The GAD43e in the Robin is to allow control and display of a KN63 DME through the G500.
Sounds like it has more than the one function then.
Wiggly said:
The GAD43e in the Robin is to allow control and display of a KN63 DME through the G500
This is correct – and I believe it also enables the G500 to preselect Vertical Speed and Altitude
And yes lenthamen I do have this installed (but since my plane was this years’ demonstrator I didn’t make the decision myself to instal it) -I have seen the plane flying headings on autopilot without the GAD43e connected – Steve Bailey at Mistral Aviation could give you more information on this.
Thanks neal. For your diesel, what are typical range / payload figures? I looked a bit at SR22 G2 but they seem pretty terrible.
MTOW is 1100 kg and empty weight of my high-spec machine is 694kg – with full main tank this leaves room to fly four 80kg people well over four hours (depending on altitude that’s say 5-600nm).
Official figures from the POH are a range of up to 950nm -since I have the standard 110 litre tank plus the additional 50litre long range tank – this means something like seven hours endurance and therefore >900 miles range… but I’d never fly that long -more typically I fill all the tanks for a convenient return trip if there are just two on board plus the bikes and luggage – once you start getting four adults you want the payload for bags and bellies.
You can see from the table below – a more realistic range/speed equation is at my typical 8000 ft, about 72% power for about 750 miles at around 130kts
Incidentally – though the DR401 can’t touch the SR22 for top cruising speed, I like to drop in and out of short grass strips – the short-field take off performance is amazing:
Ground roll of 167m and 312m to clear 50ft – compared to 569m for the SR22…
Though I MUST admit, having got used to the climb performance of a TB20, I do miss that feeling of being in an elevator the second the gear goes up.
I guess, apart from the emotions we discussed above – the choice must depend on one’s mission profile – it always seems to be a complex compromise between, weight/speed/fuel consumption/range/cost…
Thanks for the figures Neal, I have to say this looks quite interesting. Trying to work an IFR tourer to buy and this seems well worth looking at.
Still thinking well about my mission profile, and if I’d open to outsiders (/ with instructor for things like IMC rating etc). No per se to make money (hear it’s almost impossible), but just to recoup some of the depreciation.
Out of curiosity, what is best altitude for max range? (if published). Is it 8k ft? On the DA40 I think it’s 14k but not really doable safely without oxygen (or having just come back from climbing kilimanjaro)
The DR500 variant with a slightly roomier cabin is a very nice aircraft. The Capitaine strikes me as an excellent version also, but there may be some conventional landing gear bias going on.
Assuming your passengers do not want to undergo in flight toilet duties in a toilet-less aircraft, a comfortable sector is probably 2 1/2 hours – a KTAS of 120-130 is pretty useful and on a 320 nm sector the high powered retractables might be beating you by only 10 or 20 minutes.
RobertL18C wrote:
Assuming your passengers do not want to undergo in flight toilet duties in a toilet-less aircraft, a comfortable sector is probably 2 1/2 hours – a KTAS of 120-130 is pretty useful and on a 320 nm sector the high powered retractables might be beating you by only 10 or 20 minutes.
Headwind is much more penalizing for slow speeds though. And my impression is that one mostly flies with headwind :). And math agrees with that impression sadly!
I think I would like the possibility to go somewhere like Lyon (from London) without stopping. Then it’d be much easier to do ski trips. Currently I don’t have that possibility with the DA40NG.
Out of curiosity, what is best altitude for max range? (if published). Is it 8k ft? On the DA40 I think it’s 14k but not really doable safely without oxygen (or having just come back from climbing kilimanjaro)
The POH says that power setting makes much more difference than altitude to range – the max range at 16000ft is 952 NM but even at 2000ft its still 936NM but at a stately 108kts- the sweet spot seems to be about 8000 ft, about 72% power for about 750 miles at around 130kts, after that additional altitude makes little difference to speed or range.
I think I would like the possibility to go somewhere like Lyon (from London) without stopping.
In today’s conditions SkyDemon says I’d get Biggin-Lyon in a little over 3 hrs, with two hours reserve fuel in the DR401 – without the extra tank you’d be running dry just as you landed, so you’d need the extended tank for that mission. I think for a touring machine the extended tank always makes sense, as sometimes you land places with only AVGAS – though only JETA1 is commoner at big and remote airports (actually I believe you can also mix Motor Diesel in any proportion in the main tank, so wherever there’s a tractor, there’s fuel!)
Same trip in the TB20 I used to fly would have taken almost 30 mins less, but at a fuel cost of well over double. Mine was shared and not maintained to the same standards as Peter’s so I did not have a very good despatch rate – in fact thanks to bad weather and mechanical luck I never DID make it on a really long trip, whereas I’ve already done the following in my first month with the DR401 (though obviously not in one hop!):
We did find we needed one of these:
http://www.transair.co.uk/sp+Restop-Disposable-Travel-Toilet-2-Pack+3470
They’re very clever, the liquid forms into a sort of a gel which is sealed in by a ‘ziplock’!
