Congratulations! Enjoy your new ride!
Thanks all for the kind words.
The first flight alone in the Savannah was uneventful, the scenery was nice and “thanks” to 20-30kts headwind I was able to enjoy 3 hours in the air at an average GS of 52kts. Sparse data tracklog in FlySto here.
Bimbling along over a scenic part of Germany at car highway speeds
After some prior research I elected to fly to EDQP as a first stop over on the way home. This sleepy airfield is family owned and operated and has food + lodging on site. It is located right next to the Rosenthal porcelain manufactory.
EDQP “Tower”
Landing fee was 4€, hangar for the night was 8€ and a good portioned Schnitzel + a clean room was another 50€. The airport owner was nice enough to provide a jerry can and drive me to the next gas station to source some unleaded fuel.
Happy to rest after a long day that started at 5am…
The next day had good weather forecast until around noon, so I was off to an early start at sunrise, determined to make it home across the alps before bad weather would set in. I departed and headed straight for LOLW for another fuel stop. Again with headwind, again at 50kts avg. GS :) which meant 2:45 in the air. This plane is quite the hour builder.
The last leg of this ferry home would take me through the alps along the valleys (GAFOR routes), initially following highway A9 (Phyrnpass to Liezen), then a bit to the east to intercept the river Mur valley southbound.
Interesting to see all the traffic that was around me on this flight. Mostly gliders, but also a bizzer going into LOXZ.
I climbed to 7000ft at one time (contemplating a short cut) while worriedly keeping an eye on the fuel pressure gauge for it was steadily decreasing with increasing altitude. Normal it seems.
Apart from, again, a steady headwind component, the flight was smooth and easy and at 1:57 airtime it felt much shorter, almost like a quick hop.
And finally “home”, 3 flights, 8:40 block time, 7:56 airtime, 418 nm (acc. to FlySto 
)
To be continued.
Snoopy wrote:
I climbed to 7000ft at one time (contemplating a short cut) while worriedly keeping an eye on the fuel pressure gauge for it was steadily decreasing with increasing altitude. Normal it seems.
I haven’t noticed the correlation between altitude and fuel pressure, but it definitely decreases with increasing throttle, which is understandable.. Savannah’s have another surprise which might be a bit scary- if you go straight up to FL70-FL80,you might get a low fuel light . This is caused by air in the header tank expanding and triggering the light, usually goes away in 10-15min.
Thanks @ivark, good to know. I will keep an eye on it. Since I have a fuel flow indicator (“Fuel CAT”) installed this google search result might explain the low fuel pressure.
This engine had a fuel flow sender fitted behind the splitter to the return line but before the splitter to the two carbs.
The problem source relates to the carbs opening and closing the fuel inlet valves at the float bowls. Whenever one opened the pressure would drop as there was no reservoir to supply the fuel – everything had to first go through the flow sender which had a 2mm restrictor jet.
The very simple solution was to fit a small automotive fuel filter as reservoir between the carbs and the flow sender. This holds ample fuel to supply the instantaneous fuel demands from the carbs and also made the flow sender far more accurate. The fuel filter retains a small air pocket and this is under pressure and will expand to move fuel to the carbs and at the same time dampen the uneven flow in the flow sender.
After this the fuel pressure is rock steady at 0.4 bar.
They have also discussed the same phenomena at recreationalflying
Grea, thanks, that seems an even easier fix.
Snoopy wrote:
Thanks @ivark, good to know. I will keep an eye on it. Since I have a fuel flow indicator (“Fuel CAT”) installed this google search result might explain the low fuel pressure.
In my club we have noticed the same phenomenon with our new Rotax 912S-powered Evektor Sportstar RTC. A rather recent update to the engine manual states that a drop of fuel pressure below the minimum for not more than 10 seconds is considered normal. (Well, at least not abnormal.) Such events happen rather frequently and our flight instructors are annoyed as an audible alarm goes off every time, distracting the students.
There is no mention of this in the POH for that aircraft and I became a bit worried when this happened to me on the first leg of ferrying the aircraft from the factory to my home field. (The aircraft had at that time only been flown for an hour and a half by a factory test pilot before I took delivery.)
Unfortunately, as our aircraft is certified, we can’t just apply the simple fix suggested in Snoopy’s quote.
Snoopy wrote:
it is renowned as a STOL type able to take off and land in less than 100m (depending on the pilot’s skills, of course).
30 m is possible. Take off is really no issue, but landing is another matter. Still working on the 60 m “badge” The problem is probably more in the head. Landing at 30m requires an insane low approach speed that works against all instincts
Anyway congrats, and welcome to the Savannah club Upgrades are possible (mandatory? ) Vortex generators, 100+ hp and bigger wheels will do magic for STOL (obviously not for cruise speed though). I have the newer type, slightly changed airframe and MTOW 560 kg. It’s built for 4G (6 ultimate), a really sturdy little plane and can take more than 100 HP just fine. And of course all aluminium, easy to fix.
In my club we have noticed the same phenomenon with our new Rotax 912S-powered Evektor Sportstar RTC. A rather recent update to the engine manual states that a drop of fuel pressure below the minimum for not more than 10 seconds is considered normal. (Well, at least not abnormal.) Such events happen rather frequently and our flight instructors are annoyed as an audible alarm goes off every time, distracting the students.
In the POH of the Bristell B23, same engine, this is also mentioned. When switching off the aux fuel pump after take-off, one out of two times I get this warning and so far the pressure always restores to normal within 10 seconds. It’s indeed a little distracting, but less so if you expect it I guess. Only very rarely have I seen the fuel pressure drop momentarily in cruise. On the Sportstar, does this happen in cruise regularly or just after take-off?
aart wrote:
On the Sportstar, does this happen in cruise regularly or just after take-off?
I have seen it both in the climb and in cruise. It does not seem specifically connected to turning the aux fuel pump off.
