If Bruce Bohannon so much as checks the air in the tires of the Exxon Flyin' Tiger, you can bet he has another record in mind for it.

He's not setting those records in front of the throngs any more, though, as he said at the AOPA Expo this year. Last year, you may recall, he set seven time-to-climb and altitude records (he knew of five at the time), just before the AOPA Convention in Palm Springs (CA). This year, he set some more, before the Philadelphia convention. He set them in Texas, and out over the Gulf of Mexico.

Officially, Bruce should get recognition for time-to-climb to 15,000 meters (not a typo -- 15,000 meters!), at 23 minutes and 47 seconds; he should nail the class altitude in horizontal flight, at around 42,122 feet; and he should take home another certificate for absolute US altitude in class, at "somewhere about 44,000 feet." [Previous records were, respectively, 31:03; 40,500; and 41,611 -- all held by... Bruce Bohannon, in the Exxon Flyin' Tiger --ed.] Unofficially, Bruce probably set some kind of motorglider record, as well, a record he didn't set out to beat.

It could have/would have been better, if only...

If only the team hadn't improved something, it might have been different. A high-powered machine like the Tiger uses a lot of cooling at some altitudes, at some phases of flight. Typically, when Bruce has comfortably blown past another record, he'll stay at that altitude for a couple minutes and let the engine cool down, while also allowing the machine to speed up; then he's off to a higher altitude.

For this run, higher than he's ever gone (50,000 feet was the target), the spray coolant was changed to windshield-washer fluid, replacing the usual distilled water. The theory was that the washer fluid would freeze at a lower temperature, affording Bruce some cooling, in even cooler air than he had encountered before. The extra cooling, the team figured, would allow Bruce to use higher power settings (available from a Kelley Aerospace turbo that's about the size of a washing machine drum), at higher altitudes: that's what the Flyin' Tiger is all about.

Well, it worked, in a manner of speaking. Unfortunately, the unforeseen interjected itself, and that extra cooling wasn't needed as much as everyone had anticipated, 'way up there, where the OAT was about -72F.

The long and short of the attempt was that the spray didn't get warmed enough by the oil cooler on which it was sprayed; without that additional warming (particularly of the air that exited the oil cooler), the overspray refroze, in a very inconvenient place: it covered the gas tank vent.

With zero fuel pressure available (the pump was pumpin' for all its worth, but at some point it couldn't overcome the vacuum), the record attempt had to end. The problem for Bruce was, he was maybe 60 miles out over the Gulf, and his engine wasn't running. The good news was, he was at 44,000 feet when it quit, so his alternate was -- what, Spain?

We'll add depth to this story here, this week -- keep reading Aero-News!

FMI: Tiger