Supertweet

Well, got the aircraft out of the hangar this morning for some high-speed taxi tests.  It was great that everything went as it should, almost 100%. The bird performed flawlessly.

Only issue was a right-side oxygen regulator that got stuck in the closed position. The mechanic/engineer in the right seat couldn’t use it and did not know how to turn off the hot mic.  So I had a lot of background noise with his mask off. And the airplane is loud.

One thing I am going to start doing is taxiing on one engine.  Two-engine taxi runs eats the brakes, consumes way too much fuel, and doesn’t do a thing except burn dollars.  The mechanic doesn’t like that, but he’s used to much bigger prop driven planes.  I don’t need differential power for steering or speed.  Hell, it’s too fast as it is now.

No radio issues. All OK.  First taxi was moderate to 50 knots to check steering and brakes.  Then back around again for another. This time I held the brakes until 60% and let ‘er go. Power up to 80%. Even with that little bit she took off like a shot.  Up to 70 knots.  All OK.  Don’t really need to use power steering above 60 knots so I have to learn to turn it off as I accelerate.

Even with power at idle it does not like to slow down.  So thrust attenuators are a must.  Next power runs I will shut one engine down on runway as it slows.  Brakes are adequate, but certainly not going to write home about them. Just have to get used to the quirks of the bird until it is natural to the touch. Right now I am “thinking” about everything, and that’s not the way it is supposed to be done.

So, we put the plane away after 50 minutes of ground work, radio checks, accellerations and stops, steering, engine instrument checks, system checks, etc.  All perfect. And I used a lot of fuel just doing the taxi runs (2). Figure about 125 gallons.  OUCH!  It’s a hell of a lot more efficient in the air.