Fixed Gear, Fixed Pitch Prop, 180 HP = Blazing Transcontinental
Speed Record
Glasair Pilot Bruce
Hammer, of Lafayette, LA, decided he needed a challenge; something
he could accomplish in his nearly ten year old Glasair I TD which
he built and completed in 1997. Hammer, who has 16,000 hours helo
time and 2,000 hours in fixed wing, has flown his Glasair in five
Sun 100 Air Races and six AirVenture Races, consistently placing at
the top. His 'speedier-than-most' Glasair is equipped
with a fixed pitch prop and a normally aspirated 180-hp
Lycoming.
The speed-minded Hammer started thinking about speed records and
decided to make a run at the Transcontinental Eastbound Record in
Class C-1.b (1,102 – 2,205 lbs gross T.O. weight).
To qualify for a Transcontinental record, a pilot has to have a
starting point within 30 miles of the West Coast and a finish line
30 miles from the East Coast. Thus, he chose San Diego’s
Lindbergh Field and Jacksonville, Florida as his log in/log out
sites. He set up his record attempt with representatives for NAA
and flew over to Ramona, CA on Friday, March 3, 2006. Early the
next morning, March 4, after de-icing his aircraft with a garden
hose, he took off with 104 gallons of fuel, climbed to
17,000’, activated his flight plan and overflew the tower at
San Diego.
With a diminished fuel load, he went up to FL 190 at Imperial,
CA, to FL 210 at Wink, TX before leveling off at FL 230 abeam
Mobile, AL. 100 miles out of Jacksonville, he asked for a slow
letdown and descended to FL 190 before passing over the tower at
296 mph. A Transcontinental Eastbound Record is based on average
speed enroute. Hammer covered the distance in 8 hours, 5 minutes
and 21 seconds, giving him a ground speed of 258 mph, nearly 57 mph
faster than the previous C-1.b attempt. That record, set two years
earlier, was in a Glasair I RG that averaged 201 mph.
Hammer logged a total
of 9.5 hours on the flight, taking into account the takeoff, climb
and descent outside the official course. He burned 76 gallons that
day. Besides a panel mount Garmin 155XL GPS he carried two portable
Garmins, a 396 and 295, for backup. He spent a total of 2 hours in
IMC, picking up a coat of frost which cost him 15 mph. While in the
clouds he experienced moderate turbulence. A total of 20 people
sponsored his flight and Sky Ox gave him an O2 system that he used
in combination with a finger blood oxygen sensor for safety
reasons.
Hammer reports that he felt a sense of euphoria and relief that
are difficult to describe once he crossed his finish line.
“I seriously doubt that any certified aircraft could even
come close to that kind of accomplishment,” said Hammer.
“Most of them are based on technology that’s so old,
there’s no way they could be competitive. The only possible
contender for that record would have to be another homebuilt
aircraft and there aren’t many out there that can be
considered for that kind of mission profile. The Glasair was
designed for speed and economy and it scores very high on both
counts.”