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Old 31st Oct 2006, 07:29
  #47 (permalink)  
Chimbu chuckles

Grandpa Aerotart
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
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Yes of course...F not C

AOTW and others...if you lean on the ground, and I highly recommend you do, you should lean so brutally that the engine is not capable of much more than 1000 rpm. I find in my Bonanza that I never need much more than 850-900 rpm taxiing around and because I am not worried about fouling plugs etc I use power not brakes to keep my speed under control...that is I will quite happily taxi at 500 rpm if that's all it takes...so I save on brakes as well. If I am parked on level ground all I need do to commence taxiing is release the park brake and the aircraft moves off at 850 rpm. The way I set rpm after start is to use the throttle to idle the engine at around 700-750rpm and then lean the mixture to get peak rpm and then lean a little more...as you lean on the ground from around 700-750rpm you will see about a 30-50 rpm rise before it peaks and falls away again.

If it does not the idle mixture is set up wrong.

The reason I suggest leaning on the ground to such an extent is that if you forget to enrichen the mixture for takeoff you will be incapable of taking off...when you push the throttle forward the engine will suffer a lean mixture cutout before any damage is done. Embarrassing but not expensive. If you do a mag/prop check before takeoff you won't be able to get enough RPM for that either...so when doing the mag/prop check select mixture full rich and then leave it there for takeoff...unless operating at high DA.

In my Bo I don't do a 'classic' mag check as taught in flying school because it shows you pretty well nothing other than each mag is earth properly...first flight of the day I cycle the prop once or twice and in cruise LOP I select each mag and sit and watch the EDM 700 for 10 seconds or so at each setting. Before shutting down I check for 'dead mag/live prop' and that is it.

When I select L or R mag all the EGT bar graphs increase in lockstep...that shows that combustion has slowed considerably due to less efficient combustion caused by only 1 mag operating...as a result the temp shown on the EGT increases. IF one EGT bargraph does not increase I know which mag in which cylinder is not operating properly and in concert with smooth operation on one mag have just tested the system completely.

In the old days of big arse radials they checked Mags at 'field barometric' which equates to 29 inches MP. At that power setting and with the instrumentation available in the old prop airliners you actually learned something...you don't learn much at 1700 rpm in a Cessna.

Last edited by Chimbu chuckles; 31st Oct 2006 at 09:50.
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