The C152 is by far my favorite aircraft to fly.  I have spent countless hours sight seeing and just having a blast.  However, all of that has occurred at 3500 or below.  So today, I tried something different, and climbed this puppy high.  Or at least tried to. I encountered something I didn't expect.  I just couldn't get the plane to climb higher than 5500 feet.  It started to act sluggish around 5000.  My takeoff airport has an altitude of 800 feet so the first 4000 feet of climb seemed to be fine.  I was climbing at about 75 knots with a climb rate of about 600fpm.  And then everything went to sluggish.

Heres the thing, I took it for a flight once from KEGE to KASE, and it seemed to fly fine well above 10000 then, but that was right after the release.

Would some C152 lover give theirs a try and just do a slow and steady climb from a near sea level airport and see if you too start having trouble in the 5000 foot range.  It would be interesting to see if this is a systemic issue.  

Thanks!

Note:  I was flying the recently modded C152X when I noticed it, but I removed the mod, rebooted, and same thing happened with the default aircraft.

9 minutes ago, LarryD said:

The C152 is by far my favorite aircraft to fly.  I have spent countless hours sight seeing and just having a blast.  However, all of that has occurred at 3500 or below.  So today, I tried something different, and climbed this puppy high.  Or at least tried to. I encountered something I didn't expect.  I just couldn't get the plane to climb higher than 5500 feet.  It started to act sluggish around 5000.  My takeoff airport has an altitude of 800 feet so the first 4000 feet of climb seemed to be fine.  I was climbing at about 75 knots with a climb rate of about 600fpm.  And then everything went to sluggish.

Heres the thing, I took it for a flight once from KEGE to KASE, and it seemed to fly fine well above 10000 then, but that was right after the release.

Would some C152 lover give theirs a try and just do a slow and steady climb from a near sea level airport and see if you too start having trouble in the 5000 foot range.  It would be interesting to see if this is a systemic issue.  

Thanks!

Note:  I was flying the recently modded C152X when I noticed it, but I removed the mod, rebooted, and same thing happened with the default aircraft.

Did you lean the mixture?

Not leaning the mixture at 3,000 ft will do this.

That was the issue.  Thank You!

Thank goodness for this forum.  Time to start reading up a little bit to see what else I am missing.  Just having too much fun flying.  Time to start learning.

Squirrel of youtube fame has a really good video concerning leaning the mixture.

I guess we're not supposed to link anymore, so I won't.

27 minutes ago, RichieFly said:

Squirrel of youtube fame has a really good video concerning leaning the mixture.

I guess we're not supposed to link anymore, so I won't.

I'll look.

My understand is that yes, you can link.  The only thing not linkable is to sites that are trying to sell products.  I just read that today from one of the moderators.

Edit: Just watched it.  Very informative. Link below.  

 

Edited September 7, 20205 yr by LarryD
Add info

1 hour ago, FlyingInACessna said:

Not leaning the mixture at 3,000 ft will do this.

How about when you taxi?

4 minutes ago, sd_flyer said:

How about when you taxi?

IRL you’d probably foul the mags up 😉 Would be nice if they modeled that 

Edited September 7, 20205 yr by FlyingInACessna

31 minutes ago, FlyingInACessna said:

IRL you’d probably foul the mags up 😉 Would be nice if they modeled that 

By leaving mixture for taxi?

3 minutes ago, sd_flyer said:

By leaving mixture for taxi?

not seeing anything in the operating procedures to lean while taxiing. In fact a search of the entire POH I've been using for the 152 only says to lean during cruise

7 minutes ago, Gaiiden said:

not seeing anything in the operating procedures to lean while taxiing. In fact a search of the entire POH I've been using for the 152 only says to lean during cruise

Well POH doesn't tell you a lot of things. For example it doesn't explain how engine operate or how to extend it operational life. POH is just quick reference guide for pilot, it's not maintenance manual. POH tells you to lean for cruise because all performance tables are based on properly lean mixture; otherwise, numbers will come up different. 

Any way here is a shot read:

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2017/march/flight-training-magazine/technique-leaning-the-mixture

50 minutes ago, sd_flyer said:

By leaving mixture for taxi?

I meant by leaving it at full rich for taxi.

7 hours ago, LarryD said:

That was the issue.  Thank You!

Thank goodness for this forum.  Time to start reading up a little bit to see what else I am missing.  Just having too much fun flying.  Time to start learning.

or use automixture lol haha yes i tend to get lazy with age.

IRL on these engine types you definitely lean the mixture out during taxi to stop carbon plug fouling. You also don't leave it on the idle governor for long as that fouls plugs too (both carbon and oil), typically you'd go for about 1000 rpm. Fouling isn't modelled in any flight sim by default afaik, but A2A and some others had it simulated on FSX & P3D though.

Just remember to full rich mixture for your run up mag check and takeoff, and do an idle test after run up too. If you have roughness during run up, lean the mixture out and let the engine run rough for half a minute, then enrich again and see if the plugs have cleared. If the engine isn't fuel injected you run carb heat for 10 seconds during run up too.

In flight one has to be careful not to over lean as that gives you lead fouling and high temperatures! That's one reason why often pilots fly slightly rich of peak EGT as oppose to slightly lean, sacrificing a little fuel economy to be kinder in the engine (there's no EGT on this C152 so you lean until roughness starts then reenrichen slightly to get it smooth again).

Of course, electronic fuel injection with FADEC solves all these problems, the computers so it all.

Edited September 7, 20205 yr by ckyliu

14 hours ago, LarryD said:

That was the issue.  Thank You!

Thank goodness for this forum.  Time to start reading up a little bit to see what else I am missing.  Just having too much fun flying.  Time to start learning.

It's a great aircraft to learn on. To properly lean, pull out the mixture (slowly) until the engine starts to run rough or until you notice a drop in RPM. Then push it back in until the engine runs smooth again or the RPM goes back up to it's peak. The roughness is probably easier to gauge, you can do it by just listening.

Remember, you may have to do this multiple times as you go higher. And don't forget to increase the mixture (push it in) as you go lower. It should be full rich/full forward for landing in most cases, unless you're landing at a field that's over 3,000 feet or so.

And yes, that's how it's done in real life. Enjoy.

Edited September 7, 20205 yr by mtr75