The perfect excuse for a long flight...

The Pyrenees

A few weeks ago I had to go down to the south of France by the Pyrenees.  How fun is a 6 hour drive without the family on a crowded motorway and then the same way back again? Humm... but there is a field next to where I’m going… and the people I should meet could pick me up… I could bring my tent and fly back the next day… sounds like a plan… With an excellent weather forecast this was a perfect excuse for doing a long flight.

Camping at the local flying club

9h10 in the air, 1156 km according to my GPS, i.e. an average speed of 126 km/h (78 mph).  Constantly running on 5400 RPM, this is higher RPM (and higher speed) than what I use to do but with that kind of distance… Consumption was 16 l/h but more relevant might be consumption over distance: 12,6 liters for 100km. Compared to my rotax this is a 20% reduction in consumption and a gain of 15km/h.
I will come back to more detailed consumptions for evening “sightseeing” flights. However, I’m convinced that I have the almost optimum pitch setting between power and speed on my WarpDrive and if I want to get more out of the engine I will need to get another prop. But that will be for next year.

Millau Viaduct - so tempting but so forbidden... 

I now have 17h30 on the engine. No bad surprises whatsoever. My Victor 2 was running smoothly. I still have some vibrations at low RPM but at higher RPM she is steady as a rock and very reactive. If not running for over a week I need to clean the sparkplugs as they fill up with oil – I try to see it as an opportunity to make an additional engine visit at pre flight.

Home again

And I saved time... less than 4 hours in the air to get there while it would have been 6 hours in the car...