Another flight thus morning while somewhat cool and density altitude not to high, field elevation 450 ft and DA is 1850 ft, yesterday aft saw DA as high as 3400 ft. All performed as expected but had a good wind out of southwest. It is always fun to fly with plane pointed 45 degrees from path of travel, saw as low as 14 mph on GPS and as high as 57. Made a decent landing even
Something low time pilots and lots of Ultralite flyers have little or no knowledge of is Density Altitude. Where we used to fly, Oakdale California, density altitude did not play much difference in day to day flying but here in East Texas at T25 it is a big difference. Our field elevation is 450 ft, this morning density altitude is already 2231 ft. This means to go flying in my Legal Eagle it is seeing takeoff at 2231 ft, not 450 ft. Longer takeoff run, slower climb, higher stall speed, slower cruise speed, less engine hp, less dense air for wings to lift with. During middle of hot humid days density altitude can approach 4,000 ft, on those days low hp eagles may not even leave the ground and the higher hp ones my only climb 150 fpm in place of 500 fpm. Remember if you start off with density altitude of 2231 and climb 1000 ft your density alt will be 3231, not 450 plus 1000 or 1,450 ft.
If you have flown on a cold winter day and noticed your machine flying like a rocket and then flown on a hot summer day and wondered why it is so sluggish, you are experiencing changes in Density Altitude. Learn everything you can about this Density Altitude thing because it affects every aspect of your flying.
Beautiful Morning above AeroEstates T25 with ORV and the BSV23. Track from Foreflight 3600 engine rpm equal 38 mph on the ASI at WOT climb at 41 mph at 240 FPM
Leonard Milholland has been funding the research into the possibility of the Briggs and Stratton Vanguard 23 as a replacement for the small horsepower 1/2VW engine. Check with him at betterhalfVW.com or his youtube channel at Leonard Milholland youtube to find out more. We are planning on being at Oshkosh in the Fun Fly Zone. I will be there and Leonard will be their with Legal Eagle XL ORV. Come talk with us. Leonard has a forum on Tuesday and Wednesday Regards the Engines and the Legal Eagle and I have a forum on Friday regarding shooting and processing video. ORV and I will be there all week. My youtube channel http://youtube.com/c/leshomanlegaleaglexl
Leonards youtube channel http://youtube.com/channel/UCkfPgVVHwfi2FSZJY6u6_-g
This morning in the dew covered grass Legal Eagle ORV and the Briggs and Stratton Vanguard 23 left the runway behind and spent some time overhead in the perfect early morning light. Very smooth and a great flight.
Took off in Legal Eagle SR 7-1/2 this morning at about same time and conditions as yesterday’s in Legal Eagle ORV with the Briggs and Stratton Vanguard 23. Good chance to compare t/o observations. The Verner is 42 hp. We were off ground in about 75% of distance, initial part of climb and t/o similar, as i climbed out seeing 375 to 400 fpm, flight speed faster. Comparing I would guess flight performance of the BSV23 comparable to 28 or 30 hp 1/2VW. Nothing wrong about that. Because of my size, weight, i have always stayed with the higher hp engines. A normal weight pilot should do fine with the 28 or 30 hp with exception of high altitude flying field.
With the heat, it slows me down, i am getting started on The Oshkosh adventure for 2022. Will be taking ORV with the Briggs and Stratton engine. Still have lots to do between now and mid July at which time ORV will be loaded in the Jayco Toy hauler and it’s off to the north and land of the cooler weather.
#http://youtube.com/c/leshomanlegaleaglexl
Saturday dawned as a beautiful day, it has been a while since i have been able to just fly, seems like the wind here has been above normal and my time has been limited so today I was going to make up some flying time. Winds at take off were showing about 6 mph, according to winds on my foreflight program at surrounding airports, none were showing much over 10 mph at 3000. Take off in Legal Eagle XL SR 7-1/2 was uneventful, took off to the west, as soon as we were above the trees, to stay on heading had to make a big turn to the south, flying 30 degrees pointed south to go west, my initial thought was to fly south to Palestine and fill up. After turning south and observing the Forefight GPS showing 17 mph decided to give that thought up. When i was pointed north showing 73 mph on GPS. Decided to go back and land, beautiful day and short flight but lots of fun.
Legal Eagle Flying Adventures 