Ownership and my longest XC yet

spinfire

spinfire

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Dan
So I bought a 1977 Cessna Cardinal RG. I love it! The plane was in Statesville, NC (SVH) and I am based at Nashua, NH so this presented a bit of a challenge. After closing on the plane last Friday I flew Sunday one way on JetBlue down to Charlotte to pick up the airplane, get some transition training Monday from an instructor down there, and meet my Nashua based CFI on Monday night to fly the long XC home dual (insurance requirement). Thanks to high winds we ended up deferring the transition training from Monday to Tuesday morning. But the plane flies like a dream, and the trip home was clear from the Carolinas to Maine with the big high pressure system centered on the mid Atlantic states.

I wrote it all up with some pictures on my new Cardinal flying blog.

Unfortunately due to shortening the transition training because of Monday's 30 knot wind gusts and because there was a bit of a tailwind on Tuesday's trip home I still need 2.4 hours of dual before I can fly the airplane solo. Hopefully I can get this done soon! It will be nice to be able to head to the airport on a nice day without having to arrange anything other than a quick briefing.
 
Your route of flight placed you directly over Mount Joy (and lonely little N71 -- Donegal Springs Airport).

Ownership can be wonderful, and that's a very nice airplane!
 
We were a bit west of N71 because of the stop at KHGR, but I think we could see it in the distance. A direct route from Statesville to Nashua would have gone directly through the DC FRZ so you need to go either east or west of it. So Hagerstown was an ideal midway fuel and rest stop. This was the more scenic route than going around DC to the east.

The Cardinal is a fantastic airplane if you like enjoying the view on a cross country. High wing, no wing strut, and the cruise attitude sight picture is much more nose down than a 172 so even the view out front is better.
 
Very nice writeup, and congratulations on the new bird!

I've never seen 140 kts true in my '76 RG, at any altitude, though I have an aging 3-blade prop and don't usually keep the rpm at 2500 in cruise. Would you mind sharing your leaning strategy? Are you running LOP at altitude or still ROP? I generally stay 100 ROP and have never seen much under 10 gph except below 65% power. Then again my fuel flow gauge is probably miscalibrated since it shows 11.5-12 gph, but my actual fuel usage is usually closer to 10.5 gph at 24/2400.

Again, congratulations and I hope you have many enjoyable hours ahead in your new RG! :cheers:
 
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Congratulations! Looks like a nice plane! What's the payload on her?
 
Congratulations! I'm in an ownership club that owns a Cardinal RG also. It's terrific airplane, I really enjoy flying it. I'll be following your blog.
 
dmccormack said:
Your route of flight placed you directly over Mount Joy (and lonely little N71 -- Donegal Springs Airport).
Ownership can be wonderful, and that's a very nice airplane!
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Lonely little N71 is lonely for a reason, although it was just purchased by a group from Deck airport that may do somethings with it. It certainly can't be anything worse than has been done with it over the past 15 years. Maybe they will put in new hangars and I can move there.
 
Have fun with the 177RG! I did my Commercial ASEL training in one of those. Great plane except for the fact that it is a little underpowerd.
 
Congrats! I picked up a 172 last year in Portland, Maine and flew it back home to west Texas over 3 days. Was probably the most fun I've had yet on a long cross-country. I gave myself plenty of time and did a lot of button-pushing, a little sight-seeing, and some weather deviating on the way home.
 
In one of the earlier posts I discussed the two possible routes around DC I'd planned. The weather was basically as good as I could hope for. It is interesting to hear the accents of controllers and pilots on the radio shift, and to see the snow appear and disappear in various parts of the country.

I've never seen 140 kts true in my '76 RG, at any altitude, though I have an aging 3-blade prop and don't usually keep the rpm at 2500 in cruise. Would you mind sharing your leaning strategy? Are you running LOP at altitude or still ROP? I generally stay 100 ROP and have never seen much under 10 gph except below 65% power. Then again my fuel flow gauge is probably miscalibrated since it shows 11.5-12 gph, but my actual fuel usage is usually closer to 10.5 gph at 24/2400.
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My prop is a two blade. I have heard that the 3 bladed prop has a cruise penalty (what does a 3 bladed prop get you anyway?). My cruise was 7500, WOT, it was around 22.5", 2400 or so rpm. I did some playing with the prop rpm to find a sweet spot. For leaning, I started leaning a bit in the climb around 4000 feet. I have an Insight Gem so I leaned to keep the bars a bit below where they were at takeoff power. I climbed maximum power. After leveling off I used the "flow" (really pressure) gauge to do a big mixture pull to 10.5 gph. Then I watched the Gem while leaning slowly looking for peak then enrichening somewhat. The "flow" gauge at this point read around 8.5 gallons per hour. I was told it was likely to be off.

Descents were started about 70 nm out at cruise power at approximately 250 fpm. During the descent I'd manipulate the throttle to keep the manifold pressure to around 22". I'd enrichen during descent as needed to keep the EGTs similar. Engine CHTs seemed fine.

I haven't topped the tanks off after the second leg yet, so I don't know what the block fuel consumption will be then. Also perhaps of note is that I did start from an airport that was at 1000' so the time to climb was shorter than a sea level airport. Someday I will install a JPI/Insight/Shadin fuel flow gadget and then I'll have a more accurate idea. I don't know what the installed cost would be.

Congratulations! Looks like a nice plane! What's the payload on her?
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Useful load is 992.22 lbs. With 60 gallons usable fuel this leaves you with 632.22 lbs payload with full fuel. Of course, 60 gallons gets you a long way, even the reduced fueling point will get you past the typical collective endurance of four people.
 
spinfire said:
(what does a 3 bladed prop get you anyway?).

Useful load is 992.22 lbs. With 60 gallons usable fuel this leaves you with 632.22 lbs payload with full fuel. Of course, 60 gallons gets you a long way, even the reduced fueling point will get you past the typical collective endurance of four people.
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Thanks. That's impressive.

A three bladed prop will give you two things that I'm aware of: a quieter ride because the tips aren't going as fast and an increased ground clearance. I think you give up a little performance, too, as you mentioned. I'd be interested in other differences!
 
I thought that a three bladed prop can also give you better takeoff and climb performance. I do have a Lightspeed Zulu, but I found the cabin pretty quiet already (maybe because the plexi was just recently replaced with an STC'd thicker windshield). I think the two bladed prop works pretty well in this application.

I was a bit worried about handling the fuel injection starts, but honestly I've done several so far hot and cold and it doesn't seem to be a big deal. Just a bit more to juggle as you crank.
 
Dan, congratulations! the Cardinal is a beautiful plane certainly one of my favorites.
 
spinfire said:
I thought that a three bladed prop can also give you better takeoff and climb performance.
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That could be, but I've always associated that with the blade angle, which, with a constant speed prop, is under your (indirect) control.

Some googling finds:
http://www.airplanepropeller.com/articles.html said:
Three-blade propellers generally have a slightly better climb and slightly slower cruise than their two-blade equivalents[, b]ut these differences are seldom large enough to be really noticeable. The most noticeable difference is the three-blade's distinct advantage in smoothness and noise reduction. This is coupled with improved ground clearance in installations, which means less propeller damage from stones and less chance of a ground strike.

Another practical advantage of the three- blade is reduced maintenance. This comes from the reduced rotational stresses from the shorter blades, which can make a real difference, particularly if the conversion is replacing one of those troublesome 'dreaded threaded" two-blade propellers with blades more than 82 inches long. These blades have had a history of problems and a three-blade replacement (either in a threaded or new style) can result in real long-term savings. Particular installations can have even more advantages. The reduced diameter of the three-blade conversion on a Cessna 185 floatplane eliminates water damage due to the reduction in diameter and eliminates the noise problems associated with water-borne 185s by reducing the tip speeds. This keeps the blade tips from going supersonic at takeoff horsepower. which is what causes the infamous 185 whine. In addition, the increased climb performance, however marginal, is always appreciated in a water airplane.
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Dan, congratulations on the new acquisition. I was looking at Cardinals for over a year before I got my Debonair. Great plane.

My longest XC so far was also my trip home to Fullerton, CA from picking the plane up in Puyallup, WA. Right at 7 hours, 1/2 of that at night (that's a different story), starting with no retract or High Perf time. Wow, what a change from the rental 172s I had been used to flying. We had some low ceilings as we came through the pass near Mt. Shasta. Glad I had a VERY experienced instructor in the right seat.

I will never forget his words as we were climbing out of Puyallup: Eric, YOU will fly this plane all the way there. The only way I'm touching the controls is if I think you're gonna kill us. Now... let's enjoy this, shall we.

We had one of the best meals I've ever had at an airfield diner in northern California (Willows). It was like camping... everything tastes better for some reason....same thing with that flight.

Enjoy you new magic carpet.
 
spinfire said:
My prop is a two blade. I have heard that the 3 bladed prop has a cruise penalty (what does a 3 bladed prop get you anyway?). My cruise was 7500, WOT, it was around 22.5", 2400 or so rpm. I did some playing with the prop rpm to find a sweet spot. For leaning, I started leaning a bit in the climb around 4000 feet. I have an Insight Gem so I leaned to keep the bars a bit below where they were at takeoff power. I climbed maximum power. After leveling off I used the "flow" (really pressure) gauge to do a big mixture pull to 10.5 gph. Then I watched the Gem while leaning slowly looking for peak then enrichening somewhat. The "flow" gauge at this point read around 8.5 gallons per hour. I was told it was likely to be off.
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Thanks. I'm wondering how much you enrichened, when you say "somewhat". I'm not trying to find fault here, I'm really trying to learn. You had THE Cardinal guru for your transition instructor -- I really envy you that experience -- and I'm trying to figure out if the way I'm doing it is essentially the same way he taught you, or if I'm wasting fuel and running richer than I need to, or if there's something funky going on with my engine. In the climb I do pretty much what you said, but in cruise the only time I've run leaner than 100 ROP is above 8000 MSL where (to my understanding) you're not making enough power to hurt the engine however much you lean.

Do you recall what kinds of EGTs and CHTs you were seeing in cruise?

A three bladed prop will give you two things that I'm aware of: a quieter ride because the tips aren't going as fast and an increased ground clearance. I think you give up a little performance, too, as you mentioned. I'd be interested in other differences!
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I've flown two 177RGs now with 3-bladed props and my cruise airspeeds between the two were fairly similar at the same power settings, and about 10 kts slower than book speeds. Many owners with 2 blade props seem to be seeing much closer to book speeds. Based on that I suspect the speed penalty is significant and if (when) I replace this prop, I would strongly consider going back to 2 blades. But I understand that you gain a little climb performance with 3 blades too, though I'm not sure whether that is compared at the same RPM. I'm also not sure whether the blade pitch is the same at the same RPM between a 2 blade prop and a 3 blade prop.
 
I always thought of Doug Stewart as an IFR guru who happens to fly a Cardinal... but Guy Maher is the Cardinal guru par excellence. He and his Cardinal workshops (clinics?) have quite a reputation on CFO.
 
My Insight Gem is an early edition. It displays the bars only, not digits. The CHTs have units, the EGTs don't. I enrichened until the EGT dropped down a few bars, the engine sounded smooth, and I could see CHTs stabilized around 350 with the cowl flaps closed. But the bargraph is kinda hard to read with exactness. This might be a bit closer to peak. I think I was still running less than 75% power at that altitude and CHTs were good.

Guy is a good instructor. I didn't get as much time with him as I wanted and we were a bit rushed because of the weather, but it worked out OK. I don't know who Doug Stewart is. My Nashua CFI was just along for the dual time. He didn't have prior Cardinal time.
 
Do you use an engine monitor?

Someday I'd like to upgrade to something like the Insight G3...
 
spinfire said:
My Insight Gem is an early edition. It displays the bars only, not digits. The CHTs have units, the EGTs don't. I enrichened until the EGT dropped down a few bars, the engine sounded smooth, and I could see CHTs stabilized around 350 with the cowl flaps closed. But the bargraph is kinda hard to read with exactness. This might be a bit closer to peak. I think I was still running less than 75% power at that altitude and CHTs were good.
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I'm pretty sure you would have been less than 75% (7500 MSL?) but probably more than 65%. At 7500 I still tend to be 100 ROP, or maybe a little leaner. But if Guy said that was safe, he's probably right.

Sigh. I need some dual time with someone who REALLY knows what they're doing. My CFII teaches his students to lean only enough to keep the engine running smooth, and never at all below 5000 MSL.

I don't know who Doug Stewart is.
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http://www.dsflight.com/about.html
 
Congratulations Dan!

I've owned Miss Piggy almost a year now and have no regrets at all. It is indeed nice to be able to fly whenever weather permits and get intimately familiar with one specific airplane. I may be wrong, but it seems to add safety to the equation.

It's been a great experience for me. I hope it works out as well for you.

Enjoy and keep us posted as to how she's doing.
 
Aztec Driver said:
Lonely little N71 is lonely for a reason, although it was just purchased by a group from Deck airport that may do somethings with it. It certainly can't be anything worse than has been done with it over the past 15 years. Maybe they will put in new hangars and I can move there.
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I did not know it was purchased by people from Deck! Is Clyde one of the buyers? If you could PM me if you don't want to say publicly. Thanks Bryon!
 
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