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Powersport
Aviation Flies to and at Oshkosh 2000 |
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July and August were very busy months for the Powersport Team.
Early in July we completed our RV-6A and received N225PS’s Airworthiness
Certificate on July 5th. We started flying on July 9th
With the goal of flying to Oshkosh on July 23. We had 40 hours to fly
off on a just completed kit aircraft with a custom engine installation
in 14 days. There was no time for problems. |
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| The first flight was twice
around the patch with the conclusion that we need more propeller then
the 2 blade Global Aircraft propeller that we had been using for static
testing. we increased the pitch of the blades until they stalled and it
still would not take the power we had available. We then borrowed a 68"
X68" wooden propeller that had been flown on a local 180 HP RV-6. This
prop gave us a good climb rate but was still not nearly enough prop for
our power. Alan Tohl then sent us the 70"X85" prop that he used with his
Powersport powered RV-3. That prop gave us good overall performance but
we were still propeller limited on top speed, with the engines RPM
limiter coming on at 195 MPH indicated. Our test pilots, John Stevenson
and Tom Erlbeck, both high time RV pilots and builders then started
racking up the hours, flying 3 or more hours each each day. Thanks for
all the hard work guys! On the 12th day of the test period
two RV-8 builders visited from California and got a tour of Powersport’s
facilities and watched 225PS fly. Tom was clearing the plane for
aerobatics at that point in the test program so the potential customers
got to see 225PS perform 3 turn spins left and right, hammerheads, loops
and rolls in addition to the a couple of 200 plus MPH passes. The next
morning they both purchased engines for there RV-8’s! We succeeded in
flying off our 40 hour test period in 13 days, and flew to Oshkosh,
Airventure 2000 on the 14th day. |
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We had a great time at Oshkosh, and were very
busy at both the booth and around the plane from 7:30 in the morning
till 7:30 in the evening. We flew in the Manufactures Showcase on
Thursday with a huge number of people watching and listening to Ray
Richardson’s narration. Thursday Evening we gave a multimedia
presentation at the Eclipse Pavilion about our reduction drive, engine
and cockpit Multi-Function Display. We took 2 additional orders at
Oshkosh, one full package and one reduction drive, engine mount and
cowling. Since returning we have taken an additional order, and have
several people discussing possible installations. To date Powersport has
sold 7 engines and 8 reduction drives. The engines are going into
Velocity (2), RV-4, RV-6, RV-8 (2), and Lancair 235 aircraft. |
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