Hi, I've got an Hobbico hobbistar (RTF) with a OS engine 0.65LA with a 14oz fuel tank (I use powermaster 10%) and I get only 8 to 10 minutes of flight time, can someone give me some idea on how to get more flight time, is my engine isn't set properly or what?

I never flight with more thans 2/3 of throttle.

Thanks

check your clunk, it may not be reaching the bottom of the tank

My clunk seems to be ok, about ½ inch from the buttom, but I could recheck and reconnect everythings.

thanks

Make sure the clunk can touch the bottom of the tank, but should be about 1/4 inch away from the back wall of the tank so it does not get stuck.

Graham

With that tank you should get at least 14-20 minutes of flight time as the engine only consumes about .6 to .7 oz/min at wide open throttle.

That's assuming a properly tuned engine too. An untuned engine can toss away unburned fuel at a high rate.

As stated check the clunk and do a ground engine duration timing test.

Once the engine quits check the tank to see how much fuel remains.

If there is still a good visible amount of fuel you know the answer....

Hey, thanks a lot, that a good idea, I gonna do that as soon as I have a litlle time to myself!

But in case I have a engine miss ajustment, could you, please give me a little hint on How to set it correctly?

the best bet is to have someone with some good experience look at the engine as far as adjustments, did you set it up or did someone else (instructor?)

As far as the cluck it should be touching the bottom of the tank, and as said above it should be about a quarter inch from the back or as far as it needs to be so it doesn't touch the back of the tank!

Good luck,
Austin

My Hobbistar was a great plane. My friends were all blown away how fast this plane flew.
Anyway, I could routinely get 15-18 minutes of flight out of mine. It will get better when you get it broken in. You do have to get it tuned well though. If you have it running too rich it will blow a lot of unburned fuel out the exhaust. The 65 LA is a great little engine and they aren't to hard to get running right. If you get an experianced person to help you tune it it might help.
Do you fly at full throttle the whole time you are up?

if your engine is new.less than say 5 tanks of gas you want the engine to run rich, which can suck a tank dry pretty quick.
if your not comfortable with adjusting your engine as acarter said get someone with expertise to adjusted it for you. running too lean can destory your engine

The manual goes into the tuning process, but it does miss one point...

That is not only do you need to tune the engine, but you also need to perform a nose up and nose down tuning test as well.

e.g.

With 1/2 a tank of fuel but no more...

Tune up the engine, so that it runs at MAX RPM's at WOT, then back it down about 3 clicks. The engine should slow down slightly.

Still at WOT, pinch the fuel line for a second ( no more ) you should hear the engine briefly speed up a bit then go back to where it was before.

If so, point the nose up. Again the engine should or might speed up, but it should NOT quit.

Adjust it so that it doesn't quit when pointed nose up at WOT.

Once done, point it nose down about 25-30 degrees.

The engine will slow down a bit, but again it should not quit.

If it does quit check for air in the fuel lines. If there is air the clunk was uncovered during the nose down test, and you may have to re-test with more fuel in the tank.

Make sure that the engine does not quit at WOT nose down.


Now bring it back to idle and adjust the bleed screw.

On the LA you need to UNSCREW ( open ) the bleed screw to lean out the engine.

I find it impossible to get the low end TOO lean, and usually it remains way too rich no matter what you do.

Perform a PINCH test... but this time pinch the line off longer.

The engine should continue to run for 2-3 seconds and speed up as it does so before cutting out.

If it runs for more than 3-4 seconds it's too rich.

If it stops immediately it's too lean.

Now peform a nose up and nose down idle test. In either position the engine should not quit.

Finally leave the engine on the ground at idle for about 5-6 minutes.

The engine should not slow down or cut out.

If it slows down it may still be too rich... ( typical for the O.S. LA's though... ).

Sorry, I'm a little bit of a rooki, could you tell me what is the WOT,
thanks
SDG666

Wide Open Throttle