I just can't get over the efficiency and ease of flying, maintaining, handling this plane. 12.8 GPH / 210 knots true at 12,500. That is 19 MPG. At 15,500 speed goes down to 201 knots on 11.2 GPH. I have found the most efficient altitude is roughly 12,500. Seems to be the best balance of wing and power. Of course, at 18 GPH and 6500 ft I can get 220 knots, but that is not very efficient. The real advantage would be picking up a screamer tailwind at 16-18k burning 10 GPH.

I was still able to maintain a 1300 FPM climb at 12k and 125 knots indicated.

I can push it in and out of the hangar myself. I have now flown the plane 50 hours and have yet to do anything to the plane other than upgrade it. It is just one of those designs that is "right."

Spend more time flying that beautiful machine and less time worrying about one world currency.... We are not promised our next breath, nor are we really in control....

Peace Bro,
Don

Don,
I agree completely. Not worried about it at all, but I am concerned for those that believe the $ is their primary concern. We are going to see some serious changes. I am ready for them.

Are you glad you didn't sell it now? I'm surprised someone didn't jump on it while it was hot.

Hey Todd, that is one amazing plane and panel! Looking forward to seeing it at Max's fly-in.

It would be great if we were able to buy a certified production version with the same panel somewhere near the price of yours. I know, it won't happen but I'm not flying in anything I would build!

Nice, did you gain any speed with that new prop?

Prop added no speed that I could tell; however, can now descend at 295 knots indicated with the prop maintaining proper RPM.

It also is a smoother and has decreased the takeoff roll and increased climb rate.

I had an offer that was nearly my asking price, but I decided to keep it for now. I want to fly it with the new interior and make a few more trips to FL and the UP of MI. See you all at the Knoxville Fly-In!

Todd, recalling your mentioning that two GTN's were overkill, I thought I'd point out that my brand new GTN750 failed me in flight last night

about 8-10hours on it since new, and it lost GPS signal, then would only transmit on 121.5 with a MSG flashing of "Com needs service"

Luckily it was VMC, but just to test it out, I switched to the 650 and moved my HSI signal, everything worked as planned

I'll post a separate thread in panel talk so people think twice about trusting these things explicitly

I agree Brian! I have seen too many problems with the 750 to buy one let alone 2 of them. Instead, I feel that the single 650 is a much better solution. Don't forget, the G3X has a built in WAAS receiver along with full Nav database. I literally do not even use the 650 as the G3X is far easier to use since it sits right in front of you. If the 650 fails GPS I still have ILS with it. If it fails completely I still have the G3X and can shoot any GPS approach in the country - granted not legal, but in an emergency it does not matter. If both fail I can fly my iPhone to VFR weather. I also have a #2 comm that is nothing but a comm and that solves the issue of the all-in-one box failing taking out your comm as well.

what do you have your flight director bank angle set to?

what is/are your roll/pitch gain settings?

I will take some screen shots of my settings. There are gains for pitch and roll and also gains for IAS and VS as well if I recall.

Not sure about your question of the bank angle? Are you referring to the allowable bank angle for ESP?

I am pretty sure my settings are roughly 1.0.

the bank angle for the flight director

it defaults to 30deg, and at speeds, it was making my passengers nauseous, garmin recommends reducing it only for planes over 200KTAS, so I set it to 20deg and everything is much happier now

it rolls to a heading and captures it, before it would overbank, lose altitude, and then overshoot the heading, and then S turn back to capture it, really annoying, especially in turbulence or in the bravo

anyways, curious what you had your FD set to

not talking about ESP at all

AH, not sure. I will check. Whatever it is I do not want to change it. I have entered some approaches at 230 KIAS and fairly steep descent profiles and it is as smooth as glass with no variation in altitude. When using GPS approach it does a good job of anticipating the turn even at high speeds. I'm thinking mine is probably 20, but I will check.

right, because gps approaches use GPSS which means your GPS is calculating bank angle required, turns to a heading use the FD envelope which is different, it does not "calculate" bank angle, it goes to a limit and tries to roll out (With very little math behind it) from what i've seen, so that makes sense


let me know what your settings are, the pitch thing seems to be the part i lack tuning on, horizontal is "okay" for now