Great flight today

I took the RV-12 for a 1.5 hr flight north of Salt Lake, over Bear Lake and had a fun time. I wanted to share a few things about the flight.

First, I went through the Dynon Skyview autopilot tuning manual. It was really helpful and I was impressed after a few iterations, how well it holds altitude, captures headings and climbs at a specified IAS. It was a little bumpy and I would like to check everything when it is smoother out. I am running version 10 right now. Just remember in the settings there is an Expert and Simplified mode for the autopilot. You need to be in Expert to access the IAS climb setting.

Second, I have never been happy with the audio through the built in jack. I have the Bose A20's and used the plug on the A-20 for the first time today and it worked great. I am going to buy a cord with a Y connector so I can plug into both headsets, then directly into a music source. The music is crisp and perfect running this way.

I took the plane to 11,500 today and was impressed with its climb performance with one person. I need to take it on a longer cross country.

I think the installation of the ADS-B and the, knob and autopilot control panel will be the next additions. Also, now that I have the fuel pressure issue solved, I will install the TS Flightline braided hoses and thermostasis unit to decrease warm up time in the winter.
This is a great plane with amazing capability for the price, fuel burn and ease of assembly and maintenance.

All I had was my iPhone for a few pictures.


I leveled at 10,500 for a minute on my way to 11,500 to see how it performs. This was full throttle and after a few more seconds it started going above 5500 RPM. I flew most of the flight at 5100 RPM.

Nice write up! The EGT/CHT is showing left and right side Cylinders? One zero
missing from the EGT L? I've been procrastinating on starting a 12. Looks like
fun!

Chino Tom said:

Nice write up! The EGT/CHT is showing left and right side Cylinders? One zero
missing from the EGT L? I've been procrastinating on starting a 12. Looks like
fun!

Click to expand...

Yes, the 4th digit gets behind the other numbers on that screen.

Scott,

You probably already know this, but under the batteries in the A20 is a tiny toggle switch for mono/stereo. If your jacks are wired stereo but the switch is mono then music through the audio panel will just be mono.
The switch has no effect on the jack on the battery pack.

I like to run through the audio panel in the 10 to reach the back seats. Mine sounds great. When I use the A20 in the Boeing I have to switch the A20 toggle back to mono or I only get sound through one side. The A20 is a terrific headset in either plane. I use QC2/uflys for the other seats.

You were on my list to try and meet at OSH. I have always enjoyed your trip writeups. Perhaps you'll make it down to Copperstate one year and join us at the rv10 nest.

Scott,
You said the performance was good at 11,500. What did you get for climb fpm at that altitude? Any thoughts on how high you can reasonably go?

If you are looking for a flight, head over to the Boise - Caldwell area. I will be there the next two weeks. I am moving my 9A to the hangar and getting it back together. We have room if you want to stay overnight.

Anyone else - how is the high altitude performance (13-14K) of the 12?
I like the 12 and would have built it but I worried I couldn't get out of the airports in my part of the country.

Thanks

aaaaaaaaaahhh!

Being from Logan, these pics bring back too many good memories. True happiness would be to fly through Sardine Canyon (Brigham City to Logan), across Logan, and through Logan Canyon to Bear lake in the fall, when the fall colors are comparable with what you can see in New England. And Scott did NOT photoshop the pictures of Bear Lake--it really is that blue and beautiful.
Thanks Scott.

Homesick

You sound a little homesick

Come on up and let's do it this fall!

engineerofsorts said:

Being from Logan, these pics bring back too many good memories. True happiness would be to fly through Sardine Canyon (Brigham City to Logan), across Logan, and through Logan Canyon to Bear lake in the fall, when the fall colors are comparable with what you can see in New England. And Scott did NOT photoshop the pictures of Bear Lake--it really is that blue and beautiful.
Thanks Scott.

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Nice!

...okay, now that's a b-e-a-yootiful little moorage /harbor.....but what a waste! not a single floatplane there!!

odd tho', there's a helipad at each end of the parking lot, I guess these Utah yachters have SOME taste!

Beautiful sights!

When I am done circumferencing the Great Lakes I am coming to the Big Salty Pond. How hard is it to get cleared via R-6404A Scott?

At a weight of 1050 lbs mine has a service ceiling around 13,000 Ft density altitude.

Vlad said:

When I am done circumferencing the Great Lakes I am coming to the Big Salty Pond. How hard is it to get cleared via R-6404A Scott?

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Very difficult. There is a corridor between the two restricted areas that runs from Wendover to Salt Lake City. The Great Salt Lake is pretty ugly. For lakes, you want to fly over Flaming Gorge, Bear Lake, Strawberry Res, Fish Lake in the fall is incredible and of course Lake Powell.
Drop on by anytime Vlad. I have extra rooms and cold beer.

I used to own a Cessna at SLC#2 and found that the Great Salt Lake could be gorgeous at about 50 agl around the perimeter of Antelope island, especially at dusk or dawn.

Tempting

ScottSchmidt said:

Come on up and let's do it this fall!

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We have a good excuse for getting to Utah (Taylorsville) about the first Sunday in November (#10 grandchild blessing at church)...any suggestions on RV-friendly airports in the Salt Lake valley? Of course, by Nov 1st, maybe fall is over and winter has set in...as I recall, summer in Cache Valley sometimes meant "two weeks of bad skiiing".

Rob

I guess you forget how cool something is when you live so close. Bear lake is pretty cool, except the last time I took one of my employees over it in the afternoon and made him sick after a loop . That was a long 10 min back to Logan....

I need to ride in the Rv 12 sometime Scott. Pm me next time you're up here

woxofswa said:

I used to own a Cessna at SLC#2 and found that the Great Salt Lake could be gorgeous at about 50 agl around the perimeter of Antelope island, especially at dusk or dawn.

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Your right, the sunset flights can really be nice. I have tons of great sunset pictures over the Great Salt Lake. I just would not come to fly around the lake.

Scott,
You said the performance was good at 11,500. What did you get for climb fpm at that altitude? Any thoughts on how high you can reasonably go?

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I can't remember exactly what the climb rate was. I had 80 kts IAS in the autopilot. Seems like it was right around 500 FPM with one person and 15 gallons of gas. I will try and get better numbers next time I am out.

rockwoodrv9 said:

Scott,
You said the performance was good at 11,500. What did you get for climb fpm at that altitude? Any thoughts on how high you can reasonably go?

If you are looking for a flight, head over to the Boise - Caldwell area. I will be there the next two weeks. I am moving my 9A to the hangar and getting it back together. We have room if you want to stay overnight.

Anyone else - how is the high altitude performance (13-14K) of the 12?
I like the 12 and would have built it but I worried I couldn't get out of the airports in my part of the country.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Originally I had my prop set in more of a climb mode. I flew my RV12 to 14,000 feet over 12,000 foot mts (legally) and the climb rate was still 400 fpm.