200 Knot Club In The RV-9A

By Ed Wischmeyer

Today's "plan" was to take an almost private pilot for a ride in the RV-9A as weather and schedules have been conspiring against her getting her last 3.7 hours solo for PPL. This flight wouldn't count towards her license, but she wanted to at least get off the ground, and this would be a chance to see a different airplane.

Curious weather in Savannah: for the last two or three days, surface winds have been 10G20, 15G25, and 20G30. And early this morning, a very skinny front came blasting through with Rotate LE but brief rain. Surface winds today were forecast at 10 knots or less, unusual for post-frontal winds.

Per the norm, I called flight service and asked for NOTAMs (none), TFRs (none), and winds at 3 (15 kt) and 6 (42 kt!). Pretty unusual, so I got on the iPhone and checked winds aloft. 50+ at 9,000, so maybe today would be the day...

We saddled up the RV-9A and headI ed upwind. I had chosen Claxton airport as the "destination" so that departure control would have some idea where we were going, other than "west." I also told them we were not going to land there. Flying directly upwind would have taken us into a hot Restricted Area, but it looked like we could fly directly downwind from Claxton with no airspace encumbrances.

I had her fly a bit with her arm resting on her leg. She was reluctant to grab the stick below the grip with two fingers and a thumb, but did so, questioningly. With that grip and stick position, there was no overcontrolling, but she was still amazed how much lighter and more responsive the RV-9A was than the C172. A little ways short of Claxton, I told her to start a climb at 110 knots and I told ATC we were going to explore the winds aloft. Smooth air came at 3,700 feet, whereas normally smooth air would have been 2,000 feet lower.

The winds aloft peaked at 6,200 feet, but we kept climbing to 7,500 feet, just to make sure. It was real handy to read off the winds aloft in heading and speed, whereas I normally display headwind and crosswind components.

I called ATC and told them we wanted to go eastbound at 6,500 feet, normally a westbound altitude, and they approved. I'd previously flown full throttle and full RPM at 9,000 feet, but not at this altitude.

When things settled down: 147 KIAS, 165 KTAS, 215 GS. 23.1" MP, 2670 RPM, 1395° max EGT, 76% power, 11.4 GPH. All this with a 160 HP engine and a Hartzell constant speed prop. No cheating with an oversized engine, not that bigger engines actually buy you that much speed.

We had a great time, set a new personal best groundspeed, and burned maybe six gallons, 0.9 hours logged.

I know my F-22 nephew might not be impressed, but for the rest of us..

This year may be the last chance to watch the Reno Air Races. From airrace.org, "It is with heavy hearts that we write this to let you know that, after nearly 60 years of air racing in northern Nevada, 2023 will be the last National Championship Air Races at the RenoStead Airport. While we knew this day might eventually come, we had hoped it wouldn't come so soon. Citing the region's significant growth amongst other concerns, the Reno Tahoe Airport Authority has made the decision to sunset the event."

Somehow, I've never attended. My loss.

A gorgeous, cool spring day, not a cloud in the sky, light winds, perfect to go practice air work.

Got to the hangar, pushed the Up button on the door controller and... nothing.

Seems as how in the remodeling of the airfield, a contractor was digging a trench with a backhoe and grabbed on to a power line some distance away. Nevertheless, there was enough pull on the wiring to dislodge all the circuit breakers the box for 10 hangars is in mine and to tear a hole in the hangar wall. And there's bits of plastic on the floor both inside and outside the hangar. Good news iS that they got everything fixed in 12 hours. But I missed a flying day.

Longtime EAA Homebuilt Aircraft Chief Judge Bob Reece died this past month. He had been EA's Homebuilt Aircraft Chief Judge for at least the last 30 years, training and maintaining a cadre of a judges who absolutely could not be fooled by slick paint jobs or fancy upholstery.

He and got along well, with smiles and jocularity. He did have his stubborn streak and refused to budge on some issues. No surprise, that rubbed a number of people the wrong way, but everybody, absolutely everybody, respected his integrity. That's what I found most impressive about him. And he was my friend.