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Idle is low I hope?


Buckaroo

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1 hour ago, FlyingMonkey said:

Buckaroo, if you are not a member, joining rotax-owner.com is worth it.  It costs $35 a year, but you get access to some full length, very detailed videos on subjects such as carb syncing that you can't get elsewhere.  Plus the forums there have a lot of great information.  I just used one of their videos to do the oil system purge after finishing my hose change, and it was step-by-step and went wonderfully.

 

And like Roger said, a 1450rpm idle is very low.  Shoot for 1700-1800, that seems to work for most members here.  You should not taxi at idle at 1450, give it a little juice and get it up over 1600rpm.  Does your Dynon have the low rpm yellow arc programmed in?  That is there because of the gearbox chatter issue Roger mentioned, and it's good to have a visual reminder to stay above that on the ground.

Yes I joined that forum back in November when I got the CT. My seller guy made it clear to keep the revs up to save the argument of the prop to motor. When flying if I'm high I will pull the throttle back to idle but never mussel it back. That's not my style. I'm a machine kind of guy who appreciates smoothness as in adding power being very smooth and slow. I don't rack my shit! My wife slams the car door and I feel the pain!

Anyway the other day I got busy on the landing and let her go to pure idle and she quit. That's the second unexpected prop stop to date. ?

Thanks for your help Andy!

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34 minutes ago, Buckaroo said:

 I'd really love a Roger or Tom full service as honestly I'm getting hesitant to fly her with my wife! By myself who cares!?

No names just hopefully constructive observations for safety! 

 

Do it! You'll feel better about the plane. Also some dual from someone who knows CT's. Someone who knows the little quirks.

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8 hours ago, Roger Lee said:

Idle will have nothing to do with an engine issue so long as you stay at or above 1700 rpm. It doesn't effect any normal operations.

 

I plan to fly her but will include low rpm monitoring in my flight operations. 

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Because the prop is loaded by the airstream, it's really hard to get a CT in flight below 2000rpm.  So having your idle low should not contribute in any way to an in-flight engine stoppage.  It's really just a nuisance on the ground.  

Buckaroo, I don't think you should be hesitant to fly the airplane.  You now know about the fuel considerations that caused your engine stoppage, and the idle thing as discussed is not a safety of flight issue.  If you want to get a few more hours under your belt before taking your wife or other passengers again, that would probably build your confidence.  These are really reliable, safe airplanes, almost boringly so.  

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Andy is right with the exception of landing approach with a closed throttle.  My first flight in a CT was a dead stick landing because it stopped running on short final. I bring this up because once it happens you really want to hope you have the runway made and can uneventfully glide in.

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31 minutes ago, Ed Cesnalis said:

Andy is right with the exception of landing approach with a closed throttle.  My first flight in a CT was a dead stick landing because it stopped running on short final. I bring this up because once it happens you really want to hope you have the runway made and can uneventfully glide in.

What caused that dead stick situation?

Try landing in a fricking field! The forced landing is the easy part! Explaining you still had 8 gallons on board (as witnessed by my rescue team as that was the first fricking thing I grabbed their head to view the site tubes) is the tough part. 

Now I'm tagged as crash, sloppy, John Deer, plower etc. 

Im bound and determined to stay with this rig as I really love this airplane! 

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1 hour ago, Ed Cesnalis said:

Andy is right with the exception of landing approach with a closed throttle.  My first flight in a CT was a dead stick landing because it stopped running on short final. I bring this up because once it happens you really want to hope you have the runway made and can uneventfully glide in.

Are you sure that was due to your idle setting?  My airplane does not drop below about 1950rpm even with the throttle closed on short final at 50kt.  

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22 minutes ago, FlyingMonkey said:

Are you sure that was due to your idle setting?  My airplane does not drop below about 1950rpm even with the throttle closed on short final at 50kt.  

not sure, it was my CT demo ride first landing.  It was my first flight but not the first landing. It was my first deadstick.  I just restarted and we didn't even talk about it.

I guess because I had some Rotax background from the 90s it didn't even seem noteworthy.

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57 minutes ago, Buckaroo said:

What caused that dead stick situation?

Try landing in a fricking field! The forced landing is the easy part! Explaining you still had 8 gallons on board (as witnessed by my rescue team as that was the first fricking thing I grabbed their head to view the site tubes) is the tough part. 

Now I'm tagged as crash, sloppy, John Deer, plower etc. 

Im bound and determined to stay with this rig as I really love this airplane! 

It was my demo flight and I assumed it wasn't a big deal because I had a Rotax in the 90s.

I have landed in many fields but never forced (in my CT never forced)

I lost track of my fuel once over Death Valley (Eureka Valley) and for a few moments while being quite upset.  Not that I couldn't handle a forced landing in a desert valley but because I would be stranded and recovering the plane would be a hassle with the park service.  Before long I just leveled and allowed the sloshed fuel to return inboard where I could see it and I was back in command again but with a sick feeling in my stomach so I went home.

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34 minutes ago, ls6pilot said:

My idle speed is 1950. Should I change it?

It's kind of a personal choice.  Do you have any trouble when landing, getting a slow enough approach speed, coming down over obstacles, or floating in the last 20ft or so?  If not and you are happy with how it flies, I think it's okay.  It might be something you want to have brought down to 1750-1800rpm the next time you have maintenance done, but unless it's causing a problem I don't believe it's something that needs a trip to the mechanic for by itself.

I had an idle in that range for a while when I first got my CTSW.  I like how it flies now that it's about 1800rpm, but I didn't have any real problems at the higher rpm either.

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Rotax Owner strongly suggests 1800 rpm. I had mine at 2000 and thought "what difference will 200 rpm make?" but I ended up high on a couple of approaches. I suppose it changed what I was used to. It is back at 1800 now and the landings are what I expect.

 I would also suggest rotaxowner.com membership. A lot of good info there.

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7 hours ago, ls6pilot said:

My idle speed is 1950. Should I change it?

I find 2,000 to be good for taxi much of the time so 1950 would give me less fine control around other parked aircraft for one.

Makes a difference on a closed throttle approach/landing too.

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There is no perfect number. It's a range.

Set at 1650 if you want so long as you don't just sit there and idle. Use the lower rpm for shutdown. !650 -1800 will not cause an engine out during an approach at idle. Sometimes a lower idle will assist in slower taxi turns or not having to ride your brakes. The types of tires and pressures will impact this.

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On 5/27/2017 at 6:05 PM, Tom Baker said:

I like to see an idle speed of 1750-1800. you can set it lower if you want, but that has always worked well for me. 

Corey,  I was taught to use the slot as the stop instead of the idle stops on the carbs either during my initial Rotax training or my Flight Design factory training. After you get the balance and idle set that way then run the idle screw in until you can't slide a business card between  the idle screw and stop. That will leave a very small gap between the screw and stop, and it serves as a secondary stop at a slightly lower RPM if something changes.

Thanks for that.

It's extremely stupid, but it will work with what we've been given.

The problem I have with it resting against the back of the slot is we use flight design for flight training. It's going to wear the slot down and be more important to tighten the screws that hold that panel in place so it doesn't slide around. Now we're putting more stress on the rivnuts. I'd rather an adjustable stop be used because we can at least replace those.

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1 hour ago, Roger Lee said:

There is no perfect number. It's a range.

Set at 1650 if you want so long as you don't just sit there and idle. Use the lower rpm for shutdown. !650 -1800 will not cause an engine out during an approach at idle. Sometimes a lower idle will assist in slower taxi turns or not having to ride your brakes. The types of tires and pressures will impact this.

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We already know the fixes and right ways. Just ask the right people and do the correct work. There is  no magic here or special fixes. It's all straight forward and for the most part the same on all Rotax aircraft engines. It's all in the manuals.

If you allow an untrained of ill informed person to do your work then you may get what you paid for. All the info you need is in the manuals or right here on the forum.

The manual stop in the cockpit for the throttle should contact that surface at the same time the idle stop screw on the carb contacts its stop.

 

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10 hours ago, Buckaroo said:

Many of these questions and topics would be cool if FD would kick in a few recommendations and solutions! 

Im wondering if Tom at FD is even involved anymore??

Yes Tom is still involved. I spoke with him a few months ago.

 

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Ok,

Just thinking out loud here. If one wanted to decrease idle from 1950 to 1800 without doing a full idle sync  what would the procedure be? I did join rotax owners and watched the carb sync video.

Thanks in advance

Rich

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