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Cold? Ha!

...and his -8 is on skis built by Patrick Gilligan up here in the Ottawa, Canada area. Patrick designed, built, and flies skis on his own RV-8. Michel Gordillo had Patrick make him a set, which Michel just installed for the first time on the weekend!

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Overloaded

From the web link "I will be able to carry more than 730 liters (192 US Gallons)."
He has to be severely overloaded, that is an extra 900 pounds of fuel, 1152 pounds total fuel load. Empty weight is probably at lest 1200 pounds with the equipment he added plus fuel plus pilot, plus survival gear. His gross has to be around 2700 pounds! :eek::eek::eek: In a plane designed for 1800 pounds gross.
Now cold air will help, but he says he also wants to fly at 122F also.
 
Jon Johansen's RV-4 was overweight for his RTW trips too. He consulted with Vans and got a waiver from CASA.

Assuming c of g is okay, I think one of the big factors that plays in to the RV's max gross is the strength of the undercarriage, and its ability to absorb landing forces. If you're landing after you've burned all your fuel, maybe that isn't such a big deal.

- mark
 
newt said:
Jon Johansen's RV-4 was overweight for his RTW trips too. He consulted with Vans and got a waiver from CASA.

Assuming c of g is okay, I think one of the big factors that plays in to the RV's max gross is the strength of the undercarriage, and its ability to absorb landing forces. If you're landing after you've burned all your fuel, maybe that isn't such a big deal.

- mark
Click to expand...



I built my 9A with RTW capability in mind, and while I haven't installed the additional tankage yet in the cockpit, I have 67 gallons in the wings and a plan for the rest. I'll definitely be overgross on takeoff but the math says I can carry 147 gallons and be nearly a full inch forward of my aft CG limit. Landing after you burn it off is much better of course.

Taxiing to the runway with that weight, now that's an exercise in extreme caution. It's not just the max weight on the gear, but also the distribution - the 9A has a max nose gear limitation of 325 pounds, you don't want to exceed that much at all if you can help it for taxi and takeoff. The net effect is that you end up with a very aft CG loading at takeoff and burn it during cruise to keep the nose wheel light.

And if you're curious, yes that fuel quantity was calculated to take me from California to Hawaii against a constant 20-knot headwind with 3 hours reserve, and Hawaii to Pago Pago with two hours reserve.
 
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From his website

  • Concerning the belly fuel tank, the jettisoning system comes from an aircraft 500 pounds bomb release system.
  • The rear tank will have a fast fuel draining system. I will build a kind of restroom flushing system. Would I need to emergency return, I would drain that rear tank, and if time is available, I would pump the belly fuel into the rear tank and drain again.

Interesting reading... details straight from the Sky Polaris site:

http://www.skypolaris.org/about/about-the-aircraft/

You can track him here:

http://www.skypolaris.org/tracking-map/
 
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