8

Climb, Cruise, DescentFlying

Climbing the 210The Cessna 210 and T210 have very nice “real world” climb perfor-mance, but you will find the P210N climbs a bit slower. The P210N has adequate climb performance in standard temperature environments, but it takes careful operation in hot climbs. If you live or fly in hot climates, you may find high oil temperatures and CHTs during high ambient air temperature climbs with the T and P models. The R model aircraft are not as affected by hot ambient air operations. These air-planes have big engines that need a lot of air and fuel to help cool them in the climb during high temperature operations. Think of it this way: the airflow cools the outside of the engine, the fuel cools the inside.

Don’t be surprised if your airplane doesn’t make the rate of climb num-ber in the POH, as they are based on a standard weight aircraft that is brand new (minimally equipped) and flown by a factory test pilot.

Your airplane probably weighs more than the flight test aircraft that was used to develop the numbers in the chart above. Your aircraft probably has more drag from optional equipment (antennas, air conditioning, scoops, etc.) and doesn’t have a brand new engine and propeller. So if you are using the same climb configuration as shown on the climb rate chart, yet getting 50-100 FPM less than the factory climb rate, don’t be disappointed by that — but remember it and use it for your flight planning purposes. This kind of information is critical to you when calculating minimum climb gradients on IFR departures. Use “real” information when you know it, not just published data.

1098 Climb, Cruise, Descent

110 Flying the Cessna 210

As you already know, when you climb with a normally aspirated engine, the higher you climb, the less manifold pressure you can main-tain. Thus, in the Cessna 210, your available horsepower decreases as you climb and your rate of climb will diminish accordingly, even if at full throttle and maximum-allowable RPM. You will of course be leaning the mixture in the climb to maintain best available power, using the Cessna Power Computer or the “Maximum Performance Take-Off and Climb Setting” placard that is located adjacent to the fuel flow indicator.

Those of you that own or fly Cessna 210s with the Continental IO-550 engine conversion will love the increased performance and the fuel control system; it has an altitude-compensating fuel system for climb. You still may have to manually lean for cruise, depending on the power setting you are using. When the IO-550 is installed, an engine manual is included. It is well worth your time to read how that engine operates, as with any modification, your original POH will not reflect how to manage the IO-550.

The turbocharged aircraft can normally attain sea-level horsepower up to 18,000 feet, so you can set a desired manifold pressure and RPM and climb at that power and rate of climb to the flight levels on a standard day.

A word of caution for the turbocharged aircraft operators. If you lean to the mixture settings shown in Section 5 of the POH, you will be running the engine with a very lean fuel/air ratio. This will result in high engine temperatures and shorter engine life. Engine temperature limits (oil; CHT; exhaust gas temperature, or EGT; and turbine inlet

Manifold pressure and fuel flow indicator

1118 Climb, Cruise, Descent

temperature, or TIT) are presented with the maximum temperatures, but that doesn’t mean you can run the engine all day long with the temperatures at redline. Most 210 operators keep the CHT at less than 400° (preferably in the 380° range or less) and the TIT in the vicinity or 1500°-1600°, depending on the other temperatures. The real key to operating these engines is keeping them cool. If you operate with oil below 200°, CHTs in the 380° range, and EGT/TIT wherever you need it to be to keep the CHTs in the desired range and the oil cool, you should be able to take your engine very close to TBO.

When operating in high ambient air temperature conditions, we must use all available techniques to keep these engines cool. These tech-niques include, when necessary: climbing with full-rich mixture all the way to cruise altitude, fully opening cowl flaps during the climb, and using a lower angle of attack/higher airspeed than Vy. (I cruise climb most 210s at 120 KIAS to accomplish two things: one, keeping the engine cool; two, allowing me to see over the dash and look for traffic.) Also, although RPM is primary power, it may be necessary to use a lower RPM and a higher MP to maintain the same horsepower output, since a lower RPM generally will yield lower CHTs.

P210 that has transitioned to a 4° cruise climb during a missed approach

112 Flying the Cessna 210

Sometimes it is necessary during climb to use the high boost setting on the fuel pump during climb to keep the CHTs in the desired range. To do this, you have to hold the red auxiliary fuel pump switch in the ON position, as it is spring loaded. When you no longer need the high boost pump running and you release the red switch, you must turn off the yellow auxiliary pump switch, as it is not spring loaded. You must be careful if you use this technique, because if you forget to turn off the yellow switch, the engine may die when you retard the throttle. You can learn more about this yellow switch in Chapters 3 and 7 of your POH/AFM.

The Engine Analyzer — what Cessna didn’t have to include when the airplanes were built — is now a crucial part of our engine operations in the Centurion product line. We are able to accurately see all of our engine parameters in a single instrument if we have one installed. There are two major companies that produce engine analyzers normally installed in 210s: JPI Instruments and Electronics International. They both provide the desired data in a very usable manner.

85% power climb