Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes Questions re 1974 150L

"I'm curious to know what RPM do you normally cruise at?"

It depends on the "mission"! If I'm just boring holes on a local flight at 2,500' msl or less (Florida), I really don't pay much attention to the tach. I pull her back to what "feels" right, usually around 2500 or so I guess, lean her out a little, and trim for level flight. I leave the ground with full tanks, and land with most of it still onboard! The only "numbers" I worry much about are max and min limits, to keep me out of trouble. I make note of indications for future reference, but anywhere in the middle generally keeps me satisfied, so I can sit back and enjoy the flight! I like to keep my head outside, and don't enjoy "pinning" the numbers when it's not necessary! Fuel consumption is calculated (a guess) according to time aloft, rarely over an hour and a half. I use the always inaccurate fuel guages only to reassure me that I don't have a massive leak!

Flying cross country is serious business, though, especially when you're stretching it! The numbers become paramount! I cross-check ground speed, range, and endurance constantly during the flight, to make sure I can make an alternate with plenty of reserve.

When planning a cross-country flight, I use the POH numbers for range and endurance less 20% to allow for takeoff, climb, and reserve, with range adjusted for predicted winds aloft.

At altitudes above 7,500 feet, even max throttle can't yield more than 73% power on our O-200's, so aggresive leaning is appropriate and needed. I true out at about 120 mph @ 5.5 gph when properly leaned (this can vary slightly from one 150 to another). Knocking 100 rpm off max gives me about 5.0 gph, and still around 115 mph true, increasing my range and endurance if needed. If I could stand seeing the IAS around 85 mph (about 100 mph TAS @ 7,500'), with the tach at 2400 rpm I could see less than 4.0 gph and well over a 500 mile range in no wind. It's all relative! Most pilots can't stand seeing IAS drop off, and pay the penalty in fuel bills!

"I had experienced higher than expected head winds which taught me to keep track of fuel in terms of time instead of miles."

I think most instructors need to stress this more than they do! Winds aloft won't affect your fuel flow, but can drastically affect time enroute and range. That's why fuel flow is measured in GPH (relative to time aloft ... get it?)

Hey Dave! I'm no expert! With higher than predicted headwinds, I once landed at my alternate and took over 23 gallons in my 150's STANDARD tanks, so I learned, too! I had just bought the unfamiliar plane, I wasn't leaning aggressively enough, and I didn't have a gps onboard for easy cross-checking. Licensed to learn!

GPS and a fuel flow computer are 2 of the greatest tools I ever added to my plane.
Both going to and coming home from Clinton it was so nice to be able to look at the ETE on the GPS then check the time remaining on the FS-450 and see how much time I would have left upon landing at my destination. A wonderful reassurance as to how the flight was progressing and not having to do the calculations myself allowed me to enjoy the flying more.

David,

Would you please elaborate on your reasoning for choosing the FS 450?

If anybody else has a recommendation or opinion, please feel free to chime in also.

Thanks bunches!

Biil,

I don't know if you frequent other forums or not,, JPI as a company doesn't get much for good reviews. Hardly any at all.

E.I. seems to get all of the good reviews. I know that for service and anything like that, Mathew over at EI can't be beat. I've tried to contact JPI many times but for some reason they are too busy for a little owner like me. Which is why I went with EI instruments versus JPI.

It had the right feature set for the price, the ability to interface with a GPS, which I hope to do but haven't done. JPI offered a $150 rebate after Oshkosh last year which was good timing for me. I'd heard from a few people who had them and liked them.

I was really only looking for fuel flow and not interested in full blown monitoring system. I think I looked at something EI offered but don't remember why I decided not to go with them. Lots of stuff from last year is a blur.

Thanks Lionel. This goes and proves that you simply cannot go to one source and expect to always get the correct answer. I was just researching the Piper Owner's Society [forums.piperowner.org] forum and the general consensus leaned towards JPI. If some of you want an interesting read, you may want to check this out. Reps from both EI and JPI participate, and it's not exactly a friendly exchange.

Initially, the EI caught my eye because it has an auxiliary channel available. The way I would utilize this would be to incorporate the fuel pressure with this auxiliary channel and install the fuel flow meter in it's place. Handy! The GPS interface looks interesting. May have to research that a bit more.

Please keep the opinions and recommendations coming?

Added related note!

For any fuel calculations to be accurate, you must start out with a known quantity of fuel! Preferably topped off tanks. Any less and you may be riding on borrowed time. A lesson relearned this past weekend!!

Boy quite the article, I'd say it's safe to assume both systems work well, I've got the UBG-16 with data recorder, Carb temp module, and the RPM module. I also have the FP-5L with egt monitoring and it's been interfaced with my Garmin GPS. I also have the RPM, Volts/Amps, oil pressure/temp. Yes, the panel dimming and hooked to warning indicators. I did most if not all of the work, IE wiring and setups,, "under the watchfull eye of my AME. I've downloaded, flipped and tracked and you name it with the data recorder. I've found these puppies to be very easy to install and about as simple to figure out as shifting gears in a car. I would imagine the JPI stuff is as simple to install as I've looked over the install manuals for them as well. Probably the analogy would be Fords versus Chevs. The reason that i went with the EI's as compared to JPI's, it boiled down to customer service. When I was doing some research to determine which ones to go with,, EI was very helpfull, whiles JPI was like trying to talk to someone about the MX 300 navcoms. I think we know what thats like. Yep, I've since punted the MX and have gone with a Narco,,

Anyways Bill, both probably work as well as each other, and both probably fail as often as each other. Just like Fords and Chevs,, Pick the one that you like,, and go for it,, either way, for the info you get from them, they are very worth it,,

Bill,

I have EI instruments in my Cherokee and several other folks on the field have both. I can't comment on which is superior. When in the Cardinal Flyers Group, the JPI generally got the nod as the recommended unit, but I don't remember any particular grounds other than they gave the biggest "group discount". I have talked to the folks at EI several times about various things and they have always been extremely patient and wiling to help with questions.

Oh....biggest reason to buy EI....they are in Bend, OR. You do know where that is don't you ;-)