Pre buy begins on the Pressurized Baron

[Dave Siciliano]

Well, we received the executed contract last week to purchase the pressurized Baron. The seller delivered the plane to our mechanic at Tomlinson Aviation in Gainesville, Texas yesterday along with the log books. Tomlinson will do the airframe and engine inspections. We provided them an annual checklist for the 58P from ABS to use as a guide. I'll hop up there with my partner and peruse the logs and make notes. We've run a title check of ownership from the factory to current sellers and checked liens. The Escrow company checked the FAA and NTSB data base for accidents/incidents and STCs. So far, all is well. The gentleman selling is an ABS member which provides some commonality. Good broker involved.

We test flew the plane two weeks ago. Now, we're just checking things. Financing is arranged with documents on the way. LLC formed and my partner and I have agreed on many substantial points including a buy/sell agreement. Extending my hanger lease as we speak.

After Tomlinson is complete, we will discuss squawks with the seller. If they exceed $5,000, seller may terminate or complete the sale with a price adjustment or by fixing. Next, we will do another test flight with the GAMI folks to see how fuel flows and engine baffling is set up.

Then down to Flight Electronics to test all the avionics gear.

When all that is complete, we should close.

Meanwhile, I'm delivering my plane (the A-36) to a shop in TVR (Louisiana) for a pre-buy. One of the guys on the Bonanza Net has a partner in an A-36 that wanted his own. After a lot of pics were exchanges, info on the plane and discussion about conditions, he agreed to a price subject to a test flight and pre-buy. We'll test fly it and if he likes it, leave it as his shop tomorrow. Have about five or six other folks that have in interest in the plane if it doesn't sell but haven't gotten serious with any of 'em.

Guess we'll see!!

Best,

Dave

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Very cool Dave,
I bet you have insurance done but just didn't list it in your document flow.

 

[spiderweb]

Dave S., you cannot get out of taking me for a ride in your Baron the next time I'm in Plano. I'll be down in August for a couple of concerts, so I'm sure she'll be ready by then, no?

 

[Dave Siciliano]

Very cool Dave,
I bet you have insurance done but just didn't list it in your document flow.

Yes David; there is insurance. We have $1MM smooth coverage which we will bind upon closing!! The agent can send a facsimile binder until the policy arrives. He will require a large check. We are then required to complete an approved course and get ten hours of dual before being able to fly alone. We have a local course which has been approved. Lot's to do and one get's to run a business on the side!!

Once the smoke clears, I'll probably go to one of the sim schools or ABS to hone skills once I have a little time in the bird (which is a Dave requirement--not the insurance company's).

Best,

Dave

 

[Dave Siciliano]

Ben:
You keep tellin me you want a ride, but no Ben

Dave

 

[John J]

Dave;

Sounds like everyting will work out fine.

The ABS Clinics are great I use them for refresher as much as I can.

Good luck with the 58P.

John J

 

[Dave Siciliano]

Thanks John. Probably will go to sim training then BPPP when I can work it out.

Dave

 

[gismo]

Dave, as part of the pre-buy and/or test flight, did you check the critical altitude and pressurization differential? AFaIK these things are difficult to check on the ground yet very revealing and important.

 

[spiderweb]

Ben:
You keep tellin me you want a ride, but no Ben

Dave

I know, I know; but this time I'm not going to wimp out!

 

[Dave Siciliano]

Dave, as part of the pre-buy and/or test flight, did you check the critical altitude and pressurization differential? AFaIK these things are difficult to check on the ground yet very revealing and important.

Thanks Lance:

What we did was climb up to 14,500 feet and check the differential there. The cabin read about 5,200 feet inside. We did not check gauge calibration. Do you know anything else we should do? I'll check with the mechanic to see what they will do on the gound. We are also checking for cracked windows.

Dave

 

[Dave Siciliano]

In a related matter, had something real interesting happen in the A-36 today. Flew with a potential purchaser and everything went well until we were in cruise at 11,500. He had just flown there in another plane that trued out at 197 knots burning 17.5 gph LOP. This is an A-36 without tip tanks, new engine with millineum cyliners and set up by Tornado Alley. Before I went to see him, he asked me where my plane trued out at this altitude. On a recent trip, I climbed up, punched the numbers in the GPS and it showed 188;

Here are the details:
9000 feet; 8C; 30.08 altimeter; WOT; 2500 RPM; FF 22.1 gph; IAS 170; 196 TAS number 4 CHT 380.

Same settings LOP: 17.6 gph; CHT 373 #4; 164 IAS; 189 TAS;

Today at 11,500, I couldn't burn more that 16.2 gph which still showed a TAS on the GPS of 188. Ground speed was 191 knots.

We then did a 180 and checked things: ground speed dropped to 168 knots. Well, that didn't make sense to have a 3 knot tail wind; then, a 20 knot headwind. We checked again, and it appears, my airspeed indicator is registering high. Didn't quite understand that.

Dave

 

[John J]

In a related matter, had something real interesting happen in the A-36 today. Flew with a potential purchaser and everything went well until we were in cruise at 11,500. He had just flown there in another plane that trued out at 197 knots burning 17.5 gph LOP. This is an A-36 without tip tanks, new engine with millineum cyliners and set up by Tornado Alley. Before I went to see him, he asked me where my plane trued out at this altitude. On a recent trip, I climbed up, punched the numbers in the GPS and it showed 188;

Here are the details:
9000 feet; 8C; 30.08 altimeter; WOT; 2500 RPM; FF 22.1 gph; IAS 170; 196 TAS number 4 CHT 380.

Same settings LOP: 17.6 gph; CHT 373 #4; 164 IAS; 189 TAS;

Today at 11,500, I couldn't burn more that 16.2 gph which still showed a TAS on the GPS of 188. Ground speed was 191 knots.

We then did a 180 and checked things: ground speed dropped to 168 knots. Well, that didn't make sense to have a 3 knot tail wind; then, a 20 knot headwind. We checked again, and it appears, my airspeed indicator is registering high. Didn't quite understand that.

Dave

Dave

A great example of LOP. For the airpseed; see if there is a very small peice of dirt or something that is increasing pressure on the airspeed indicator. Had that happen in a Cessna 182. It was a very small piice of cotton from the pitot cover.

John J

 

[gismo]

We then did a 180 and checked things: ground speed dropped to 168 knots. Well, that didn't make sense to have a 3 knot tail wind; then, a 20 knot headwind. We checked again, and it appears, my airspeed indicator is registering high. Didn't quite understand that.

First, without doing the math to be sure, I think it's quite plausible that you could see those numbers with a partial crosswind of sufficient magnitude. To get an accurate reading on TAS you need to fly three headings and follow this procedure:

Determine your groundspeed on three headings that differ by 120 degrees (eg 40, 160 and 280 degrees), call these v1, v2 and v3

Let

vms = (v1^2 + v2^2 + v3^2)/3
a1= v1^2/vms -1
a2= v2^2/vms -1
a3= v3^2/vms -1
mu= (a1^2 + a2^2 + a3^2)/6
Let bp and bm be the roots of the quadratic b^2 -b + mu =0 ie:

bp= 1/2 +sqrt(1/4-mu)
bm= mu/bp
The TAS and windspeed are then given by sqrt(vms*bp) and sqrt(vms*bm) provided that the TAS exceeds the windspeed. If this is not the case, the roots are exchanged. This is a handy way to check your TAS (and the calibration of your airspeed indicator) using your GPS groundspeed, even though the wind is unknown.

Second, I'm a bit suspicious of the claimed 197 KTAS for the other Bonanza at 11k MSL. That sounds 5-10 Kt high to me.


http://williams.best.vwh.net/Var

 

[Dave Siciliano]

Lance:

I know you understand this, but the math above lost me. If I fly 3 headings 120 degrees apart--what from there? What do I measure? It looks as if I find some mathmatic average, but don't understand it. Any chance you could give and example and 'xplain a little?

Actually, the MP on my Bo was only indicating 'bout 27.5 to 28". Should be 30.5 which could be almost a 10% difference. My mecahnic recently rebuilt my waste gate; wonder if it's properly seating because I used to get pretty consistant readings. Was up there previous weekend. This weekend it was low.

The other Bonanza is known as being at the head of the pack. It's useful load is 300 pounds less than mine: the BDS windshield, leather and full instrument panel on my are great, but add weight. The tip tanks slow the plane 2 to 3 knots. The engine is a couple hurdred hours from TBO. Many of the A-36TNs with the new millenium cylinders, intercooler etc. are hitting over 190 knots at 12,000 LOP. His is light, no tips, brand new firewall forward. He's also an engineer and was pretty knowledgeable. I blow lots of folks away, but can easily be humbled the aero engineers, etc.

Best,

Dave

 

[Iceman]

Lance:

I know you understand this, but the math above lost me. If I fly 3 headings 120 degrees apart--what from there? What do I measure? It looks as if I find some mathmatic average, but don't understand it. Any chance you could give and example and 'xplain a little?

Actually, the MP on my Bo was only indicating 'bout 27.5 to 28". Should be 30.5 which could be almost a 10% difference. My mecahnic recently rebuilt my waste gate; wonder if it's properly seating because I used to get pretty consistant readings. Was up there previous weekend. This weekend it was low.

The other Bonanza is known as being at the head of the pack. It's useful load is 300 pounds less than mine: the BDS windshield, leather and full instrument panel on my are great, but add weight. The tip tanks slow the plane 2 to 3 knots. The engine is a couple hurdred hours from TBO. Many of the A-36TNs with the new millenium cylinders, intercooler etc. are hitting over 190 knots at 12,000 LOP. His is light, no tips, brand new firewall forward. He's also an engineer and was pretty knowledgeable. I blow lots of folks away, but can easily be humbled the aero engineers, etc.

Best,

Dave

There is a good excel program that calculates all of this for you. I will try to find it.

This is not the one I have used but it is similar...try this link
It came from this website.

 

[Iceman]

I personally like using N, E, S, W on the compass to shoot for (does not have to be right on). For each leg let your airplane settle in and record the gps track and true ground speed. You only need 3 of the above 4 legs to get the true speed but I like to have all four and run the calculation two times to see if there is a difference (winds changing). Most airspeed indicators show 10-15 knots too fast while in cruise. I think they only have to be accurate ~stall speed but i'm not sure. We normally do the above calculations for many different speeds and graph our results. That graph can than be used to give you a conversion factor when referring to the airspeed indicator.