Lancairs are Magic Carpets

[George Wehrung]

We flew the VFR procedures 2013 when we moved our ES from San Diego to NC. Still memorable


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[Dan O'Brien]

Two and half years ago, I finished my ES, with superb assistance at the end from Steve Lorentzen on the hull, and from Matt Brannon and his guys Thomas and Manuel at Flight Metrics on the panel and prep for fist flight. Can’t say enough good things about all of you! In 2 1/2 years, I’ve flown my magic carpet coast to coast multiple times, with stops to visit friends and family along the way. I’ve got over 400 hours on the airframe in that short time. Amazing! I put the passenger warning in the pic of the Hobbs, because it’s comical for such an amazing platform. The other pic is at Bryce Canyon National Park, where I’m listening to country music as I type this. What a country. What a great platform. What a great community!

Happy and safe flying,
Dan



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[George Wehrung]

Well said Dan!


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[Ryan Riley]

Dan, that is very impressive you've flown that many hours! I'm happy if I hit 150/yr. Keep flying and making memories. I also love my ES. Made two trips from AZ-MT in 4.5 hrs non-stop...They are great XC machines.

[Rock Barchfeld]

Just wanted to put my two cents in, not because of a wonderful flight, but because my IV-PT continues to get the job done in style. Yesterday's flight was to get from Eagle River, Wisconsin to Put In Bay, Ohio.

As an aside, during my last visit to Turbine Power Tech Quenton discovered and corrected a miscalibrated torque sensor resulting in a LOT more power especially down low.

I'd been waiting for a nice, cool day to accomplish a max effort takeoff with the corrected torque meter. At 3800 lb gross weight, a density altitude of 650' and nice VMC weather, I wound her up. 99% N1, resulted 96% torque at 630 ITT. Initial climb rate was right at 3800 fpm, 140 kt climb to 10,000 AGL took 3 +23 min, transitioning to MCT and a 160 kt cruise climb had me level at FL 230 in 11 +12 min. I'll never get tired of that, (and could undoubtably do better with a little practice, and she had a little bit left in her).

About 15 min later I was crossing the western shore of Lake Michigan, in solid IMC, continuous light to moderate turbulence lasting all the way to my destination, deviations for weather, into a 65 kt headwind. Just not fun. Moderate ice in the descent from 11-8,000' was "one more thing", thankfully that TKS works quite well and the temps lower were above freezing. No instrument approach at PIB had me divert to Port Clinton OH, (7 miles away), with AWOS reporting 200' and 1/4 mile vis in rain & fog, after an approach to mins, all was right in my world. One hour later, a brief break in the weather, allowed me to make the 7-mile hop over to PIB under VFR rules and arrive in time for happy hour.

As a means of personal transportation, these things are hard to beat for what they cost. It would cost mega dollars to get as capable an aircraft in the certified world.

Now if someone could figure out how to keep that ice-cold water from dripping around the door when the door seal deflates, I'd be forever grateful.

Oh ya, tomorrow it's Chicago Executive to LaBelle FL, (for fuel before going to Marathon). ForeFlight is predicting 975 nm in 2+58 hrs on 100 gals of fuel. Magic carpet indeed.

[Dan O'Brien]

While I've also got the "slow" one (the ES -- but it's 180 kts ), I updated my great circle map to see where I've been since I finished and started flying in March 2022. I was a bit startled: 60,000 miles, 51 airports, crisscrossing most of the US. In the slow one, LOL. Looks like I have hubs at KTRK, KMRY, and KUBE. Obviously, I need to expand service to the pacific northwest, the central plains, and the south and southeast U.S. This year! Time to expand!

Happy and safe flying, and happy holidays everyone,
Dan

Dan

First 32 Months (N624LD).001.jpeg (118.62 KiB) Viewed 14862 times

[Ryan Riley]

Dan, I’m with ya on the “slow” family model. I think the ES is a pretty impressive plane. “If it fits, it flies” is pretty accurate. However, speed is the pilot Siren’s Song…hence folk with the turbines posting truly impressive TAS!

[Dan O'Brien]

Yeah, of course I'm jealous of Rock's IVPT numbers, which are amazing. And I wish I had deice. If I could wind back the clock, I think I'd probably build a IVP and put TKS on it. More things to worry about, but we always want to go faster and fly in more conditions, don't we. But if you look at the efficiency of our "slow" birds, we're faster than the normally aspirated Cirrus (I think we're the fastest of all fixed gear normally aspirated four place pistons, right?) at a much better cost of ownership. And our magic carpets fly and handle beautifully.

Happy and safe flying,
Dan

[Rock Barchfeld]

That was a cool map Dan posted, which got me wondering. The G-900X in my IV has an odometer function showing total miles traveled at 154,988. I am the third owner and contributed 82,480 nm to that total. Average ground speed has been 253, and for pure bragging rights the max ground speed is recorded at 659!
FWIW, I don't believe that last number either. My guess, is that GS was generated by a "map shift", where the GPS position was changed, probably by a WAAS update, over a very short period of time. A 100-foot change in position in a fraction of a second could generate a momentary very high ground speed.
Just a thought, and I'll never know for sure, but I reset the max GS and will see if it ever happens again.
Submitted for no particular reason, other than others might want to compare...

Rock