Turbo RANS S-7S | landing on a tiny island!!! (you have to fully commit on this technical sand bar!)

[@markmark2080]

Your videos are REAL treat to me, having lived in Colorado pretty much since 1950. I've roamed the state and the Rocky Mt. West on motorcycle, car, and 4WD, flown over it in small planes and airliners on clear days...But never was able to see it "like a bird", that was out of my means, something I did dream about, though...At 6:13 you approach and fly by Mt Lindsey and Blanca Peak, STUNNING, and then land in the alkali flats just to the west and take off and fly over the Blanca Wetlands just to the south, really cool to see that stuff close up...THEN at 10:21 to 10:34 you show a little bit of the "interesting ridges" around the Spanish Peaks, similar to the ridges going out from Ship Rock down near the 4 Corners...Then the open pit mine surprised me until I remembered Cripple Creek, what a great view of the operation...Then of course I wondered what sandbar you were landing on, but I can only guess that it was maybe in Fountain Creek...Great Little Video, knowing what you are looking at always makes it more interesting, Thanks so much.

[@GravityKnightFlying]

Thanks Mark!! Appreciate your comments always! And man, you know the state like the back of your hand! Been very impressed with the comments you have left - very apparent you have REALLY explored this state over the years!

[@chuckinwyoming8526]

Inlet design is a tricky thing. It would be interesting to put a couple pressure sensors in the cowl and see what your pressures are. You could use a spare altimeter or an electronic pressure sensor/display. My guess is the deeper cooler location results in higher pressure and less air spilling past the inlet. I took a look at flying here today but tooooo windy again! Thanks for another great video!

[@portnuefflyer]

I had a weird wind related event today in Idaho, spring weather!

[@GravityKnightFlying]

man that would be super cool to test and see! i bet there is some pressure, thanks for an explanation as to why its working better.. i was scratching my head... yea we have been getting slammed too..40-50mph.. 3 days of it it loos like..........ahh spring...

[@rjbishop12]

@@GravityKnightFlying Nice video- good mix of eye candy! WINDY this week - yep! Last Sunday I was coming back from Lamar- friggin winds were 40-50 mph, and the turbulence was crazy bad. Had to slow way down and divert south due to convective activity between COS and Lamar. What is usually barely an hour long trip took well beyond 2 hours. Ughh... March / April in Colorado.

[@chuckinwyoming8526]

@@GravityKnightFlying I design micro controllers and am working on a "Ultrapanel" low cost electronic instrument panel. You could build you own cowl pressure display with a very accurate pressure sensor and an arduino micro controller with a display for under $15. let me know if you are interested. www.ebay.com/itm/BMP280-Pressure-Sensor-Replace-BMP180-for-Arduino-High-Precision-Atmospheric-ST/172255630324?hash=item281b3c53f4:g:dUAAAOSwP3JdpZE9

[@GravityKnightFlying]

@@chuckinwyoming8526 ill check this out, nice! edit: ok i see the sensor... gotcha

[@declanpatricko]

Amazing pilot skill. Great video

[@bennietipton2820]

Awesome spot awesome video

[@GravityKnightFlying]

thx!

[@madmarkstoys]

You live like a king out there where you're flying

[@iainfoster3179]

Great channel , Your technical content is very very good , keep it up and well done

[@kcpumpguy]

Another great video. Just keep getting better and better. I've got my oil cooler semi installed on my S7, but the brackets from RANS don't fit well. I've been thinking I'd just make some new brackets rather than try and get factory brackets to work. Now I'll be looking to get the cooler to sit a little deeper. So, your tips are useful. Thanks for putting out these videos, I'm really enjoying them.

[@GravityKnightFlying]

hey glad to! thanks!

[@verylwoody]

The places you will go with that S-7S! Love it!

[@douglascloud4484]

Hey do you ever camp on top of those mountains?

[@GravityKnightFlying]

Haven't on any of the BLM yet.. been planning to do that. Somehow never made it happen last summer, definitely planning to do a few overnighters this year. I like to do some photography, and some of these spots would be great to shoot the good light in the evening and not have to try and get home without flying in the mtns in the dark etc. Should be fun!

[@douglascloud4484]

@@GravityKnightFlying I will be looking forward to the camping trip, thanks, be safe.

[@alonzowilliams8487]

What wing do you have on your bird?

[@GravityKnightFlying]

the standard 7/20 wing... (147sq ft).. no wingtips (just the tip bow)

[@alonzowilliams8487]

How do you compare it with your 116 on your S-6S?

[@mobessiere2864]

Awesome flying ans super clear video. Just a friendly reminder that some of those dried up lake beds have alkali witch can be corrosive.

[@GravityKnightFlying]

That's a good heads up. I wiped down the plane after getting home (which I do most every flight anyway) But I was wondering about that... like at the high sierra that stuff is nasty and gets in everything..

[@mobessiere2864]

@@GravityKnightFlying Absolutely. When I worked for Washoe Co. Sheriff and they would dip out of Pyramid Lake to fight fires the first thing I made them do is go strait to the wash rack. I was looking at a kit fox with the wings folded back and you can wipe the dust off from inside the round spars.Just towards the ends the rest of the spars was still clean. I was thinking being around that stuff maybe misting the insides with some kind of corrosion inhibitor. Just a Idea.

[@douglascloud4484]

Man that screams! looks like a lot of fun be safe

[@GATOROC1]

Great flying and video, as usual!

[@GravityKnightFlying]

thanks!

[@doncatchpole7370]

Another good show.

[@davidbuckles7557]

Looks like fun! It’s been SUPER WINDY the last two days in Colorado! You look like your down South near the dino tracks sometimes. If you’re ever by La Junta stop by and say hi. I’m the only EMS helo based here on the southeast side. Would love to say hi and see the plane

[@GravityKnightFlying]

thanks David!.. I do make it down that way from time to time, I'll stop in sometime

[@davidbuckles7557]

GravityKnightFlying I work every other week down here and then go home for a week but I’d love to catch you sometime. Some of your older S6 videos make it look like you flying down here in some canyons. Great footage! And love the machine shop parts as well. I’ll build or buy an airplane one day. It’s a dream of mine but for now I’ll keep watching yours! Thanks Todd

[@equaltothetaskaviation6440]

nice one mate, looking forward to the next one - really enjoying your channel

[@GravityKnightFlying]

thank you 👍

[@JohnRobertson22]

What part of Colorado do you fly?

[@GravityKnightFlying]

all over, except I don't make it over the the west side as much as I'd like.. great flying over there

[@charliethorp996]

Badass!!!

[@kevinsavas7173]

Are you going install leading edge slats off in the future?

[@GravityKnightFlying]

definitely on my mind... I'd like to play with a few things like currently - gap seals on the flaps, which seem to help.. and then some wingtip type ideas... hoping those things will bring stall down another noticeable chunk... maybe won't need slats? they would be fun though!

[@earthrootshealing2666]

Good to see you thriving and practicing your Jedi skills during the apocalypse brother 😉

[@429thunderjet2]

Whoow Didn't see the wires at first! Glad you knew about em. Another good vid , awesome scenery man! And aawk that's a big hole in the ground. There is one like that over in the iron range Minn. They recently built a bridge over the dumb thing ,we toured it on motorcycles, shoulda been from above, ha! pretty cool though!

[@aaronmaclean4464]

I saw the wires and recoiled!! That's a tough go-around lol

[@GravityKnightFlying]

a little butt puckering haha

[@aaronmaclean4464]

@@GravityKnightFlying really enjoying your channel. The 4k is amazing and you're skills are admirable!

[@KitfoxPilot]

I noticed the #2 egt runs around 1550, at what temp do you worry about damage? That seems hot to me but Ive never been around a rotax engine.

[@GravityKnightFlying]

Rotax’s stated max is something insane like 1680. I like sub 1500’s personally so I hear you. I went to fuel injection and now they run within 10-20 degrees of each other and i have full control over mixture! Whip out the laptop and tweak it and over time it has gotten really dialed in. I set it up for 1480 max cruise and 1350 -1380 under full power. The rotax dual carb/crappy intake manifold design is a nightmare to tune, glad I got away from it with the Edge setup/FI

[@KitfoxPilot]

@@GravityKnightFlying Thanks I have a rotax ordered and was just wondering if that was the norm. 1680 wow!

[@GravityKnightFlying]

@@KitfoxPilot I think the non turbos they call for 1480 normal, and 1580 max.. but on the turbo models the max is really high.. yikes!! good engines overall, just some screwy stuff with that intake manifold design.

[@KitfoxPilot]

@@GravityKnightFlying Interesting, thanks.

[@Sbrown041]

Is there a huge difference from the zippered Rotax and the 914 with the attitudes you fly? I know what the numbers look like on paper but just curious what that difference you have seen.

[@GravityKnightFlying]

hey man! there is a pretty good difference...hard to say exactly, but this bird is heavier and will out climb the big bore I had pretty easily. here is maybe a better comparison, since they have the same 75" ww stol prop... on the big bore, I had like 17.2 or 17.3 degrees of pitch.. and at my home field of 6600ft it would sit around 5350-5400 rpm in a slow (vx) climb. static rpm was in that same area... on the 914 I have 19.2 degrees of pitch, and it needs more, it climbs steep and slow at ~5700rpm!! crazy.... becomes an issue as you go up, the motor continues to make the same power, but the thinner air lets the prop spin faster and over rev if you are not careful....

[@rayfletcher3683]

Great as usual, flying under lines is much safer than over . Use speed. How many lines have you seen wires under 6 ft above ground ? Seeing ground is easy, seeing wires not so much

[@GravityKnightFlying]

Yea good point... only once did I see a black single wire, hanging low across a river that was a fairly close call.... spooky for sure. Typically always high, easy to see and go under if needed...

[@leeadams5941]

Just wondering how many game animals you see flying over that country? Got a picture of my Dad flying a B26G under some power lines in Europe during WW2. Guess I would do the same if somebody gave me my own bomber lol

[@GravityKnightFlying]

Wow Lee, that would be quite a picture!! Awesome! .. quite a lot. Mostly antelope, white tail, elk and coyotes, occasionally a huge heard of elk... once and a while a bald eagle or something cool along those lines. Haven’t spotted a bear yet from the air. Haven’t had any encounters other than deer and elk once on the ground which might be a good thing... 😆

[@yellowcubdriver9545]

Nice! Where you home based at? Message me back if can.

[@portnuefflyer]

That cowl inlet in front of the cooler eyeballs much lower and higher then mine, looks like that cowl was modded? Or maybe RANS just made them bigger then my year. Good job on that bar! Several times I've been flying my 7 with SCubs and Carbon Cubs, and they all passed on bars that were pretty easy for the 7, just a bit tight, but not REALLY tight.

[@GravityKnightFlying]

Hmmm.. not sure if they changed them in '14? Only thing I could think, its got the CF cowl... cutting the inside edge back sure did open it up a lot.

[@slago82]

Land at the bottom of the pit mine.

[@GravityKnightFlying]

now that would be some crazy stuff lol!

[@thomasmurray1807]

How do you know that your landing on BLM lands and there boundaries. Know blogger has ever shown there devise. I'm planning a trip with my Kitfox SS7 and was wondering. Thanks Tom upstate NY. Great videos by the way.

[@GravityKnightFlying]

Best way Tom is to use an app like gaia gps, or onx... they both cost money.. but it's worth it.. just look out for instant study areas (those are off limits to motorized vehicles typically)

[@prof.heinous191]

Your landings are getting tighter and tighter - there must be a lot of new spots out there out there that you've had your eye on for a loong time... Think you're being a little hard on Todd's Tech Tips - seems pretty useful to me!

[@GravityKnightFlying]

thank you my friend.. getting more dialed in... I have 2-3 spots in mind that are nuts.. well 1 is pretty awesome, not super wild.. 1 is nuts, and the other is insane lol! in the mtns... so waiting for warmer temps and calmer winds!

[@gerdawhite6012]

Always love flying with you - but if you're gunna make me listen to disco, at some point I expect to see a little dirty dancing.

[@GravityKnightFlying]

ahahaha!!! fair enough