Chasing the Morning Sun...
Chasing the Morning Sun...
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zattlebone

Original Poster:

19 posts

304 months

Thursday 2nd March 2006
quotequote all
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/england/g

Pilot hopes to beat world record:

A 57-year-old pilot has set off on a round-the-world flight in a single-engine "homebuilt" aircraft. Manuel Queiroz of Pirton in Worcestershire aims to circumnavigate the globe in less than 24 days. He left Gloucestershire Airport for Malta on Tuesday morning, on the first leg of his 24,000-mile journey. Mr Queiroz hopes to break the world record and raise money for Cancer Research UK at the same time.

The motor engineer, who recovered from colon cancer five years ago, stripped and reconstructed a Canadian-built Vans RV-6 to take him around the world. "I bought the plane complete, then totally rebuilt it and modified it for this type of flight. "The most obvious thing is the vast amount of fuel. It takes over three times as much fuel than it normally does, so it goes nearly four times as far as it used to go." He is hoping to beat the record currently held by Swiss Air captain Hans Georg Schmid, who flew from Zurich to Zurich in 27 days...

www.chasingthemorningsun.com


All very interesting, but the comment "It takes over three times as much fuel than it normally does, so it goes nearly four times as far as it used to go." I find a little puzzling. I would have thought carrying the weight of the extra fuel would require more fuel, so three times the fuel would say give only two and a half times the extra distance, not nearly four. I think I need another beer to fuel the grey matter. Thoughts on a postcard please.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZattlebone...

polus

4,343 posts

256 months

Thursday 2nd March 2006
quotequote all
Yeah hes got that wrong but hes rasing money for cancer research so good luck to him

R988

7,501 posts

260 months

Thursday 2nd March 2006
quotequote all
bbc said:
He is hoping to beat the record currently held by Swiss Air captain Hans Georg Schmid, who flew from Zurich to Zurich in 27 days, at an average speed of 69.87 km/h.


Talk about slow, would have done it faster driving

Gruffy

7,212 posts

290 months

Thursday 2nd March 2006
quotequote all
zattlebone said:
All very interesting, but the comment "It takes over three times as much fuel than it normally does, so it goes nearly four times as far as it used to go." I find a little puzzling. I would have thought carrying the weight of the extra fuel would require more fuel, so three times the fuel would say give only two and a half times the extra distance, not nearly four. I think I need another beer to fuel the grey matter. Thoughts on a postcard please.
I'm no expert, but I understand that a plane is much more efficient at altitude. Presumably the take-off and landing burn up considerably more fuel than cruising? Every extra drop of fuel can be used for cruising. Does that make sense? It does in my head at least :P

Gruffy

Eric Mc

125,913 posts

296 months

Friday 3rd March 2006
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Jet aircraft are more efficient at altitude. Piston engined aircraft are more fuel efficient at LOWER altitude. Have you ever seen a Vans? They make Cessnas look substantial,

zattlebone

Original Poster:

19 posts

304 months

Friday 3rd March 2006
quotequote all
Gruffy said:
...a plane is much more efficient at altitude. Presumably the take-off and landing burn up considerably more fuel than cruising?...
Mmmm you could be on to something there, but I would have thought landing would pretty much use no fuel at all. Afterall the shuttle lands quite well (albeit very fast) without any.

>> Edited by zattlebone on Friday 3rd March 07:54

r988

7,501 posts

260 months

Friday 3rd March 2006
quotequote all
But if it's cruising the whole time it doesn't take as much energy to cruise at steady speed, landing and taking off will use up a lot more, mainly because landing will require a bit of circling and maybe holding the pattern, it's rare to just go straight down and land, plus they have to keep reserve fuel. Think of a motorway journey, a car is more economical when it cruises on the motorway compared to stop start traffic.

Head winds and tail winds will effect it though, plus other tricks like leaning out the mixture, hopefully none of the shenanigans of old time record flights which had co pilots out on the wing during flight fixing problems with engines

sneijder

5,231 posts

265 months

Friday 3rd March 2006
quotequote all
He should have bought this piece of filth for a bag of sand :



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