Antonio, this is not a predictive but a retrospective tool so it won’t replace your wonderful TOP.
Slowflyer, that’s weird, I’ll check my GitHub setup
denopa wrote:
this is not a predictive but a retrospective tool so it won’t replace your wonderful TOP
Understood. I was implying the TOPC can be used to monitor T/O performance after the fact (ie you compare prediction, corrected by factors, vs actual, then validate the accuracy of the prediction or else identify variations or causes for the delta).
If your tool compares actual vs theoretical, corrected by the same factors (weight, temp and elevation, but also slope, wind, surface type..) , it should be easy to adapt it to predict too. If not fully corrected then it still serves as a long-term statistical follow-up tool.
Which one is it?
It takes wind, but not surface or slope, into account
well, that is already better than what I could find online…a pity my python knowledge is so limited…
boscomantico wrote:
OT, but what happened on that takeoff from Lausanne? Looks scary. I hope you don‘t say that‘s normal for an MTOW takeoff from an 875 metre runway…
Wow, yes indeed. Very scary actually.
Here’s episode II a night flight from Dubrovnik to the beautiful island of Santorini.
We had a nice tail wind at FL230 but not enough to avoid landing in total darkness.
Enjoy !
Do they not allow visual approaches at night?
Here an update in case you wondered where Galatea has been:
LOMA air returned a beautifully rebuilt engine and I have been working alongside my mechanic at Airbase to re-install the whole thing (Pics to follow).
Prop is also back from Brinkley’s. I love the new wingtip paint and the absence of the infamous green MT-logo. I am a big fan of MT minus the logo and was thinking of paying a graphic designer to suggest to them an alternative for the 3rd millenium… one perfectible thing is the step in the paint where colours change. MT’s paint job is superior in this respect. I had to carefully polish down this to minimize the disruption which is unfortunately located at the highest velocity radius position…
Removing and taking apart the engine was a lot of work, but honestly I see it as a blessing. I learnt so many things about so many intricate hidden aspects of the engine and its accessories.
We also found way too many “rattlesnakes” waiting for their moment. So a decision was made: we would spend whatever time it takes to eradicate chafing upon re-installation, and this is what we are doing now.
The name of the game is “ improve accessibility and preventing damage that may happen during maintenance work, reduce bulk, reduce fire and chafing risks”…
Your input is more than welcome as always…
So far, we have done test installations of the exhaust, turbo and control lines, to find out how much clearance was left for everything else and our options. We then removed the engine, did the changes and put it back on again… 4 times so far and counting.
The one most problematic feature of the Extra 400 is the incredible number of SCEET tubes criss-crossing the engine compartment and needing additional fire protection and/or chafing shieldwhich is usually made by safety wiring fiberglass cloth to the SCEET.
This Spaghetti alla SCEET makes it virtually impossible to access anything behind the engine and eventually results in an oily mess that looks like – well sauce rich pasta!
I can now say this issue is fixed, mainly thanks to having found “the” way to mount the pair of cabin air mixers on the firewall.
It took many iterations, and in fact the removal of the engine to find this solution. Removing several meters of SCEET sheds a new light (literally) on every other access and routing challenge.
I am very proud of a little detail: the pressurized cabin air feed SCEET is now safely held to the firewall using a wide, P shaped support clamp instead of dangling around in its suicidal quest for friction partners.
Ah and all of these aggressive Bowden cables got pacified by a friction shroud and are being carefully routed and fastened BEFORE their former victims are installed.
One annoying maintenance issue was the removal of the oil filter. As Peter reported earlier, this is notoriously tricky, as the filter is located right in the middle of the above mentioned spaghetti dish.
We have defined a “no fly zone” for the mechanic to easily access, remove, install and safety-wire the filter.
It isn’t hard to route the stuff around this – taking advantage of the increased freedom of movement.
This small detail will be worth a lot of spared issues…
And finally, we are untangling the low power sensor cabling (CHT/EGT/TIT) from noisy high amp/voltage stuff from alternator and ignition wires.
My EDM930 has been plagued by unstable readings since day one and I suspect RFI may be the culprit… Miles of unshielded low power cables tightly mixed with the “big boys” did not sound like a great idea to me… Thoughts?
Also considering the following idea: pack sensor wiring and connectors near the cylinders in a u-shaped (open) aluminum tube attached and to a pair of cylinder head cover screws and grounded? The expected benefit is EMI and mechanical shielding, with the nice benefit of easily pushing aside the whole bundle when needing access to the cylinder heads…
My mechanic doesn’t like the idea, but I have not given up yet… your votes?
When the EDM930 was installed, 4 new pressure probes were clamped untidily to the electrical connections box on the RH side of the firewall with ugly, exposed and eventually oily wiring… the ducts to the pickup points were long and contributed to the general spaghetti. It looked terrible and was a nightmare to access for diagnostics. Not anymore !
We have made an aluminum bracket that holds up to 6 such parts with appropriate spacing right on the firewall, using existing mounting points.
So we have a neat line of probes, each placed as closely as possible to its pickup point on the engine. Lower duct length and weight, less spaghetti and less chafing possibilities. Making the bracket was a lot of work for my clumsy hands, took several tries, but I finally got there…
The fuel flow sensor was a challenge of its own. Installation instructions say it should be installed lower than the fuel spider or else a loop must be made on the connecting hose. The previous installation broke both rules and the sensor was placed near the alternators – a likely place for a fire… ask me how I know…
We found a location at the rear right side which meets all installation requirements, eliminates offending bending angles on the Teflon hoses and keeps said hoses out of harm’s way. “All”it needs is a custom bracket and new hoses. Work in progress…
One thing that really shocked me is that we found two instances of Teflon tube being bent way harder than allowed by the specs on the fuel supply lines.
We fixed one but did not dare address the second, due to its nasty location with a risk of catastrophic failure.
I have order some dimpled Inconel sheet (0.5 mm) and intend to use it to protect sensitive parts and direct air outflow in a more positive way.
So not flying yet, but for a legitimate reason… pics follow.
