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Thread: Ferrying a IV 582

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    IL
    Posts
    1

    Default Ferrying a IV 582

    I might be taking a trip in a Kitfox 4 with a 582 through some mountains on a ferry flight. I was wondering how high and how well the lower hp 582 does at altitudes like that in the mountains. I would like to be able to cruise comfortably at 9,500' for this trip east from OR.

    Also, I am a 'person of size' (6'3" and 275) and was wondering how I might fit. I saw a thread about bigger people in a 5/6 frame, but not sure how different the 4 cabin might be.

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Soldotna Alaska
    Posts
    176

    Default Re: Ferrying a IV 582

    Hello,

    I might be taking a trip in a Kitfox 4 with a 582 through some mountains on a ferry flight. I was wondering how high and how well the lower hp 582 does at altitudes like that in the mountains. I would like to be able to cruise comfortably at 9,500' for this trip east from OR.


    I have flown dual on floats that high. You will be running pretty darn rich and giving up alot of power if it does not have a HACMAN or some form of mixture adjustment on it. At 9500 you should be able to get to under 4 GPH pretty easily.

    It is going to be a tight fit, but not really much worse (if any) than a 152.

  3. #3
    Senior Member HighWing's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Goodyear, AZ
    Posts
    1,743

    Default Re: Ferrying a IV 582

    In the early "00s" a group of six or eight of us made regular week long flights to the Idaho back country. For this discussion consider that these were always Summer flights with temps often in the 90s, but occasionally with frost on the wings in the mornings. One of the airplanes was a Model IV with 582. It is true that he went every place the group went, but we often found him a thousand feet below us as we navigated some pretty high terrain. We would coach him through the passes from above and warn him of the dead end canyons. Then there was the day that we were flying back into California and he was having trouble climbing. We stopped and off loaded all his camping gear to lighten him up and proceeded west. Still unable to climb and finding himself in a small vallely that he couldn't get out of, he sent us on our way deciding to land on a road, spend the night with his airplane until he could take off in cooler temps in the morning. It was after he was on the ground that he remembered that he had nothing for protection over night when it began cooling off. He decided to dump fuel to lighten further and took off. He was able to clear the ridges and flew back to an airport with shelter in Nevada.

    When I first read the post, my thoughts were more like C5's. I would definitely not discourage the flight, but consider some cautions. Climb is seriously reduced at altitude. When you see the mountains begin the climb to the necessary altitude long before they bacome hazards - or do S turns to gain altitude before you get to the mountains. Then stay out of canyons unless you feel they are sufficiently wide for a turn back or you can see through to the other side. Plan on sufficient survival gear so that an emergency landing on a road won't be an excercise in staying warm.

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