DENSITY Altitude: 2 years ago a guy at my airport put an aerovee 50-65hp on his sonex and cartwheeled it on a 3000' grass rwy after he got past V1, established ground effect, and decided to pull the plane off the ground to fly and the runway end neared. 4000hrs total time in jets primarily doesn't really fulfill the need to calculate density altitude on a historical basis.
It was a humid summer 80-90F and we're only at 1000'msl elev. He had recently completed the 40hr flyoff in the 'same' weather and airport. I saw his first several flights. Even on a 3000' pavement runway, his plane did not demand air superiority on takeoff if you get my drift. It is just safer to have something stronger, and besides, running a larger engine at 70% power is better than running a small engine at 100% all the time. Krs need that weight of an engine up front anyway for CG, so do it for that. Andy
