An annotation example

Here is an example showing how you might analyze portions of your flights, and annotate the graphs to illustrate various flight events or conditions. All the annotations on this graph were created by using the Mark tag of the menu box:

Wow, until looking at my FlightSaver data, I didn't realize quite how hot yesterday's takeoff was from N. Las Vegas. (Almost 105°F according to the OAT probe). So not too surprising that I had oil temperatures exceeding 210F. During the climb I switched back to the traditional full rich mode as I saw the rather warm engine temperatures. However after analyzing the data, I'm beginning to question this method even on a hot day such as 5-July in Las Vegas.

I enabled Ch5 on the display since that was the hottest. Note from the fuel flow trace that takeoff was at T=11.8 minutes and I stayed full rich (32gph) for only 1.3 minutes. (Delta cursors are useful for determining that). Then I went to a lean of peak (LOP) mixture setting (14.5 gph) while still climbing. The CHT continued to increase for another minute (up to 384°F), and then started decreasing towards quite comfortable levels. (Looks like I increased CAS and slowed my climb rate somewhat, which probably helped this cooling trend along.) Then at about 17.5 minutes I slowed down and increased the climb rate. The CHT started rising, although modestly. Then at T=19 minutes I went back to a full rich (30 gph) climb for better cooling. Note however that this didn't seem to have the expected benefit. Climb rate did increase somewhat due to the increased power, but the CHT headed higher eventually peaking at 385°F.

Looks to me like I could have stayed cooler by remaining at 14.5gph with a modest climb rate. This probably would have meant some circling to give me time to get over the rapidly rising terrain. However I would have been able to get those few minutes back (and more) by using the fuel saved by avoiding the full rich climb during the cruise portion (perhaps going to 15.5 or 16 gph during cruise).