I was invited to do the flight testing for the initial issue of a UK permit in
a friend's mono- a few years ago and thereafter sat with him for several hours
while he became familiar with his aircraft. Apart from that we've done several
other flights together, both near and far. He's also done quite a bit of flying
on his own, seemingly without any trouble. Well, there was one occasion when
an EGT probe needed replacing but that was easy enough to sort out.
Compared with my 100hp 912ULS, the performance is quite exhilarating during
take-off,
so much so that during my first fast taxi runs it actually got airborne
around 40 kts (below stall) which took me by surprise. Andy Draper informed me
(and I'm ready to be corrected if memory is failing me) that the stronger
propeller
wash generates enough additional lift at the wing roots to cause this
effect. Anyway it definitely happened, so I often didn't bother to put the
throttle
through the gate during take-off, using only 100hp and saving the extra
15hp for flying when carrying a passenger.
Climb rate when fully laden is in the order of 1400'/min with full power, which
goes to show that the turbo certainly delivers. The new 915is would be fun to
experience.
Because we used only unleaded mogas, I never got to see the benefits of the
turbo
at altitude, but then again I've been a professional helicopter pilot for over
40 years and get nose-bleeds and the jitters much above 1000'. All the limited
heroism I ever had got used up when I was learning to fly in military Harvards
(AT6 Texans) when I was 18. Climbing to 10000' to do spins seemed a waste
of flying time which could have been better spent enjoying the scenery from
much closer to Mother Earth.
The basic 914 weighs 16 lbs more than the basic 912ULS. In level flight I recall
part of the initial test flying required Wide Open Throttle for a short dash
and my friend's mono- Europa hit Vne 165 knots easily enough. So, there are
noticeable
performance benefits if you want them.
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