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    Re: A-10 Sextant Manual
    From: Gary LaPook
    Date: 2009 Jun 17, 11:24 -0700

    I would want to have a lot of hours of experience with the plane and
    accurate records of oil consumption. A new, tight engine can probably
    make it without a way to add oil but I would want to know that for
    sure based on the records. If you have to add oil between 25 hour oil
    changes your plane is probably not a good candidate for this flight.
    
    You should install a fuel totalizer so that you have accurate
    measurements of fuel flow and fuel consumed and remaining so you can
    make a good decision before the PNR. It will give you great peace of
    mind.
    
    It is also good to have an autopilot for such a long flight but not
    absolutely necessary and you will arrive very tired.
    
    gl
    
    
    On Jun 17, 5:55�am, Greg Rudzinski  wrote:
    > Terrific scenario fuel management analysis. In flight oil management
    > sounds a bit tricky. An engine with a lot of hours on it probably
    > wouldn't be up to the crossing. Looks like the cost is more
    > unreasonable than the risk ;-( and I already bought all the post
    > cards ;-)
    >
    > Greg
    >
    > On Jun 17, 4:58�am, Gary LaPook  wrote:
    >
    > > You can fly there in a Cessna 172. The closest airport is Monterey from
    > > which it is 2012 NM to Hilo on the Big Island. It isn't much farther
    > > from several other California airports, 2041 from San Luis Obispo; 2064
    > > from Santa Barbara; 2091 from Oxnard and 2096 from Camarillo. �I've
    > > heard that from the mainland to Hawaii is the longest non stop leg you
    > > must fly anywhere on earth but I haven't checked this out �myself. After
    > > Hawaii you can hop scotch across the Pacific with all the rest of the �
    > > legs less than 1500NM.
    >
    > > A Cessna 172 has a maximum gross weight of 2300 pounds, and an empty
    > > weight of about 1400 pounds leaving �a useful load of about 900 pounds.
    > > If the pilot weighs 200 pounds he can then carry 700 pounds of fuel.
    > > Look at the cruise performance table I posted before at:
    >
    > > http://www.geocities.com/glap...@pacbell.net/8.jpg
    >
    > > This shows that at 10,000 feet you can cruise at 96 knots on 45% power
    > > on a fuel flow of 5.4 gallons per hour which is the same as 32.4 pounds
    > > per hour. This means that you are getting a specific range of 2.96
    > > NAM/lb (Nautical Air Miles per pound.) 2012 NM divided by 2.96 NAM/lb
    > > gives a required enroute fuel of 679 lbs which means you could make the
    > > flight with a 21 pound fuel reserve and still stay within gross weight
    > > limitations. This would allow you to fly an additional 62 NM. The ETE is
    > > about 21 hours.
    >
    > > But, that might be cutting it a little too close.........!!
    >
    > > and it doesn't allow for taxi and climb fuel or for any headwind
    > > component. Plus the ferry tank would weight about 50 pounds. (You will
    > > need a form 337 for the ferry tank installation.) �But still no problem
    > > because it is easy to get a ferry permit from the FAA authorizing you to
    > > fly 10% over gross giving an additional 230 pounds of useful load. Take
    > > away the fifty pounds for the ferry tank and you still get to carry an
    > > additional 180 pounds of fuel giving you a total of 880 pounds of fuel,
    > > 201 pounds of fuel more than the enroute fuel, enough to allow a reserve
    > > of over six hours or for a total drift from a headwind of almost 600 NM.
    > > Since the maximum endurance will be 27 hours, this is enough to
    > > compensate for a 21 knot headwind component (but this would leave no
    > > reserve.)
    >
    > > So get the tank installed, get a ferry permit and wait for a day when
    > > the winds are forecast to have less than a 10 knot headwind component
    > > and go for it! This will still give you a reserve of 340 NAM and about
    > > 3.6 hours. With a half dozen, hundred dollar hand held GPSs sitting on
    > > top of the instrument panel the navigation is trivial and you will know
    > > your ground speed and position at all times. Compute an ETP and a PNR
    > > and make your decision to continue or to turn around _before_ the point
    > > of no return based on your ground speed and updated wind information
    > > from the weather briefer, oh you will need to rent an HF radio too. You
    > > will also need to make position reports to the FAA every five degrees of
    > > longitude through ARINC on the HF.
    >
    > > Actually one of the biggest problems is not fuel but oil consumption.
    > > The FARs limit the fuel capacity, and so the endurance of a plane, based
    > > on the allowable oil consumption of the engine type. Since the standard
    > > tanks in a C-172 don't allow an endurance of 27 hours, it is possible
    > > the engine could use up all the oil in the crankcase long before you run
    > > out of fuel. For a flight this long you might need to come up with a
    > > provision to add oil in flight and this is sometimes done with a hand
    > > held pump and a tube going through a hole in the oil filler cap.
    >
    > > Many, many small airplanes have made this trip and on to Australia so it
    > > is not an unreasonable risk to take. It will cost a whole lot more than
    > > an airline ticket. 100LL fuel is $4.60 at Monterery so the fuel alone,
    > > (21 hours at 5.4 g/h) is $521 to get to Hilo. Gas at Hilo is $5.46 so
    > > $619 �for the return fuel. Add to this your engine reserves and it gets
    > > expensive fast. If you could find someone to rent you a plane and allow
    > > you to tank it and take it to Hawaii, the going rate is about $110 per
    > > hour times 21 hours equals $2310 for one person on this one way trip,
    > > $4620 round trip! Hope you have won the lottery!
    >
    > > So, send me a postcard from Honolulu.
    >
    > > gl
    >
    > > Greg Rudzinski wrote:
    > > > Gary,
    >
    > > > A thrilling first hand story! Glad you survived to tell us ;-) There
    > > > was an episode of Magnum P.I. (TV) from the 1980s that featured one of
    > > > the characters flying a Cessna from Los Angeles to Honolulu. Is this
    > > > possible? Hollywood usually gets things wrong. If you were to fly from
    > > > California to Hawaii in a small airplane what plane could do it and
    > > > would it be an unreasonable risk?
    >
    > > > Greg
    >
    > > > On Jun 14, 1:56 pm, "glap...@pacbell.net"  wrote:
    >
    > > >> Mike Burkes ask me to give him more information concerning the engine
    > > >> quitting while I was flying across the Atlantic in a Cessna 172. Since
    > > >> I have already typed it up for him I figure I will bore you guys with
    > > >> the story too.
    >
    > > >> "I was ferrying a new C-172H to the Cessna distributor in Brussels in
    > > >> 1978. That was the model that Cessna switched from using a Continental
    > > >> engine to a Lycoming in the C-172. As in the past, the ferry company
    > > >> equipped the plane with a fifty gallon ferry tank placed on the floor
    > > >> where the co-pilots seat had been, that seat had been folded up and
    > > >> placed in the baggage compartment. The ferry tank was plumbed into a
    > > >> "T-fitting" in the fuel system downstream from the main fuel selector
    > > >> valve and had its own on-off valve.
    >
    > > >> Departed at midnight, IFR out of Newfoundland for the Azores as there
    > > >> was ice in the clouds all the way to Iceland on the northern route.
    > > >> Climbed to FL 100 on the main tanks then turned the main fuel valve
    > > >> off and the ferry valve on.
    >
    > > >> The first land you come to on that route is the island of Flores which
    > > >> is at the northwest end of the Azores chain, 1050 NM from
    > > >> Newfoundland. You can't land there but must continue to the airport on
    > > >> Santa Maria island at the far southeast end of the chain, about 400 NM
    > > >> further. I had flight planned 14 hours enroute with 16 hours of fuel
    > > >> onboard.
    >
    > > >> Shot some fixes during the first few hours to check ground speed and
    > > >> drift. About four or five hours into the flight (I don't have my notes
    > > >> with me) the engine stopped cold. That gets your attention. I lowered
    > > >> the nose to maintain flying speed and then the engine started running
    > > >> again. So I leveled off and the engine quit again. I went through
    > > >> several of these cycles and determined that the engine would run with
    > > >> the nose down but not in level flight so I kept the nose down, DUH! I
    > > >> thought this through and theorized that after the fuel had burned down
    > > >> to a certain point in the ferry tank, sitting next to me on the floor,
    > > >> that it did not supply enough fuel pressure to push the gas through
    > > >> the carburetor in the Lycoming engine although there had never been a
    > > >> problem with this ferry tank arrangement in earlier C-172s. So by
    > > >> lowering the nose I was raising the ferry tank higher above the
    > > >> carburetor supplying a greater head of fuel pressure and this got the
    > > >> engine going again.
    > > >> The only problem with keeping the nose down was that I was descending
    > > >> towards the Atlantic. When I got down to 2,000 feet (actually FL 020
    > > >> since the altimeter was set to 29.92, the standard practice over the
    > > >> ocean), as low as I dared to go without a local altimeter setting, IFR
    > > >> at night in the middle of the Atlantic, �I turned the ferry tank off
    > > >> and the main tanks back on and climbed back up to FL 100. I repeated
    > > >> this cycle three of four times (maybe it was five or six times, I
    > > >> don't remember right now), each time the engine would quit again and I
    > > >> would have to keep getting the nose lower and lower to get the engine
    > > >> to run again. I had to do this to get all of the fuel out of the ferry
    > > >> tank so I could make it to Santa Maria. �Finally the engine wouldn't
    > > >> keep running no matter how low I pointed the nose so I went back on
    > > >> the mains and completed the flight. I shot some sun lines as I
    > > >> approached Flores and hit it right on ETA. Then continued �on and
    > > >> landed at Santa Maria about fourteen and a half hours after departure.
    >
    > > >> There was no excitement on the 800 NM leg to Porto Portugal or on the
    > > >> leg across the Bay of Biscay to Nantes or on the last leg into
    > > >> Brussels.
    >
    > > >> After this they built a frame to hold the ferry tank about two feet
    > > >> above the floor and no more problems on later flights.."
    > > >> gl
    >
    > > >> On Jun 11, 8:21 am, Gary LaPook  wrote:
    >
    > > >>> I guess it all depends on your perspective. I have flown across the
    > > >>> Atlantic in a plane as small as a �Cessna 172, single engine, four
    > > >>> seats, (and had the engine quit a number of times in the middle of the
    > > >>> ocean in the middle of the night, whew!) while using my trusty A-10A to
    > > >>> shoot stars and the sun in order to find Flores in the Azores so as to
    > > >>> be able to refuel.
    >
    > > >>> gl
    >
    > > >>> douglas.de...@btopenworld.com wrote:
    >
    > > >>>> Regarding �Sir Francis Chichester:
    >
    > > >>>> Dr. Kolbe has it right.
    >
    > > >>>> I was referring not his astonishing navigation for which I have the very highest
    >
    > ...
    >
    > read more �
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