My new altitude record in an RV
I took my RV-14A up to
FL 23,340 today. I was cleared to FL 250, but this was all I could (safely) get out of the airplane. Note that the AOA green indication is creeping up to the yellow, and there just wasn't enough margin left with the wing to keep the climb going. This is my personal record in a normally aspirated piston aircraft.
Some things really impressed me about the RV-14. First, it's nice and warm inside. OAT was - 26C / -14F, but in the cockpit I didn't even need to open up the heater outlets. In fact, I cracked open the vent because it was getting a little too warm inside. No joke. I was in a long sleeved shirt, no coat, no gloves. This is quite different from the times I've flown the RV-8 and RV-7 up in the high teens +.
Climb performance was very nice. I climbed at 500 FPM until FL 180, then 400 FPM to FL 200, then I hand flew the rest of the way to 23,340 because the Dynon autopilot kept pushing forward stick due to the low IAS. (I did engage the autopilot again so I could take the photo).
I descended at 500 FPM, and left the throttle (WOT) and prop alone. I modulated mixture to keep my CHTs as high as possible, but I couldn't get them any higher than 280F until I got below 17,000ish MSL.
I can't think of any good operational reason to fly this high, unless you're trying to fly the "Hump" from India to China. It's interesting to test out the airplane to see what it can do, but the sweet spot for efficiency--even with a screaming tailwind--is definitely not up that high. Fun for bragging rights though.