It's been more than 5 years since I used 100LL! Use the website FlyUnleaded, http://www.flyunleaded.com/mapusairports.html
to find airports with Mogas (and send updates to flyunleaded to keep it up to date). AirNav also has some Mogas listings (and they accept updates too) and Swift lists the airports with their product on their website. We carry gas bags on board to enable us to purchase Mogas and take it to our Europa. When we can't find an airport with Mogas, we look for one near a major highway that has a courtesy car.

Jim Butcher
 
Paul, After using 100LL, change not only oil and filter, but open the oil tank and clean it thoroughly. You'll be shocked at how much lead is deposited there.

Jim Butcher

Thanks Jim, good suggestions. I did clean my oil tank after the 40 hours of 100LL, there was not too much accumulation, but there was definitely some sludge starting to form at the bottom of the tank. Thanks for the link, the Western US is pretty sparse for mogas coverage, but it's getting better! Paul
 
Sludge

Sludge may be a problem with high 100LL usage but from my experience not for occasional use and typical X-countries .

I just cleaned my oil tank for the first time at 260 hours and it was as clean as installed with no lead or deposits of any kind. I change oil at 50 hours with under 30% 100LL usage with decalin. The recent change included 15 hours of use for Oshkosh travel. Likewise I've never seen lead deposits on the plugs. From what I've seen it does not appear to be a problem with the 30% usage when using the proper oil and decalin.
 
Gasoline Bags

Paul & others - please recommend brand name of the gasoline bags that you carry in your 12. Thanks, Ed Eliot
 
Fantastic video and write up! 😎👍🏻

Going to OSH in a 12 is really fun! Thank you for sharing too.
Best, Thomas
 
Thanks again for the nice comments, glad people are enjoying the video. Also, great comments and ideas about leaded avgas vs. unleaded mogas. My main point was the RV-12 was very impressive overall, for a mission like that. Also, if you are running a steady diet of 100LL, be sure to accelerate the maintenance schedule because there is a difference!! :)
 
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