Menu Sign In Contact FAQ
Banner
Welcome to our forums

What's the maximum range of your plane?

Ibra wrote:

If not going anywhere: 2000rpm LOP that gives about 100kias on 5.5gph (20LPH), most of my slow cruise is 55%: I do 2200rpm LOP that settles about 115kias on 6.0gph (24LPH)

Ok, so I assume those are also low level, where IAS is near TAS.

55% with 6 GPH and 115 KIAS would be a neat 125 KTAS @ 5000 ft and 135 KTAS @ 10’000 ft PA. Pretty cool.

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

55% with 6 GPH and 115 KIAS would be a neat 125 KTAS @ 5000 ft and 135 KTAS @ 10’000 ft PA. Pretty cool.

It is lovely, even at 2000ft you will hit 120kts on 6gph about 20mpg

Last Edited by Ibra at 31 Jan 15:00
Paris/Essex, France/UK, United Kingdom

On the helicopter side, the R66 has optional auxiliary fuel tanks which are installed in the baggage compartment and can be installed/removed in just 15 minutes. The small version is 23.2 US gals and the large version is 43.0 US gals. The R66’s main tank holds 73.6 gals, so with the large version extender tank installed, you can fly 4.9hrs cover 567nm and still have 20minutes in reserve – not bad for a light helicopter.

United Kingdom

I’d love to get one of those 23.2 USG tanks for my baggage compartment… looks really cool and would mean 2.5 hours of flying.

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

Don’t Mooneys have in-wing long-range tank upgrades available? Like http://www.monroyaero.com/lrupgad.pdf and https://mooneyspace.com/topic/42899-monroy-fuel-tanks/

ELLX

They do, it’s 50h work to get STC, you get +60% range on M20C

LR

You lose accurate fuel calculations from fuel calculator and indication only works when fuel goes into mains but you are not running dry with 1800nm range

Ovation LR STC gives 2400nm: probably max 1pob in aircraft and you can’t land right after takeoff unless the pilot weights 30kg

Last Edited by Ibra at 01 Feb 15:55
Paris/Essex, France/UK, United Kingdom

lionel wrote:

Don’t Mooneys have in-wing long-range tank upgrades available? Like http://www.monroyaero.com/lrupgad.pdf and https://mooneyspace.com/topic/42899-monroy-fuel-tanks/

Yes they do. José Monroy developed these and they have been very popular. In the later models such as the Ovation, they were a factory option.

What they do is to seal 2 compartments adjacent to the normal fuel tanks and add 36 US gallons to whatever fuel capacity the airplane has. It is available for all models from the C model up to the Acclaim.

Ibra wrote:

You lose accurate fuel calculations from fuel calculator and indication only works when fuel goes into mains but you are not running dry with 1800nm range

You loose accurate fuel indication. I am not sure what you mean with fuel calculator, but any fuel computer can handle the increased fuel load, it just needs re-programming. Not sure how the G1000 or other EICAM having fuel gauges would handle it though.

Ibra wrote:

Ovation LR STC gives 2400nm: probably max 1pob in aircraft and you can’t land right after takeoff unless the pilot weights 30kg

This differs largely depending on the model. For the Ovation the saying went that with full fuel with the LR tanks you need an infant with a PPL to fly it. I don’t have actual figures handy so I can only comment on factory figures. Those tend to be optimistic where empty weight is concerned.

In practice, whatever full fuel payload the airplane has, Monroy tanks with 36 USG will convert about 100 kgs of that into fuel.

On my C Model I got a normal full fuel payload of 266 kgs and a Monroy full fuel payload of 168 kgs. That would still be enough for 2 standard adults and some 20 kgs of luggage. The normal range of a C model is about 650 NM, with Monroy tanks we are talking 1150 NM at 140 kts.

A J Model (201) from my database would end up with about 130 kg payload but increase it’s range from 900 NM to about 1500 NM at 155 kts.

Ovations have a massive fuel load to start out with 95 USG / 89 usable. Adding 36 USG would bring up the load to 131 USG of which 125 usable. That is 786 lb. The usual max useful load an Ovation has is around 1050 lb, so the remaining load with full fuel would be somewhere around 270 lb or 122 kg. This figure however is a factory figure so it is not unlikely that actual Ovations are heavier in empty weight. With that fuel, the Ovation can fly up to 2400 NM, albeit not with 190 kts but about 160 kts.

I do recall a guy who owned an Ovation with LR tanks and flew regularly from Switzerland to the Canaries or Morocco and back non-stop. Several Ovations also flew the Azores route from the US to Europe.

I recall talking to a guy who flew an Acclaim Ultra with LR tanks and he said the max payload with full fuel was below 100 kgs. They hardly ever needed the range (about 1600 NM if I recall correctly).

Last Edited by Mooney_Driver at 01 Feb 22:27
LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

With the effort involved in getting into and out of a single door plane, it’s not surprising people don’t want to do it too often, especially as they get older

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

In the PA46 Jetprop with 160 gallons capacity, that gives you 5 hours to fumes. Fuel calculation is dead simple – 40 gallons first hours, each subsequent hour is 30 gallons. I get extremely nervous landing with less than about 30 gallons, so that works out to 4 hours, just under 1,000NM. Tho in reality I rarely fly more than 850NM. Enough to get me from SW England to Northern Croatia.

Upper Harford private strip UK, near EGBJ, United Kingdom

An example from the homebuilt class:
Vans RV10 with dual fuel tanks can take up to 120 gallons. Assuming gross weight cruise performance at 170 -175 KTS and 11-11,5 gph fuel burn, one could plan for 1700-1800 NM range with no reserves.
Standard configuration is built with 60 gallons fuel tanks

Poland
Sign in to add your message

Back to Top