Bearhawk LSA Climb Performance

[Wayne Massey]

I did some climb to altitude testing with Marks LSA yesterday. Climb time from 102' elevation to 14,000' was an amazing 18 minutes 35 seconds for an elapsed climb rate of 820 FPM! The LSA was still climbing at 500 FPM at 14,000 feet! Here are the numbers with a Bob Barrows 0-200 engine:

LSA Climb Performance:

Temp 19C (66F)
Dew Point 7C (44F)
Pressure 30.27
Humidity 46%
Airport Elevation 105’
Take Off Weight 1164 lbs
Take off CG = 13.31”
70 mph IAS @ 1,000’
65 mph IAS @ 7,000’
60 mph IAS @ 14,000’
(Note: GPS altitude was used for accuracy)

Altitude Block Time Block Elapsed Time Block FPM Elapsed FPM
102-1,000 1:13 1:13 738
1,000-2,000 0:35 1:48 1714 1226
2,000-3,000 0:55 2:43 1091 1181
3,000-4,000 1:03 3:46 952 1124
4,000-5,000 1:14 5:00 811 1061
5,000-6,000 1:17 6:17 779 1014
6,000-7,000 1:20 7:37 750 977
7,000-8,000 1:03 8:40 952 974
8,000-9,000 1:27 10:07 690 942
9,000-10,000 1:24 11:31 714 919
10,000-11,000 1:31 13:02 659 896
11,000-12,000 1:41 14:43 594 870
12,000-13,000 1:49 16:32 550 846
13,000-14,000 2:03 18:35 488 820

[Wayne Massey]

The format transition made it hard to read here's a photo of the numbers:

[Bdflies]

Without a doubt, the performance is impressive. Two items here;
First, I'm curious about the oil and cylinder head temps. Did everything stay in the green, for that long at full power/low airspeed?
Second, from your posts, it seems that you're having too much fun!

Bill

[Wayne Massey]

Yes way too much fun Bill! :-)

Everything stayed well within the green. I ran full power the entire climb. The highest the oil temp got was 195-200 degrees and the highest the cylinder head temps got were 360-365 degrees. I never had to make any adjustments to accommodate temps to keep within limits. The RPM's I was seeing at altitude was 2390 @ 10,000', 2370 @ 11,000' and 2350 @ 12,000'. It continued to drop 20 RPMs per 1,000'. When I get a chance I'd like to do it again with complaint LSA weights of 1,320 lbs. take off weight.

[lsa140]

Great info, thank you.

[JimParker256]

Wow, that IS impressive. Is Bob's O-200 still a 100 HP engine, or is it a fire-breather, like his C-90s? Either way, that is excellent performance!

[Wayne Massey]

Jim - This engine is running about 105 HP.

[OhioLSA]

Really interesting, & good incentive for those of us working on building the LSA. Please let us know when you do the tests at 1320 lbs.! Thanks!