I'd like to ask you to test your Coupe's glide characteristics and send me the results. I want to collect these results for a bunch of Coupes of different models.
Here's the protocol:
#1 Find an unused rural airport just in case you need an emergency
field. Any suitable field may be good enough.
#2 Load the plane to near gross weight.
#3 Bring a stop watch and GPS if you have one (GPS not required).
#4 Climb to about 5,000 feet AGL then cruise a few moments to lose any
climb overheating. Slowly reduce power to prevent shock cooling ( take
10 minutes to do this if you want ). Slowly bring it back to idle. By
this time you'll be down to about 4,000 AGL.
#5 Use the time from 4,000 AGL to 3,000 AGL to tweak up your descent at
the speed you've chosen for this run. Get it stabilized.
#6 You or your co-pilot should record the temperature when you pass
3,000 feet AGL and hit the stop watch exactly as you hit your start
altitude (approx 3,000 AGL).
#7 Fly the plane carefully, maintaining exactly your desired airspeed
from your starting altitude for 2,000 feet.
#8 At the stopping altitude of about 1,000 feet AGL, hit the stop watch
and record the temperature.
#9 Add power to make sure you have power. Build up power and
temperature at moderate speed so you don't shock-heat the engine.
#10 Climb back up to 5,000 feet AGL and do it again at the next speed.
Please do this at:
1. Your plane's minimum flying speed
2. At 10 mph increments up to 90 mph or 100 mph.
3. Preferably do it at 5 mph increments.
>From this you can calculate your glide performance at each speed. If
you like, I can calculate it for you and send you back the information.
I'd like to get this information from a lot of Coupes to really find out
the fleet averages for each model and compare them to my own plane.
Please send me this data if you would like to participate:
Plane model and other details
Gross weight when tested
For each run:
Temperature at start
Time at top of run
Indicated airspeed for run
Time at bottom of run or stopwatch seconds of run
Temperature at bottom of run
The vertical distance you are using for the test run
Any calibration information you can give where you've compared
your
indicated airspeed against GPS, Loran or ground marker measurements,
preferably at various airspeeds straight and level. Include in this,
data for both directions including temperature and altitude.
Let me please emphasize. This involves repeated climbs to altitude and
descents at zero power. It is important for the life of your engine to
do the cooling and heating processes gradually -- no shock heating or
cooling please.
I'd also recommend doing this above a field you could land on if you
needed to. Suspenders AND belt!
I did this all several years ago with my old airspeed indicator, not
knowing how inacurate it was. Even so, I found out the best glide ratio
for that plane with that airspeed indicator.
Hope some (many) of you can participate. Thanks.
--
Ed Burkhead
East Peoria, Ill.
N3802H, 415-D
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