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Longest flight legs?

airguy

Unrepentant fanboy
Sponsor
I originally built my RV9A with the intention of taking that "some-day" trip around the world with it, which means some rather long flight legs over water. With that in mind I installed outboard wing tanks that give me 67 total gallons, and with a 66 gallon Turtle Pac in the right seat that puts every reasonable oceanic route within reach. As I've been building time on the airplane I like to take longer and longer legs to learn what is needed to keep the airplane happy for those long flights as well as keeping the pilot happy. Yesterday was my longest flight leg to date, coming back home to west Texas from Carson City NV after the Reno Air Races. I logged 1005 nautical miles in 6.5 hours (engine start to engine stop) at 17,500' all the way, burning just 40.3 gallons total with a bit of a tail wind. I'm finding that I'm perfectly comfortable sitting in the cockpit that long and could easily do more, and I'll continue working my way up to the 14 hours that would be needed for California to Hawaii. I'm flying the Classic Aero Sportsman seats and love them.

Curious to hear what other folks have done for very long legs in the air.
 
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Savannah, GA (KLHW) San Antonio, TX (1T8) in about 8 hours with a stop in the middle. Next day from 1T8 to Clarion, PA - another 8 hours with 2 stops.

I've found 4 hours is the end of my comfort zone. Maybe your seats are more comfortable?

In my younger days as a Blackhawk crew-chief in the Army (late 80s), we flew lots of 4 hour missions at night and the seat was a layer of nylon or similar material stretched over an aluminum frame. Maybe age matters too.
 
I've found 4 hours is the end of my comfort zone. Maybe your seats are more comfortable?

That's probably the thing that worried me most, but I installed the Classic Aero Sportsman seats and they are just awesome. No hot or cold spots, no pressure points, perfect support.
 
South Texas to Ohio

A review of my G3X data logs on Cirrusreports.com shows:
April 2016 KNQI (NAS Kingsville near Corpus Christi) to KHAO (Cincinnati) a leg of 5:05 and 1024 nm traveled over the 972 nm direct route. The report says 55 gallons used but that's erroneous. We carried a 15 gallon aux tank in the baggage for 56 gallons usable. Probably used 40-45 gallons actually.
30 to 50 knots on the tail the whole way!
 
Had to pee...

KFLY Near Colorado Springs, Co, to KUES, Just east of Millwaulee, WI. 780NM direct.
Just under 5 Hours. Leaned back to 7 gphish at 9500msl. Still had an hours + fuel onboard.
Was doing the Indian dance all the way to the Lavatory....
 
My longest legs have been 4-4.5 hours. My longest days have been two 4 hour legs. The seats are the limiting factor just as much as fuel.
 
I squeezed 6 non-autopilot hours out of stock fuel tanks in 2012. RV9A FP carbureted, partial power takeoff. Good ANR headset and Classic Aero seats made it quite a pleasant experience. Routinely do up to 5 hours. Used P-bottle two times. Challenging. :)
 
MJ and I just flew 2 seven hour flights Ft. Lauderdale, Fla to Conroe, TX and back. We made one midflight stop for fuel, lunch and water closet. I can't thank Van enough for developing the RV14A. We averaged 10.4 gph at 150 knots true air speed. Somehow we managed to have a tail wind most of the time in both directions. The extra room in the 14 made me a much happier camper. It's so nice to sit with legs fully extended.
 
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Mine too. But didn't use the bottle or ziplock bags on that flight. (I was a lot younger then! ;-)

If that was in the dry Western desert you would have been sick and dehydrated by the end, even as a youngster...:)
 
Your RTW trip is far more than I have on my bucket list.

I run a 23gal AUX tank in my RV-8 regularly. While I seldom do legs over 5hrs, I do a number of 7+ hour days into locations without fuel.

It's important to stay hydrated. Thus, I always have a TravelJohn packed in the cockpit (http://amzn.to/2xkyAg3).

Flight physiology is important and your plan to expand your flight duration envelope is a good process.

I wrote a frank post a few years ago which outlines my preparation for domestic trips: http://elder.ninja/blog/p/4898
 
Bill Harrelson

Many seem to have forgotten that before the around the world Bill flew the Lancair nonstop from Guam to Florida. World record for weight class-distance in a straight line.
 
651 NM / 750 statute on 29 gallons. RV7 with 42 gallon tanks, down low +- 3500 msl. LOP 7.2 GPH.
KSLR/ Sulfur Springs,Tx to KMQJ/ Indy Regional to KBAK/ Columbus,In.
 
I'm a wimp

We also flew from CXP (air races) Monday, home to Tucson. Made it all the way to HII (2 hrs) before stopping for "lunch".
I have those pittle packs in my plane but admit I'm skered to try them. My guess is that you menfolk have much better odds of hitting the target, so to speak.

Cathy
 
We also flew from CXP (air races) Monday, home to Tucson. Made it all the way to HII (2 hrs) before stopping for "lunch".
I have those pittle packs in my plane but admit I'm skered to try them. My guess is that you menfolk have much better odds of hitting the target, so to speak.

Cathy

Maybe, but it is very tricky in the recumbent seat of a sailplane...:D
 
Gatorade Bottles

The most important tool in the cockpit for 4+ hr. flights by us 70+ year olds.

The A-7 was the first plane I flew that had a pee tube - a cone with the opening about 4 inches wide. The LTV tech rep told us it was sized for the "average" guy. A lot of panicked looks in the ready room until he allowed as how he was joking.
 
The most important tool in the cockpit for 4+ hr. flights by us 70+ year olds.

The A-7 was the first plane I flew that had a pee tube - a cone with the opening about 4 inches wide. The LTV tech rep told us it was sized for the "average" guy. A lot of panicked looks in the ready room until he allowed as how he was joking.

And some European sailplanes came equipped with a fitting on the end of a rubber tube.

Colloquially referred to as "Polish Microphones" :D
 
The A-7 was the first plane I flew that had a pee tube - a cone with the opening about 4 inches wide. The LTV tech rep told us it was sized for the "average" guy. A lot of panicked looks in the ready room until he allowed as how he was joking.

Those can be problematic when flying in freezing weather. Coming back from Reno I never saw temps above 24F at altitude. In winter that can be down near the deck.

I've started planning my next two flight envelope expansion trips, from Midland to El Paso to Tucson to Pheonix to Show Low to Albuquerque and back down through Roswell and Hobbs into Midland again, making the big circle around the MOA's. 1100nm but no constant tailwind, I should be able to do that in 7.5 hours at normal cruise, and since I'm becoming quite comfortable with the fuel burn and consistency of the airplane, I can pull it back thirty knots to 120 KTAS and make the same trip in 9.5 hours next time around. I like flying out west because the weather is almost always good in the dry desert.
 
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Distance

998 nm nonstop in the Wittman Tailwind in 6.1 hours. 75% power, significant headwind first 2/3, tailwind last 1/3. Pecos TX to Watertown WI.
St. Johns, Newfoundland to Shannon Ireland flight plans 10 hours. I may someday work up the courage to do that. The big hurdle is the HF radio. In my opinion a completely worthless piece of equipment but the rules require it.
 
Depends

I always have a TravelJohn packed in the cockpit
I tried one of those once, at 12,500' over the Utah desert. Whether the problem was my highly-reclined seat, the proximity of the stick, or the shortness of my little soldier, I can't say, but the TravelJohn didn't work at all. In desperation I shoved a wad of paper towels down my pants and that didn't work, either. As Alan Shepherd once said (in the movie), "I'm a wetback now".

Two hours later, after landing and changing clothes, I immediately took a taxi to the nearest supermarket and bought some Depends. I'm not ashamed to report that I wear Depends now on any flight longer than one hour. It's an old age thing. FWIW, I've never had to use them since, but they take a load off my mind.
 
We used "Piddle Packs", a back with an absorbent sponge and long, securable neck.

Pretty challenging to "find yourself" under all of that gear, and keep it all in place. Sometimes it helped to fly upside down.

As far as I know, the company went out of business.

Not sure where you sourced yours but I use piddle packs everyday in my day job. Ours are made by abilityone www.alphapointe.org

It's a company that employs blind people. Not sure if you can buy them in the civilian sector but they are $8 a piece for Uncle Sam. Expensive but well worth it. I haven't seen the sponges around for about 5 years. They are all the powder variety and they work awesome.
 
Interesting flights

Two interesting legs
Ft Pierce, Fl. to Santo Domongo, DR. One stop, and
Brownsville, Tx. nonstop to Acapulco, Mexico.

And a few nonstop Austin, Tx to 9A0. Dahlonega, Ga. 735nm.
 
Fuel, water, waist.

We put our little 8 together with economy in mind. I find that most people get in to big a hurry on long flights. That's OK, they want to get there fast, but the time it takes to stop and refuel along a long rout will most of the time add up to close to the same as if you just took it easy. We take off with full throttle, then at 6-7 hundred feet start to level-up and pull back power to 50-60%, then set up at 200-300'/min. climb and continue to pull power out slowly to get down to around 41-44%. This gives us a fuel burn of around 5.1-5.6 Gph. and a ground speed (no wind of around 115-120 Kts. I find that we can stay in the air at around 8,000-9,000' for 6.5 hours with 30-40 minutes of fuel left. We proofed this out again on a return from OSKH this year, a 686 Nm. leg.
I did not get to do it none stop as planed because of weather about 150 miles from home but the fuel totals show that we would have done it with about 10 gallons left in the tank. We run a light strait clean airplane, with some drag for all the outside antennas. ECI IO-360-their fuel injection and throttle body, Prince- P tip carbon prop- 68X81", air frame 1008 Lbs. with all Garmin panel.
We had thought about adding aux. tanks in the wings, and if we ever did do the rounder thing, we may. But for now at my stage of the game 6.5-7.0 hour legs are more than enough. We put a water bottle holder in big enough to take a bike style water bottle, one like you see on road bikes. And yes we keep a Jilly-John at the ready. Two hints we know now. Never pass up a bathroom just before you board and Pampers are not just for old folks. Ask anyone who has gone in to space. Just a thought or two. Yours, R.E.A. III #80888
 
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My longest leg was 7.3 hours, from Ft Lauderdale FL, to Isla Grande Airport non stop at 15,500 ft most of the time with tail wind of course (like 80% of the time).
sorry to ask but where did you buy the extra tanks for the RV-9? I like that idea!!
Thank You Happy New Year
Ed

I originally built my RV9A with the intention of taking that "some-day" trip around the world with it, which means some rather long flight legs over water. With that in mind I installed outboard wing tanks that give me 67 total gallons, and with a 66 gallon Turtle Pac in the right seat that puts every reasonable oceanic route within reach. As I've been building time on the airplane I like to take longer and longer legs to learn what is needed to keep the airplane happy for those long flights as well as keeping the pilot happy. Yesterday was my longest flight leg to date, coming back home to west Texas from Carson City NV after the Reno Air Races. I logged 1005 nautical miles in 6.5 hours (engine start to engine stop) at 17,500' all the way, burning just 40.3 gallons total with a bit of a tail wind. I'm finding that I'm perfectly comfortable sitting in the cockpit that long and could easily do more, and I'll continue working my way up to the 14 hours that would be needed for California to Hawaii. I'm flying the Classic Aero Sportsman seats and love them.

Curious to hear what other folks have done for very long legs in the air.
 
My longest leg was 7.3 hours, from Ft Lauderdale FL, to Isla Grande Airport non stop at 15,500 ft most of the time with tail wind of course (like 80% of the time).
sorry to ask but where did you buy the extra tanks for the RV-9? I like that idea!!
Thank You Happy New Year
Ed

I didn't buy them, I built them. Do a search on here for "Pat Tuckey extended tanks" and follow the trail of bread crumbs, I shamelessly hijacked his design and modified it slightly for my 9A.
 
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