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.
Curious to hear what other folks have done for very long legs in the air.
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