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840 nm in one day


opticsguy

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Stugeon Bay (KSUE) to Dallas on 27 April. Lots of IFR forecast for MO during the day. If the winds hold up, I think we can do it, if not, Sedalia or Lebanon, MO overnight.

 

KLBO has a courtesy car and several gas cans you can use to get ethanol free 93 octane at a station down the road.

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I guess to each own. Barring geographic necessity such has flying over large bodies of water, never saw the need to have legs much longer than 3 hrs. Makes for a much nicer, comfortable and safer trip by taking a rest stop or two. You can easily do a quick turn in 15 mins and give a local FBO some much needed business Did 700nm last fall with two stops. Adding 30 mins to 7+ hrs of flying didn't make a material difference in travel time but made it much more pleasant.

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On the one hand, I've done comparable daily mileage...

 

...on a motorcycle!

 

That said, it's hard not to be fatigued after a long day of flying. If you live near SL, even 5,000' can take its toll after a while. I know that higher than that and my brain turns to mush after a finite amount of time at altitude.

 

It's said, "Fatigue doth make cowards of us all". Well, if not "cowards" exactly, it can certainly lead to "unforced errors", which often occur on that last leg, often on approach or landing near or after sunset.

 

I'm 63, and I find I can still do very long days in the air, on a bike, or driving a van full of dogs to NJ. Can do it on donuts and coffee and adrenaline, and seem to be none the worse for wear at the end.

 

But what I have noticed is that it can take me several days to recover - I literally feel beat up for that long.

 

For our trip to Page, with reduced fuel we planned about 2 hour legs - about 200nm in the Sky Arrow. And three of those legs felt like a full day. Often felt like a fourth leg was doable, but by early/late afternoon packing it in for the day usually seemed like a better plan than pressing on.

 

And one good rule is to always plan an extra day for every three planned flight days as a cushion. We used ours staying in Amarillo an extra day due to forecast high winds an turbulence along the route. NEVER put yourself in a position where you HAVE to be somewhere at a specific time. If that's the case, the airlines are a better bet, sequestration notwithstanding.

 

For us little guys, the maxim should always be "Time to spare? Go by air!"

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:)

 

Ditto here, Mack ... don't wanna do that again! My pilot wife and I just completed a round trip in our SW from Palestine, Tx to Fullerton, Ca, with stops in Big Spring, Tucson, Phoenix and Odessa. Approximately 2300 miles ... wow! It was primarily a wedding trip, but we were able to piggyback a hose change with Roger, which turned out to be a fabulous stop in Tucson. But next time, I'm thinkin' it's gonna be a job for JetBlue! :D

 

~~ Johnny

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didn't get to post last night. We got forced down in Centerville, IA. We tried to get into Kirksville, MO, but it went from MVFR to LIFR when we were 10 miles away. Lucky for us, Centerville was clear this morning and KIRK was still IFR until 1100 or so. As it was, we set a new record for a single leg, 500 nm even, direct to KADS, 4.6 hours. My wife and I split a cup of coffee this morning instead of having two each, and that made the difference. That and the 3" memory foam upgrade of our seat cushions.

 

Centerville gave me hangar space overnight for free, and has ethanol free mogas (87 oct). The hotels in town are nothing to write home about.

 

Surprisingly, we had smooth air from 4000 ft and higher on a clear spring day over OK and TX. Nice temperature inversion.

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Roger, I bought half 100LL and half 87, which was added to what was left of the 93 octane I bought in Indiana/Wisconsin (some with ethanol, some without). I would say the resulting "octane rating" of this mixture was pretty high. It ran like a top.

 

I started the trip setting the Dynon D120 "fuel remaining" to what I knew I had, and adjusted it as I bought fuel, and after 27 hours of flying it read within half a gallon of what I had remaining when I landed.

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Last September Tip and I flew my plane back from Delta Colorado to Pittsburgh, PA. Day one was just over 10 hours of flying covering about 1050nm stopping in Goodland Kansas, Centerville Iowa, and finally Plymouth Indiana before running out of daylight. It was just over 3 more hours to get back to Indiana, PA to drop Tip off then back to my old home base of Herron, WV. We lucked out with the weather cooperating the whole way other than having head winds. All in all a great trip especially crossing the Rockies. We can definitely attest to these planes having long legs.

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Half 100LL and half 91 octane mogas does nothing to hurt or help the octane rating.

 

With that mix you will have an effective octane rating significantly better than 91, or significantly lower than 100. It depends on what perspective you are approaching from. Either way, your post is pretty much incorrect, if you mean that mixing the two would not give more detonation protection than 91 octane mogas straight up.

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It's simple math. Ignoring the 93 octane already in Optiguy's tank, he put in 50% 87 and 50% 100 octane. Average is 187/2 = 93.5 octane.

 

Google 'octane mixing' and you'll find they do, indeed, mix (at least according to Mobil :)).

 

Lead is a different issue but pretty much unavoidable on trips outside of your local area.

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You guys certainly don't need my input, your on top of it all. Using too low an octane rating in the 11.0:1 ratio 912ULS can cause detonation and it will happen in seconds and you won't know until all the damage is done. I have seen 3-4 engines that went through this, you don't want to go there. You should use no less than a 50/50 mix with 87 oct. and 100LL. If you follow that rule you will always be safe. Since 91 oct. is already good then adding 100LL won't really go a long way as far as the detonation is concerned, but it will leave a little lead behind, but less less than straight 100LL. Many like to mix unleaded with 100LL for a little better longevity and stability, but it really isn't needed with today's fuels under normal operating periods. Before someone ask what is a normal operating period is, use it as soon as fesable for high compression engines and don't let it sit for a year.

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  • 3 months later...

Actually did it yesterday. KSUE to KDTO (Addison was closed). Mexico, MO KMYJ has mogas (87) for $4.15. We tried a stop at Neosho, MO, also, KEOS. Very helpful staff in a new facility. They gave me a truck and two gas cans so I could get my own 91 octane. I'll stop there again for sure.

 

8.2 hours of flying, and all but 3 hours in air smooth enough to use the autopilot, and a tailwind at that.

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