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Posted (edited)

Just wanted to introduce myself. 

My name is Gary. Had a Cessna Aerobat for 14 years before I sold it and bought my KF IV in 2000.  I have been flying it for 20 years now. It has a Rotax 912S, IVO Medium prop, and more often than not sits on top of Aerocet 1000 Amphib floats.  Last fall I took the fuse apart and pretty much rebuilt it.  I got it back in the air only a week ago.  It will go up on the floats again in June.  I will rebuilt the wings this winter...as I have the smaller fuel tanks and want to put in the larger ones.  I will never sell it, as nothing else IMHO can provide so much affordable fun. 

I live in the Muskoka region of Ontario, about an hour and a half north of Toronto.  I moved up here a couple of years ago and took a job with Orillia Aviation Aviation as a bit of a retirement plan.  I have thousands of lakes to land my Kitfox on, and when not flying it I get to talk airplanes all day long with customers who also fly on floats.  Our airport was bought a couple of years back by a developer out of Toronto, and the renovations have been extensive. New maintenance facility, 30 new hangers, longer runway, a water aerodrome, 2 charter companies serving 5 outpost camps, a restaurant you can take your wife to, a paint shop, a flight school and a marina that has been turned into a water aerodrome.  When not flying the KF I get to do ferry flights in customer aircraft or one of our 14 float planes, including 3 piston Beavers.  Doubt I will ever get to fly the Turbo Beaver..but hey..over the winter I get to fire it up once a month to keep it serviced.  I am truly blessed.  If you are ever in the area...once travel bans are lifted of course, please look me up. 

I have participated in other Kitfox forums over the years, and some of the Facebook groups. but not a regular on this one. I have heard about it, and benefited from several posts.  I have 1000 hours on my KF now.  Hope to be able to answer questions when I can, and get support when I cannot.

Cheers,

Edited by kitfoxjunky
typo
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Posted


Very cool I do like Canada My wife and I spent some time there last year. I watched alot of float planes by Vancouver and visited with the Sea to Sky air company in Squamish Everybody was so friendly.

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Posted


Welcome to the dark side.  Don't ever be afraid to post up about any flying adventures here, we like to talk about anything that defies gravity here.

 

:BC:

 

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Posted

Hi Gary,  welcome to the group.  It seems like you are in a very nice place up there.  Enjoyed the videos as well.  JImChuk

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Posted (edited)

Hey Gary,

 

Welcome , it's nice to have another member out of Canada..I am in the Vancouver area. Nice Kitfox. 

I do have a question for you. I see you are cruising at 5100rpm / 102Mph / 29.0 in manifold and you're using a variable pitch prop. The way I understand this it seems to mee you are operating at too much blade angle for the given RPM giving you a higher manifold pressure which induces stress to the engine according to rotax. At a cruise power setting of 75% it should give you 5000rpm / 26 in manifold (this does not apply to fixed pitch prop...) Please let me know what's your opinion as I am also operating the 912. See the rotax table below. 

Am i misunderstanding this table??

 

Thank you for your valuable input

Screen Shot 2020-05-01 at 1.33.53 PM.png

Edited by flywise
correction

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Posted


Very cool I do like Canada My wife and I spent some time there last year. I watched alot of float planes by Vancouver and visited with the Sea to Sky air company in Squamish Everybody was so friendly.

Where are you from TJay?

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Posted

Hey Gary,

 

Welcome , it's nice to have another member out of Canada..I am in the Vancouver area. Nice Kitfox. 

I do have a question for you. I see you are cruising at 5100rpm / 102Mph / 29.0 in manifold and you're using a variable pitch prop. The way I understand this it seems to mee you are operating at too much blade angle for the given RPM giving you a higher manifold pressure which induces stress to the engine according to rotax. At a cruise power setting of 75% it should give you 5000rpm / 26 in manifold (this does not apply to fixed pitch prop...) Please let me know what's your opinion as I am also operating the 912. See the rotax table below. 

Am i misunderstanding this table??

 

Thank you for your valuable input

Screen Shot 2020-05-01 at 1.33.53 PM.png

I am running a IVO Medium fixed pitch prop. Years ago I  had a CAP 140 variable pitch that came apart in flight.  I left the prop control and MP gauge on the panel as I thought at some point I might be putting the electrics on it to be able to change the pitch. I never did that as the plane performs so well it does not need it. I should have removed the switch from the panel, but never did.   I set the prop to get 5800 RPM at takeoff at full throttle. My airspeed reads high by about 5 mph, verified many times via GPS.  If I remember correctly I removed the MP T connection...so it is reading ambient pressure...which is why it is at 29".  I am redoing the panel and will toss that instrument.  I prefer having something vs an open hole for now.  Cheers.

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Posted


Welcome to the dark side.  Don't ever be afraid to post up about any flying adventures here, we like to talk about anything that defies gravity here.

Thanks. Never been to Alaska. Here its nice. Cheers. 

:BC:

 

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Posted

Hey Gary,

 

Welcome , it's nice to have another member out of Canada..I am in the Vancouver area. Nice Kitfox. 

I do have a question for you. I see you are cruising at 5100rpm / 102Mph / 29.0 in manifold and you're using a variable pitch prop. The way I understand this it seems to mee you are operating at too much blade angle for the given RPM giving you a higher manifold pressure which induces stress to the engine according to rotax. At a cruise power setting of 75% it should give you 5000rpm / 26 in manifold (this does not apply to fixed pitch prop...) Please let me know what's your opinion as I am also operating the 912. See the rotax table below. 

Am i misunderstanding this table??

 

Thank you for your valuable input

Screen Shot 2020-05-01 at 1.33.53 PM.png

I am running a IVO Medium fixed pitch prop. Years ago I  had a CAP 140 variable pitch that came apart in flight.  I left the prop control and MP gauge on the panel as I thought at some point I might be putting the electrics on it to be able to change the pitch. I never did that as the plane performs so well it does not need it. I should have removed the switch from the panel, but never did.   I set the prop to get 5800 RPM at takeoff at full throttle. My airspeed reads high by about 5 mph, verified many times via GPS.  If I remember correctly I removed the MP T connection...so it is reading ambient pressure...which is why it is at 29".  I am redoing the panel and will toss that instrument.  I prefer having something vs an open hole for now.  Cheers.

Thanks, now that all makes sense :)

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