Austro E4-C Performance at Altitude

[tjmoody]

I was hoping to hear from other folks flying behind the E4-C at altitudes above 10,000 feet. It you set the power lever/s for max climb (92%) at what altitude do you see the power start to drop off and what is the maximum power you see at higher altitudes e.g. 15,000 - 18,000?

I am just coming off a lengthy effort to diagnose significantly lower boost on the LH engine vs. the RH engine. Ironically, the problems seems to have resolved after we swapped the turbos between engines to see if the problem followed the turbo originally on the LH engine. It didn't but the activity seemed to resolve the issue. Everyone is assuming that reinstalling all the turbo hoses etc. resolved a leak that hadn't been identified previously.

Anyway, I'd be interest to hear from others what they are seeing at altitude. It seems I can hold 92% climb power up to 11-12,000 ft and 80-85% around 15,000 ft. This appears to be consistent or even a little better than the charts in the Austro E4-C Operating Manual.

Any other experiences would be appreciated.

[sedatedokc]

92% is available to to 12000

At 18000 it is 79%


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[mfdutra]

I climb at 92% and the power starts coming down at 14-15k, depending on temperature. I can share some engine data, if you want.

[tjmoody]

I climb at 92% and the power starts coming down at 14-15k, depending on temperature. I can share some engine data, if you want.

Marlon - That's impressive that you can hold 92% to 14-15k. I wonder if that is a feature of the DA62 AE330/E4P-C engine?

Trevor

[mfdutra]

I don't know. I've only flown a DA42 below 6000 or so, during my multi training and check ride.

[Boatguy]

I climb at 92% and the power starts coming down at 14-15k, depending on temperature. I can share some engine data, if you want.

Marlon - That's impressive that you can hold 92% to 14-15k. I wonder if that is a feature of the DA62 AE330/E4P-C engine?

The E4P-C is a different engine with different boost pressures than the E4-C. It's not apples to apples.

[neema]

As far as I know, the turbo and exhaust manifold are all the same between the 42 and 62. Only difference is higher boost/manifold pressure in the 62. They both hit their critical altitude around the same altitude but the extra few hundred RPM may give the 62's Austro's an edge.

[CFIDave]

The DA42-VI has a higher critical altitude. The DA62 and DA42-VI Austro engines use the same capacity turbocharger, so the DA62 with its slightly higher boost pressure (controlled by software) runs out of turbo capacity sooner (i.e., at a lower altitude).

[tjmoody]

Using this chart from the Austro Operations Manual, with climb power set to 92%, we should see 92% up to 10,000ft. Then 87% at 12,000, 80% at 14,500 and 75% at 16,000. I am seeing better than that ... eg 88% in climb at 14,000 on my last cross country flight. So it appears the engines are performing above spec now.

[Boatguy]

I haven't seen this yet on my 62, but in my 40NG I would exceed prop speed before a power limitation. I forget the max prop RPM in the 40NG, but there was enough power to spin the prop faster than the upper limit and trigger the flashing overspeed indication on the MFD. Bottom line, I needed to pull the power back to keep the prop below overspeed.

That said, I could still climb to 16,000', though I'm sure I was not at MTOW.