Would You Fly Over the Sierra with Aerovee

[ccm]

It would also be interesting to know how many people have suffered partial or total engine failure with the AeroVee and what the causes were. As someone who is just a few months from my first flight behind an AeroVee this would be useful information to know.

[radfordc]

It would also be interesting to know how many people have suffered partial or total engine failure with the AeroVee and what the causes were. As someone who is just a few months from my first flight behind an AeroVee this would be useful information to know.

I can offer a couple of examples. The first problem was when a couple of cylinder hold down studs failed. They actually pulled the case savers out of the crankcase. The #2 cylinder lost all compression. The engine continued to run well enough to get me back to the airport. I believe that the failure was due to improper torque on the studs. When I disassembled the engine I found one stud that had the threads stretched noticeably.

The second time the prop hub failed in flight. This was due to the engine suffering two prop strikes during the first 50 hours of operation. The hub failed at about 150 hours.

[NWade]

I believe that the failure was due to improper torque on the studs.

The second time the prop hub failed in flight. This was due to the engine suffering two prop strikes during the first 50 hours of operation.

I'm not quoting Radford in order to place blame. But given some recent posts on the site about VW-based engines, I am highlighting these statements because its important to note that both failures had an explanation that is unrelated to the engine design/engineering.

Both were issues in the assembly and operation of the engine. Over-torquing of bolts and fatigue-cracks due to pro-strikes can happen with any engine - be it a VW, a Jab, a Rotax, or anything else.

--Noel

[mike.smith]

The question is just simply how much do you trust your engine. That goes for any engine. I have 70+ hours on my AeroVee and I will admit I'm still a little nervous, but not because of the design or engineering. It's proven; it works. I'm a little nervous because "I" built it! After scratch building my Sonex I have faith that I can learn to do new things, but nobody is perfect, and you can't pre-flight the insides of your engine before you fly (I do do oil analysis at each oil change). So I am cautiously optimistic about my engine. I do plan to start flying longer trips this spring, and out to OSH this July.

But to put that in perspective, I have 400 hours behind Continentals and Lycomings. I have a tremendous number of night flying hours. I flew a LOT of single engine night flights, and even night IFR in the clouds in those single engine airplanes. But I have a family and many responsibilities that I didn't have back then. So although I may still fly a little single engine night, I will have to give it a long hard look, and ask if I really need to before I do. And that has nothing to do with the AeroVee. To me it is just as much a risk to fly those Continentals and Lycomings at night.

So to answer the original question, I personally would weigh my AeroVee and those Continentals and Lycomings equally in making the decision to fly over the Sierras.

As for the AeroCarb, it is what it is. For the majority of us it works perfectly well if you follow the instructions and take the time to dial it in. For some that takes longer than others. I imagine the tolerances on the AC and its needles is not down to the 1,000th of an inch, and so no two are exactly alike. Again, that's just the nature of the beast. If you don't like the thought of that, it's perfectly fine to use a carb you feel better about. Make yourself feel happy and safe. I spent a good bit of time fiddling with one needle, when I should have tried another needle sooner than I did. Once I got it dialed in, that was it. Unless you change something else on the engine, or the weather changes drastically, you should not have any issues with it. I dialed in my AeroVee back in Aug/Sept when the weather was hot and humid. I have not made any changes to the carb since then, and I've been flying in temps around 15 F. I make some different adjustments with the mixture knob, but nothing drastic, and it all works fine. I've been up to 10,000' MSL so far and it works just as well up there as down at sea level. That's just my experience. Your mileage may vary. :)

[fastj22]

A poorly adjusted Aerocarb is probably not going to bring you down, it will just make your engine not run as well as it should. And if your engine isn't running well, you have no business taking it into the mountains. Before a trip to San Antonio, I adjusted my Aerocarb for anticipation of operating out of 1000ft instead of 7000ft. I fought mixture issues the entire trip. Just now getting them back in the groove. Its a touchy beast.

[Fastcapy]

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[johnr9q@yahoo.com]

Sounds like the biggest problem would be unanticipated downdrafts. Can these be predicted by keeping an eye on weather forecasts or can they occur in any weather? If you flew the Sonex as high as it could fly would it be able to overcome these downdrafts? Sorry about the naive questions but I am not a pilot, just looking into a Sonex. I would fly the I80 corridor and there is an airport in Truckee and Blue Canyon. If I had engine failure would I be able to make these airports if I was flying at 12,000 feet?

[SvingenB]

I am currently flying behind the aerocarb, and it is running decent enough to get me in the air, but I still dont have the confidence in it where I would take it somewhere I couldn't put it down safely if need be.

Is this due to the aerocarb alone, or the whole engine as a unit? If it's the aerocarb, why not change it to something else?

I think this varies from person to person. Some won't fly behind anything but Lycoming/Continental, others won't fly anything that don't have two turbines.

[Fastcapy]

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[gammaxy]

Yes, just the Aerocarb alone.

Aren't you based at KOSH? Any reason why the factory can't help with your Aeroinjector issues? If I were them, I'd be interested in seeing one of those difficult-to-tune aeroinjectors that they no doubt hear about fairly often.

I had tuning troubles that went away after I removed a fuel flow sensor and reset to the original #2 needle settings. I think I also kept tuning lean making my problem worse and worse between flights. Interestingly, I was able to get every needle I tried to run well at WOT at the expense of being mistuned at idle.