Today was a great day - Not only did I get to fly almost 3 hours for free, I went to a concert with my dad and ran into a ton of friends there too!
I'll save the gory details of the flight for the end here, but basically we went to Muncie, IN to retrieve a charter plane that had been left there after an engine failure. I watched my flight instructor fly on the way down, then I flew on the way back. It went really well, and I feel really good about it. :-)
Afterwards, I went downtown and met my dad at Morphy Hall for a concert by Sotto Voce, a world-class tuba/euphonium quartet that was started at UW-Madison several years ago. I saw them with my dad earlier this year (January?) and thoroughly enjoyed both concerts. One of the pieces they played today struck me as the perfect title for this entry - Wilkenschatten, which supposedly translates to "A Walk in the Clouds." (I was flying in clouds earlier.)
The best part was that I ran into a bunch of friends. Tina, who I went to high school with. Toby, who I marched with '91-'93. Adam, who I marched with in '96. The best, though, was some of my cohorts from the UWM Tuba/Euph ensemble... Chewy (who also marched Madison), Russ, and Jon (another Madison alum). I was really happy to see them all!
Okay, now on to the gory details of my flight:
(I believe the word I've used in the subject means "A walk in the clouds"... It's a piece of music that was played at a concert I saw tonight after flying all day, and I thought it appropriate.)
Today I learned a LOT. The mission: Retrieve Chieftain 3591U from MIE. The taxi down was none other than Dakota 8183X, which I've been working on my hi-performance endorsement in the last couple of days.
My day consisted of two flights: One in the back seat watching two experienced pilots (my CFII, Joe, and the charter pilot, Gary) fly IFR (actual IMC for part of it) and a flight back to Madison in the left seat IFR with a good solid hour of actual.
Some impressions of the flight down: Joe can cruise through checklists a lot faster than I can, and he flies with precision. It certainly gave me a standard to aspire to. However, I still have the best eyes: I was the first of the three of us to spot traffic on three different traffic calls.
Joe tried valiantly for the short way around Chicago (V177) but this was our conversation with Clearance for the way down:
"Madison Clearance, Dakota 8183X IFR to MIE" "Dakota 8183X, cleared as file... Uhhh, I don't think that route's gonna work. Taxi to 21 via Juliet and Bravo, we'll have your new routing in a few minutes."
As I expected, our new routing included KELSI, the magic intersection for staying out of the way of Chicago approach.
Anyway... Enough about that. I want to talk about the part where *I* flew! (duh ;-)
After lunch at Vince's Joe and I waited for Gary to get the Chieftain running and then fired up the Dakota. I got out my new Viban view-limiting device. I'm kind of disappointed in it, but with some paper taped to the left-hand side and a sectional in the window, it worked pretty well. It definitely beats the heck out of Foggles, but I think I'm gonna send it back for a Francis hood.
Our filed route for the return trip was Muncie direct Boiler V399 Peotone direct KELSI direct Rockford direct Madison, and we were cleared as filed. I took off and stayed perfectly on the centerline (gotta add all them horses SLOWLY). After takeoff it was on with the hood and over to Indy Center (Todd, were you working today?)
Things went pretty well in the beginning. I'm to the point now where Joe mostly is giving me hints to make things easier rather than "you did this wrong" type of stuff. It feels good!
With the longer cross country there was more time available to fly, to think, to get ahead of the plane. I was doing all the right things. However, all of the flight planning was soon out the window, before we even reached Boiler: "Dakota 8183X, turn left heading 305, vectors to clear Chicago airspace..." And we were on vectors almost until RFD!
Well, we can't just let things be easy right? So my attitude indicator suddenly disappeared behind a cover. OK, no problem, I've done this before. Heck, I feel perfectly comfortable with no AI.
A little TOO comfortable, perhaps. 30 seconds later, the DG failed too. That's all right - Still standard partial panel. Keep the wings level, check 305 on the compass every once in a while, you know the drill.
Then, the compass failed too. No direct heading reference... OK, this is getting tougher now! Extra concentration on holding wings level, and when I notice a departure from that, try to do the opposite for the same length of time. After doing that for a while and working it out OK, the compass came back to life. But you know what that means...
Bam bam bam, things start failing left and right and center too! For the next hour plus, there were never fewer than three instruments covered up, and as many as five!
Altimeter failed, watch the VSI, do the same "averaging" technique as when the compass and DG were both failed. And look, your pitot iced up, there goes the ASI. Pitot heat on, ASI back, Whoops, now your VSI failed too, airspeed is the last pitch reference. And just in case you weren't having enough fun, there goes the turn coordinator!
So at this point I'm trying to maintain 6000 feet and 305 degrees (and keep the airplane right side up) with nothing but the airspeed indicator and the magnetic compass. Yow! Joe did keep peeking at the altimeter just to double-check, but I didn't get the luxury.
Well, all these "failures" had the desired effect. After about 10 minutes of being almost instrument-less, I'd managed to hold my altitude within 60 feet just guesstimating corrections, and hold my heading within 10 degrees. And most importantly, keep the greasy side down and maintain situational awareness (station keeping with VOR's and an NDB despite being on vectors). Then, all at once, Joe pulled all of the instrument covers off and said "OK, you've got all your instruments back. It should feel like a CAVU VFR day now!" And it did, almost.
What changed VERY noticeably was my scan. The cross- checking was almost effortless. I was seeing things I've never seen before. For the first time ever, I noticed a subtle pitch change while I was looking at the airspeed indicator. In 40 minutes or so, my IFR flying went from marginally passable to rock solid.
With the "hacked" Viban setup we also passed into actual conditions at some point without me being able to see it. There was still occasional ground contact I guess, because Joe wouldn't let me take the contraption off.
Finally, somewhere west of Joliet we were given direct Rockford. What with all the vectors and partial (REALLY partial) panel operation, I was a little bit weak on including the navs in the scan, but still better than I've been until the last couple of flights, so overall, OK.
After crossing RFD and getting cleared direct back to Madison, I started the approach checklist:
Position: Just north of RFD
ATIS: Information Golf, 600 broken, 2400 overcast, 2 miles in mist. Sweet!
Instruments: DG and Altimeter set.
Nav radios: Nav2 left on the Madison VOR to continue enroute navigation, Nav1 tuned to localizer, ID'ed (kinda weak), twisted to inbound course, markers set. DME tuned to Madison VOR and ID'ed. ADF tuned to Monah for the miss.
Com radios: Now on Madison approach, number 2 to tower.
Approach briefing: 2700 to WINSR, 182 degrees inbound, 1300-1/2 for localizer, punch 3:36 into the timer, 1060 -1/2 for full ILS, missed climb straight ahead direct MONAH and hold.
Landing checklist: Gas on fullest tank, pump on, Undercarriage down and bolted, Mixture and Prop deferred, Switches on as needed, Seat belts secured.
Listen... And we're once again on vectors.
This is the most prepared I've felt for an approach in a long time. I wasn't spacing on anything, got everything done plenty early and double-checked things too, and even anticipated what ATC was gonna do with me.
We were vectored a fair ways north of the field. Joe finally let me yank the Viban off and use the murk outside as my view limiting device. They vectored us through the localizer and then back on it to let a couple jets pass us, then we were cleared for the approach.
The approach wasn't the prettiest thing in the world - I was practically back on the localizer before my turn inbound, went through, didn't pick a high enough intercept angle, etc... But, in some ways it was an improvement. I called out "Glideslope alive" rather than "Oh crap I'm already above it". I noticed trends in the needles rather than just positions. My only real problem was that I was overcorrecting. However, once I'd gotten firmly established I kept both needles within a dot and a half at the worst.
I first spotted the rabbit at 1300 MSL (440 AGL) and stayed on the glideslope needle as we busted one last cloud and I saw the runway lights at about 300 AGL. This was my third approach in fairly low actual (ie within 20 seconds or so of being a miss). There is nothing quite as satisfying as getting your tail kicked trying to keep that bird flying right through the clouds and then after all your hard work on the approach seeing the runway slowly, magically appear out of the murk right where it's supposed to be. It's a really cool sight.
As we were taxiing back in, Joe said "That's some of the best IFR flying I've seen from you." I concur - Today *was* the best IFR flying I've done. I'm finally starting to feel competent! Yee haw! :-D
Oh, and today's flight put me over the XC PIC requirements for the IR, I got my Wings Phase I signoff, and I only have an hour of performance landings to go to earn my high performance endorsement. Woohoo!
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Sunday, November 14, 2004
High-performance disappointment.
Today's mission: Earn my high performance endorsement and the right to rent the Piper Dakota. I had the Dakota and CFI reserved yesterday as well, but would not have passed I'M SAFE so I rescheduled for all day today, and hoped to get my 5 hours in.
The plan: One flight VFR, bang out some airwork, a bunch of landings, then go on a cross country using NDB nav and shooting NDB approaches at both ends to burn up the rest of the required 5 hours.
The reality: CFI injured himself somehow and showed up way late. (No problem, he's cheerfully waited for me too - Plus that gave me time to sit in the Dakota and find everything.) Didn't depart first flight until about 12:30, came back down at 1:45 to get food before the Jet Room closed, back up at 5:15 (!) for some more landings, second (OK, would have been third) flight scrubbed. :-(
Believe it or not, the flights actually went pretty well despite my subject line. By the time Joe arrived I'd preflighted and we went up almost right away. I'd flown an SR22 before so I knew I'd need a legful of rudder on the takeoff roll - No surprises there.
Climb rate was around 1500fpm. It sure felt different being at 500+ AGL by the time we reached the opposite end of the runway! Departure cleared us up to 4,000 right away and it was off to the Southeast practice area for some airwork.
First was slow flight. I pulled power, pulled more power, rinse lather repeat, and finally got it down to 55 KIAS, well behind the power curve. Holy rudder force, Batman! I was about to make my leg fall off when I decided that I might as well use the rudder trim. That made things much easier.
The sight picture out the window and down the wing was rather interesting. It seemed like an extreme pitch-up attitude but was in reality less than 15 degrees.
We spent quite a bit of time in slow flight, including turns, climbs, and descents. Next, power off stalls. The Dakota stalls like any other PA28, but I had to learn a bit of a different recovery technique: Rather than letting all of the yoke pressure out right away, I had to slowly relax it to prevent the heavy engine from pitching us down too much.
Now, to power on stalls. I've been eager to do power on stalls in a high(er) performance airplane. I keep reading on here that you can't stall a plane that isn't heavily loaded with full power without exceeding 30 degrees pitch up.
WRONG. Slow to rotation speed, FULL power, 20 degrees pitch up, hold for about 5 seconds, stall. (2612 pounds at takeoff, MGW is 3000). I have yet to find a plane that won't stall at full power and less than +30 degrees when the proper entry technique is used.
We headed back in. I heeded Joe's warnings about not having much to slow the plane down with, and managed an almost-perfect approach: Down from 4500 feet at 130+ knots, level off at TPA long enough to slow to 102 and drop the flaps, and that put me right at the VASI glideslope. I began descending again and only needed a single minor power correction the whole way down.
Any good feelings I had about the approach were erased upon landing, though. I flared just a hair high (maybe two feet higher than I wanted to), then started to let her down too fast, began to recover, bounced lightly once, and then stuck the wheels to the pavement. Not too pretty. But hey, it was my first landing in type - That's a good excuse right?
After eating in the Jet Room and planning a flight (which we never took) to PVB via NDB's only, we went back up a few minutes before sunset for some pattern work. We were tossed back and forth between runways 21 and 14 so much it seemed like a new pattern! Takeoff from 21, left traffic to 14, right traffic to 14, left traffic back to 21, etc. I got in 9 total landings, including 3 at night. (All were stop & go's.) We did some normal, some short, and some soft. All of them were better than my first, but only a couple were real greasers.
My worst problem, however, ended up being the flying part: I'm so used to not reaching pattern altitude until at least the turn to downwind that I blew right through by 100-200 feet more often than not. This plane is to pattern altitude by the time you roll out on crosswind! My patterns weren't the prettiest either, but that's really getting picky. I did one forward slip to land, one engine-out approach and landing, then one greaser with no flaps and we called it a night.
The disappointment part: CFI says he wants to see me do everything we did today again tomorrow before he'll sign me off. *grump* Kinda makes me feel like I didn't accomplish anything today, when I know I did.
The plan: One flight VFR, bang out some airwork, a bunch of landings, then go on a cross country using NDB nav and shooting NDB approaches at both ends to burn up the rest of the required 5 hours.
The reality: CFI injured himself somehow and showed up way late. (No problem, he's cheerfully waited for me too - Plus that gave me time to sit in the Dakota and find everything.) Didn't depart first flight until about 12:30, came back down at 1:45 to get food before the Jet Room closed, back up at 5:15 (!) for some more landings, second (OK, would have been third) flight scrubbed. :-(
Believe it or not, the flights actually went pretty well despite my subject line. By the time Joe arrived I'd preflighted and we went up almost right away. I'd flown an SR22 before so I knew I'd need a legful of rudder on the takeoff roll - No surprises there.
Climb rate was around 1500fpm. It sure felt different being at 500+ AGL by the time we reached the opposite end of the runway! Departure cleared us up to 4,000 right away and it was off to the Southeast practice area for some airwork.
First was slow flight. I pulled power, pulled more power, rinse lather repeat, and finally got it down to 55 KIAS, well behind the power curve. Holy rudder force, Batman! I was about to make my leg fall off when I decided that I might as well use the rudder trim. That made things much easier.
The sight picture out the window and down the wing was rather interesting. It seemed like an extreme pitch-up attitude but was in reality less than 15 degrees.
We spent quite a bit of time in slow flight, including turns, climbs, and descents. Next, power off stalls. The Dakota stalls like any other PA28, but I had to learn a bit of a different recovery technique: Rather than letting all of the yoke pressure out right away, I had to slowly relax it to prevent the heavy engine from pitching us down too much.
Now, to power on stalls. I've been eager to do power on stalls in a high(er) performance airplane. I keep reading on here that you can't stall a plane that isn't heavily loaded with full power without exceeding 30 degrees pitch up.
WRONG. Slow to rotation speed, FULL power, 20 degrees pitch up, hold for about 5 seconds, stall. (2612 pounds at takeoff, MGW is 3000). I have yet to find a plane that won't stall at full power and less than +30 degrees when the proper entry technique is used.
We headed back in. I heeded Joe's warnings about not having much to slow the plane down with, and managed an almost-perfect approach: Down from 4500 feet at 130+ knots, level off at TPA long enough to slow to 102 and drop the flaps, and that put me right at the VASI glideslope. I began descending again and only needed a single minor power correction the whole way down.
Any good feelings I had about the approach were erased upon landing, though. I flared just a hair high (maybe two feet higher than I wanted to), then started to let her down too fast, began to recover, bounced lightly once, and then stuck the wheels to the pavement. Not too pretty. But hey, it was my first landing in type - That's a good excuse right?
After eating in the Jet Room and planning a flight (which we never took) to PVB via NDB's only, we went back up a few minutes before sunset for some pattern work. We were tossed back and forth between runways 21 and 14 so much it seemed like a new pattern! Takeoff from 21, left traffic to 14, right traffic to 14, left traffic back to 21, etc. I got in 9 total landings, including 3 at night. (All were stop & go's.) We did some normal, some short, and some soft. All of them were better than my first, but only a couple were real greasers.
My worst problem, however, ended up being the flying part: I'm so used to not reaching pattern altitude until at least the turn to downwind that I blew right through by 100-200 feet more often than not. This plane is to pattern altitude by the time you roll out on crosswind! My patterns weren't the prettiest either, but that's really getting picky. I did one forward slip to land, one engine-out approach and landing, then one greaser with no flaps and we called it a night.
The disappointment part: CFI says he wants to see me do everything we did today again tomorrow before he'll sign me off. *grump* Kinda makes me feel like I didn't accomplish anything today, when I know I did.
No luck.
Well, I didn't get rolling on Thursday. They broke a fuel pump housing trying to get the new pump on and had to order a new one. I called Tim Friday morning and he said "I'm getting you out of there right now." (Good answer, Tim.)
So, I met Bill Swope (and his wife Sharon) and we teamed all the way back to Madison, arriving at about 10 AM on Saturday. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my flight that I'd planned for Saturday afternoon - Flying tired and trying to learn something just doesn't work very well. :-(
Next step? I don't know. I'm gonna ask for a new truck. I mean, a NEW truck. The kind with zeros in the odometer. I don't know if they have any right now though. I may end up teaming back out to MD to pick mine up again. Grrrr. I don't even know if/when it's gonna be done.
The good news: I did get to fly today, and I'm flying again tomorrow.
So, I met Bill Swope (and his wife Sharon) and we teamed all the way back to Madison, arriving at about 10 AM on Saturday. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my flight that I'd planned for Saturday afternoon - Flying tired and trying to learn something just doesn't work very well. :-(
Next step? I don't know. I'm gonna ask for a new truck. I mean, a NEW truck. The kind with zeros in the odometer. I don't know if they have any right now though. I may end up teaming back out to MD to pick mine up again. Grrrr. I don't even know if/when it's gonna be done.
The good news: I did get to fly today, and I'm flying again tomorrow.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Stuck in Baltimore
Got to Baltimore Sunday night for a Monday morning delivery...
Emptied out and was sent another load...
That load wasn't going to be ready for 12 hours, got a different load...
Got loaded...
And my truck broke down. Gear-driven fuel pump on the engine failed. They put in a new one, then decided to replace the electric one as well. Took them two more days to get the parts. I'm still here. Ugh.
The upside: I got a suite at the Best Western. Couch, recliner, big TV, wireless internet. Could be worse. But, I'm still bored out of my mind.
Hopefully I'll be rolling later today. I'm supposed to be home tomorrow. Wish me luck.
Emptied out and was sent another load...
That load wasn't going to be ready for 12 hours, got a different load...
Got loaded...
And my truck broke down. Gear-driven fuel pump on the engine failed. They put in a new one, then decided to replace the electric one as well. Took them two more days to get the parts. I'm still here. Ugh.
The upside: I got a suite at the Best Western. Couch, recliner, big TV, wireless internet. Could be worse. But, I'm still bored out of my mind.
Hopefully I'll be rolling later today. I'm supposed to be home tomorrow. Wish me luck.
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Starting over
Well folks,
"The ol' bloggy blog," as a friend of mine would call it, needed an overhaul, and here it is. I've been meaning to share some stories (and pictures) from the road that might actually interest the general public... And I'm gonna tell all my flying stories here too. :-)
So, with that in mind, I've deleted all of my old posts with the exception of the one below that still fits within the scope of my "new" blog, and I'll hopefully be writing more often with more interesting stuff. Enjoy!
"The ol' bloggy blog," as a friend of mine would call it, needed an overhaul, and here it is. I've been meaning to share some stories (and pictures) from the road that might actually interest the general public... And I'm gonna tell all my flying stories here too. :-)
So, with that in mind, I've deleted all of my old posts with the exception of the one below that still fits within the scope of my "new" blog, and I'll hopefully be writing more often with more interesting stuff. Enjoy!
Saturday, October 09, 2004
Autumn Leaves
Today I took my first "leaf flight." This is one of those wonderful experiences that is reserved for pilots and their friends, and one I'd only heard about before today. Rather than seeing only one tree or a small group of trees that have colorful leaves, you can see the beautiful painting created by the various colored trees scattered along the face of the earth. It's quite a sight!
This was only my second VFR flight in the latter half of this year, and my first solo flight since... Well, a LONG time ago. If I don't have a CFI with me, I like to take friends and family along for the ride, so I don't fly by myself much. It was certainly nice to not have the workload of IFR, and to be able to look out the windows!
I took off from runway 32 at about 4 PM. I began by turning to the southwest over Lake Mendota to get some shots of the capitol, then west over Middleton to get some pictures of home and of the new runway at Morey. There weren't a whole lot of great leaf views in this area, it's still mostly green.
I turned North a bit west of Morey and got a traffic call. It's amazing how small an airplane looks from just a mile (or about 15 seconds head-on closure) away! I got a picture of the Cessna off my left wing, and continued on my way toward the Dells. I got some pictures at Devil's Lake. From there, I roughly followed the Wisconsin River up until I was abeam R-6904 and then headed towards Wausau. I got excellent service from Chicago Center and Minneapolis Center and got a couple of pics of other planes, including a Mesaba Saab 900 (MeSaaba? ;-) turboprop landing on runway 35 at CWA.
The leaves were best right up in the Wausau area. Entire hillsides spackled with deep reds and bright oranges and yellows surrounded me. I clicked quite a few photos of those, and also of the company I work for. Finally I slid into the pattern for runway 30 at AUW to make it an "official" cross country (110nm).
The folks at Wausau were very nice - It appears to be a family-owned operation and they have lots of historical info, model planes hanging from the ceiling, and good (if a bit old) facilities. Certainly a place I'd stop at again.
After chatting with them for a while, I took some pictures of N2159Q, my steed for the day. I got a great one with the plane silhouetted in the sun. Then, I flew off into the sunset. Well, almost... I took off on 300 and headed straight out. I tried to find a nearby corn maze, but I wasn't sure of the exact location so I curved back around to the south.
My initial climb was to 3500... I wanted to let the sun set and then climb to see if I could get a second look at it. No such luck (What should I really expect, it was only a Warrior) but it was a spectacular sunset and I got lots of great photos.
The return trip was pretty uneventful. Pilotage was a tad more difficult since the ground was now poorly lit, but the city lights weren't really coming on a whole lot yet and neither were the airport beacons. In fact, the first beacon I saw was Portage (though I did see the REILs at Wautoma) and that was when I was nearly home (read: it was dark enough that the city lights were on too...). So, I flew on the 175 radial from AUW until I could pick up Madison and ride V177. However, I decided to get some pictures of the capitol at night so I turned toward the west side.
The only "event" of the night was when I was headed towards the west side and noticed the lights were on at Camp Randall. I asked Approach about it and they said there was no TFR tonight. (The Badgers were in Columbus pounding the heck out of Ohio State, the lights were on for some high school games.)
Well, OK, there was one more event. The breaker popped on my landing light sometime during the approach. So, I got to do my first no-light landing since my private training a year and a half ago. It's a lot more difficult to do when you're expecting the light to be there (ie you don't see your CFI switch it off!) and you're almost on the ground before you realize it's gone. I flared a little high, added some power, and just flew down the runway a ways until I felt more stable and put her down. After clearing the runway I flipped the switch off, reset the breaker, and switched it back on and it worked fine. An interesting end to a very neat flight.
This was only my second VFR flight in the latter half of this year, and my first solo flight since... Well, a LONG time ago. If I don't have a CFI with me, I like to take friends and family along for the ride, so I don't fly by myself much. It was certainly nice to not have the workload of IFR, and to be able to look out the windows!
I took off from runway 32 at about 4 PM. I began by turning to the southwest over Lake Mendota to get some shots of the capitol, then west over Middleton to get some pictures of home and of the new runway at Morey. There weren't a whole lot of great leaf views in this area, it's still mostly green.
 |
| The State Capitol and the rest of the isthmus from about 2000 feet over Lake Mendota. |
I turned North a bit west of Morey and got a traffic call. It's amazing how small an airplane looks from just a mile (or about 15 seconds head-on closure) away! I got a picture of the Cessna off my left wing, and continued on my way toward the Dells. I got some pictures at Devil's Lake. From there, I roughly followed the Wisconsin River up until I was abeam R-6904 and then headed towards Wausau. I got excellent service from Chicago Center and Minneapolis Center and got a couple of pics of other planes, including a Mesaba Saab 900 (MeSaaba? ;-) turboprop landing on runway 35 at CWA.
 |
| Devil's Lake from the north at 4500 feet. |
The leaves were best right up in the Wausau area. Entire hillsides spackled with deep reds and bright oranges and yellows surrounded me. I clicked quite a few photos of those, and also of the company I work for. Finally I slid into the pattern for runway 30 at AUW to make it an "official" cross country (110nm).
 |
| A hillside near Wausau just before sunset. |
The folks at Wausau were very nice - It appears to be a family-owned operation and they have lots of historical info, model planes hanging from the ceiling, and good (if a bit old) facilities. Certainly a place I'd stop at again.
After chatting with them for a while, I took some pictures of N2159Q, my steed for the day. I got a great one with the plane silhouetted in the sun. Then, I flew off into the sunset. Well, almost... I took off on 300 and headed straight out. I tried to find a nearby corn maze, but I wasn't sure of the exact location so I curved back around to the south.
 |
| Warrior N2159Q, my wings for this particular adventure. |
My initial climb was to 3500... I wanted to let the sun set and then climb to see if I could get a second look at it. No such luck (What should I really expect, it was only a Warrior) but it was a spectacular sunset and I got lots of great photos.
 |
| The eastern sky opposite the sunset. The haze layers create an interesting rainbow effect with just the red through blue hues that can only be seen from the sky, and unfortunately can't be completely captured by a camera - But here's my best try. |
 |
| The Wisconsin River meanders below a beautiful sunset. |
 |
| No words needed. |
The return trip was pretty uneventful. Pilotage was a tad more difficult since the ground was now poorly lit, but the city lights weren't really coming on a whole lot yet and neither were the airport beacons. In fact, the first beacon I saw was Portage (though I did see the REILs at Wautoma) and that was when I was nearly home (read: it was dark enough that the city lights were on too...). So, I flew on the 175 radial from AUW until I could pick up Madison and ride V177. However, I decided to get some pictures of the capitol at night so I turned toward the west side.
The only "event" of the night was when I was headed towards the west side and noticed the lights were on at Camp Randall. I asked Approach about it and they said there was no TFR tonight. (The Badgers were in Columbus pounding the heck out of Ohio State, the lights were on for some high school games.)
 |
| The capitol and isthmus at night, this time from above the western part of Lake Monona facing North. |
Well, OK, there was one more event. The breaker popped on my landing light sometime during the approach. So, I got to do my first no-light landing since my private training a year and a half ago. It's a lot more difficult to do when you're expecting the light to be there (ie you don't see your CFI switch it off!) and you're almost on the ground before you realize it's gone. I flared a little high, added some power, and just flew down the runway a ways until I felt more stable and put her down. After clearing the runway I flipped the switch off, reset the breaker, and switched it back on and it worked fine. An interesting end to a very neat flight.
Saturday, April 24, 2004
A free flight! :-) Review of the Diamond DA40 Star
I first got a chance to fly the Diamond DA40 Star in December at a "new plane shoot-out" where several manufacturers came together for a debate and to offer demo rides in their planes. That day, I flew the DA40 after just stepping out of a Cirrus SR22.
Today, I had the opportunity to give the DA40 a chance to stand on its own - Comparing it to an airplane with nearly twice the engine power and a much higher price tag just isn't fair! I also did not notice any "stick parallax" today like I did after just having flown the Cirrus with its side-mounted stick.
I had been hoping they'd have a G1000-equipped DA40 by now. No such luck - I was stuck with steam gauges this time. This plane was equipped with Garmin 530/430 GPS/NAV/COMs, 340 audio panel, and 327 transponder. There is a King KAP 140 two-axis autopilot with altitude preselect. Engine instrumentation, as with all DA40's, is provided by a Vision Microsystems VM1000 display, which includes all the regular instruments (MP, tach, fuel pressure/flow, oil temp/pressure, etc) as well as CHT and EGT for all cylinders and a fuel computer.
Diamond is certainly king when it comes to options: You can get your plane with Bendix-King avionics, Garmin avionics, or glass cockpits from Avidyne or Garmin. It's quite refreshing to have such a wide range of choices.
Getting into the Diamond Star is much easier than a lot of GA planes, especially for the back-seaters: There is a back door on the left side, a luxury that no other four-place single has that I'm aware of. Front-seat passengers can each get in on their own side of the plane thanks to the large canopy which tilts up and forward. To get into the front seat, you just grab a hold of one of the canopy supports, step on the step, step on the wing, step into the plane, and sit down. No stepping on seats, no scooting over, no ducking, and no slithering around to get in back.
Getting situated in the plane was simple as well - First, lower and lock the canopy. All four headsets plug in to the same panel, which is located between the pilot seats and easily accessible to all. The restraint system consists of an integrated lap belt and single shoulder harness similar to what you'd find in your car. The one unusual thing is that the seats are not adjustable due to the control stick being integrated into the seat. Instead, the rudder pedals are adjustable. At 6'4" and 250 lbs, I am not a small guy, but I do fit into the DA40 without bumping my knees or my head on anything. The 2004 models have even improved a little more on the knee room for those of you unlucky enough to be bigger than me.
All of the controls are easily accessible. The center console is home to (back to front) the trim, fuel selector, engine controls, cabin heat controls, and parking brake. The control stick has a trigger-style PTT, a control wheel steering button (momentarily disengages autopilot), an autopilot disconnect, and electric trim switch. The panel is laid out so that the only controls to the right of the radio stack are the buttons on the VM1000. The electrical switches are conveniently arranged in a neat little row at the bottom of the panel.
Speaking of electrical, everything on this plane is. In the event of an alternator failure, it is easy to conserve energy as the DA40 has an "Essential Bus" which powers only the necessary equipment to safely get on the ground (Nav/Com 1, transponder, flight instruments, etc.). To conserve power via this method, switch the Master off (both sides) and the Essential Bus switch on. Once the main battery is depleted, the AI (backup "steam gauge" AI on the glass cockpit models) and the panel floodlight can be powered by a second backup system (separate batteries) which is activated by tripping the Emergency switch (located under a red cover to avoid accidental activation).
Power is provided by the familiar IO-360, mated to an attractive 3-blade wood-composite prop by MT Propeller (a standard 2-blade metal Hartzell prop is also available). There is also a "SlickStart" ignition system, with Unison's LASAR ignition available as an optional replacement. Our hot-start took only a couple of blades of the 3-blade prop.
On a day like today, normally GA aircraft would be departing runway 21, but 3-21 was closed for some sort of work, so we had to taxi to 14, plenty of distance to test the castering nosewheel system. The rudder actually does have a little authority at taxi speeds and can be used for long, slow corrections. Otherwise, turns are made with the brakes. It's a different feel than a steerable nosewheel, but I'm sure I could get used to it. While it's more difficult to make the wider-radius turns, you can literally turn on a dime with the castering nosewheel system.
After a brief runup just like you'd do in any other piston-powered plane, we took the runway for takeoff, with a welcome relief: You don't have to switch the Garmin transponder on manually. As soon as you're moving at 40 knots during the takeoff roll, it will switch itself from Standby to Mode C automatically. I'm sure I'm not the only one to forget the transponder from time to time. I hear Madison Departure telling somebody to check their transponder almost every time I fly - And no, it's not always me!
Let me pause here to talk about the DA40's visibility. I can't imagine a single-engine airplane getting much better than the DA40 in this regard! The wing is long and narrow, with the leading edge located just about adjacent to the pilot's seat back, so you can still get a great downward view despite the low wing. However, the forward visibility is really spectacular. With the single-piece canopy, low panel, and sloping cowl, you can see vertically from about 30 degrees down to straight up, and horizontally for about 210 degrees from the pilot seats, with not a single support bar to block the view! This is truly a "panoramic" view and is one of the best features of the DA40.
Finally, the takeoff roll: Once aligned with the centerline, add power and the rudder has enough authority to maintain directional control almost right away. The low-drag airframe seems to accelerate to rotation speed (59 KIAS) faster than comparable metal singles. Just a tiny hint of back pressure on the stick, and the Star lifts smoothly into the sky.
Due to the aforementioned visibility features, you can actually watch the runway drop away from you out the front of the plane, rather than seeing only sky and cowling. This made for a bit of trouble selecting the proper climb attitude at first, but I managed to settle into an 80-knot climb after several seconds, which resulted in a brisk 1,000 fpm climb rate.
The aileron and elevator controls in the DA40 operate pushrods to the control surfaces rather than cables, which gives the controls a positive, solid yet sensitive feel. In fact, the plane felt very stable and responsive in the roll axis for the entire flight.
The pitch control took a bit more getting used to, simply because I'm used to flying beat-up 30-year-old planes. The Star's responsiveness led to a bit of difficulty in holding the correct pitch and even setting the correct trim at first. By the end of the flight, I found that its stability was superb and that the best way to control the airplane was to not even hold the stick at all, but to widen my hand into a circle around the stick, so that I was no longer even touching the stick. When a control input is needed, I just had to move my hand in the correct direction and put a bit of pressure on the stick, then go back to letting the plane fly where I pointed it, again without my hand touching the stick. This plane is so stable that it could put an autopilot to sleep on a long cross country! However, it is also responsive enough to be delightful to fly, and us flesh-and-blood pilots can relax a bit and enjoy the spectacular outside view.
Stalling the DA40 is almost a non-event. Power off, flaps down, pull, pull, pull, and while the stall horn was blaring away, all the plane really did was settle gently, buffeting a bit, then buffeting a little more sharply as the airspeed dropped even further. It never dropped a wing and behaved very well throughout.
Performance was impressive when compared to other fixed-gear, 180hp singles such as the Archer. As I mentioned before, climb rates around 1000fpm are normal. At roughly 23" MP and 2400 RPM, we were seeing around 145 KTAS.
Finally it was time to land. Pattern speeds for the DA40 are 90, 80, 70. However, since we landed on a long straight-in final, I kept the speed up until about 3 miles out. While the DA40's low-drag airframe makes slowing down a bit more difficult than other planes in its class, it did not take much effort to get down below 108 KIAS and add approach flaps, then down to 91 KIAS for landing flaps. Since it was a windy day, we kept to 70 over the fence and I managed to get down with only a single, gentle bounce.
The DA40 is, in some areas, better than any plane in its class. The panoramic view is certainly one of those areas. The speed is another, besting the Tiger by about 10 knots, and most of the other 180hp fixed-gear singles by 30 knots thanks to the low-drag composite design. You have more choices for avionics than other manufacturers offer: Two traditional "steam-gauge" packages, and two glass cockpits.
The safety record of the DA40 so far is excellent. No fatal crashes, no post-crash fires. The fleet size is still relatively small, but I expect that the safety record will continue to be fairly good - This plane is easy to handle and doesn't attract the "more-money-than-brains" type of pilots that often do stupid things and wreck planes.
The Diamond Star with the King avionics goes for $188,900 and with the G1000 for $224,900. They now have a version with an O-360 and fixed-pitch prop as well that goes for something like $176,000 which should appeal to flight schools. The normal injected, CS prop version really should make a good fun cross-country bird.
Here are some Pictures of the plane (and me) just after the flight.
For more info:
Diamond DA40 Star:
http://www.diamondair.com/contentc/da40frame.htm
VM1000 Engine Management System:
http://www.visionmicrosystems.com/product/vm1000.html
Garmin G1000 glass cockpit:
http://www.garmin.com/products/g1000/
SlickStart and LASAR ignition systems:
http://www.unisonindustries.com/
Today, I had the opportunity to give the DA40 a chance to stand on its own - Comparing it to an airplane with nearly twice the engine power and a much higher price tag just isn't fair! I also did not notice any "stick parallax" today like I did after just having flown the Cirrus with its side-mounted stick.
I had been hoping they'd have a G1000-equipped DA40 by now. No such luck - I was stuck with steam gauges this time. This plane was equipped with Garmin 530/430 GPS/NAV/COMs, 340 audio panel, and 327 transponder. There is a King KAP 140 two-axis autopilot with altitude preselect. Engine instrumentation, as with all DA40's, is provided by a Vision Microsystems VM1000 display, which includes all the regular instruments (MP, tach, fuel pressure/flow, oil temp/pressure, etc) as well as CHT and EGT for all cylinders and a fuel computer.
Diamond is certainly king when it comes to options: You can get your plane with Bendix-King avionics, Garmin avionics, or glass cockpits from Avidyne or Garmin. It's quite refreshing to have such a wide range of choices.
Getting into the Diamond Star is much easier than a lot of GA planes, especially for the back-seaters: There is a back door on the left side, a luxury that no other four-place single has that I'm aware of. Front-seat passengers can each get in on their own side of the plane thanks to the large canopy which tilts up and forward. To get into the front seat, you just grab a hold of one of the canopy supports, step on the step, step on the wing, step into the plane, and sit down. No stepping on seats, no scooting over, no ducking, and no slithering around to get in back.
Getting situated in the plane was simple as well - First, lower and lock the canopy. All four headsets plug in to the same panel, which is located between the pilot seats and easily accessible to all. The restraint system consists of an integrated lap belt and single shoulder harness similar to what you'd find in your car. The one unusual thing is that the seats are not adjustable due to the control stick being integrated into the seat. Instead, the rudder pedals are adjustable. At 6'4" and 250 lbs, I am not a small guy, but I do fit into the DA40 without bumping my knees or my head on anything. The 2004 models have even improved a little more on the knee room for those of you unlucky enough to be bigger than me.
All of the controls are easily accessible. The center console is home to (back to front) the trim, fuel selector, engine controls, cabin heat controls, and parking brake. The control stick has a trigger-style PTT, a control wheel steering button (momentarily disengages autopilot), an autopilot disconnect, and electric trim switch. The panel is laid out so that the only controls to the right of the radio stack are the buttons on the VM1000. The electrical switches are conveniently arranged in a neat little row at the bottom of the panel.
Speaking of electrical, everything on this plane is. In the event of an alternator failure, it is easy to conserve energy as the DA40 has an "Essential Bus" which powers only the necessary equipment to safely get on the ground (Nav/Com 1, transponder, flight instruments, etc.). To conserve power via this method, switch the Master off (both sides) and the Essential Bus switch on. Once the main battery is depleted, the AI (backup "steam gauge" AI on the glass cockpit models) and the panel floodlight can be powered by a second backup system (separate batteries) which is activated by tripping the Emergency switch (located under a red cover to avoid accidental activation).
Power is provided by the familiar IO-360, mated to an attractive 3-blade wood-composite prop by MT Propeller (a standard 2-blade metal Hartzell prop is also available). There is also a "SlickStart" ignition system, with Unison's LASAR ignition available as an optional replacement. Our hot-start took only a couple of blades of the 3-blade prop.
On a day like today, normally GA aircraft would be departing runway 21, but 3-21 was closed for some sort of work, so we had to taxi to 14, plenty of distance to test the castering nosewheel system. The rudder actually does have a little authority at taxi speeds and can be used for long, slow corrections. Otherwise, turns are made with the brakes. It's a different feel than a steerable nosewheel, but I'm sure I could get used to it. While it's more difficult to make the wider-radius turns, you can literally turn on a dime with the castering nosewheel system.
After a brief runup just like you'd do in any other piston-powered plane, we took the runway for takeoff, with a welcome relief: You don't have to switch the Garmin transponder on manually. As soon as you're moving at 40 knots during the takeoff roll, it will switch itself from Standby to Mode C automatically. I'm sure I'm not the only one to forget the transponder from time to time. I hear Madison Departure telling somebody to check their transponder almost every time I fly - And no, it's not always me!
Let me pause here to talk about the DA40's visibility. I can't imagine a single-engine airplane getting much better than the DA40 in this regard! The wing is long and narrow, with the leading edge located just about adjacent to the pilot's seat back, so you can still get a great downward view despite the low wing. However, the forward visibility is really spectacular. With the single-piece canopy, low panel, and sloping cowl, you can see vertically from about 30 degrees down to straight up, and horizontally for about 210 degrees from the pilot seats, with not a single support bar to block the view! This is truly a "panoramic" view and is one of the best features of the DA40.
Finally, the takeoff roll: Once aligned with the centerline, add power and the rudder has enough authority to maintain directional control almost right away. The low-drag airframe seems to accelerate to rotation speed (59 KIAS) faster than comparable metal singles. Just a tiny hint of back pressure on the stick, and the Star lifts smoothly into the sky.
Due to the aforementioned visibility features, you can actually watch the runway drop away from you out the front of the plane, rather than seeing only sky and cowling. This made for a bit of trouble selecting the proper climb attitude at first, but I managed to settle into an 80-knot climb after several seconds, which resulted in a brisk 1,000 fpm climb rate.
The aileron and elevator controls in the DA40 operate pushrods to the control surfaces rather than cables, which gives the controls a positive, solid yet sensitive feel. In fact, the plane felt very stable and responsive in the roll axis for the entire flight.
The pitch control took a bit more getting used to, simply because I'm used to flying beat-up 30-year-old planes. The Star's responsiveness led to a bit of difficulty in holding the correct pitch and even setting the correct trim at first. By the end of the flight, I found that its stability was superb and that the best way to control the airplane was to not even hold the stick at all, but to widen my hand into a circle around the stick, so that I was no longer even touching the stick. When a control input is needed, I just had to move my hand in the correct direction and put a bit of pressure on the stick, then go back to letting the plane fly where I pointed it, again without my hand touching the stick. This plane is so stable that it could put an autopilot to sleep on a long cross country! However, it is also responsive enough to be delightful to fly, and us flesh-and-blood pilots can relax a bit and enjoy the spectacular outside view.
Stalling the DA40 is almost a non-event. Power off, flaps down, pull, pull, pull, and while the stall horn was blaring away, all the plane really did was settle gently, buffeting a bit, then buffeting a little more sharply as the airspeed dropped even further. It never dropped a wing and behaved very well throughout.
Performance was impressive when compared to other fixed-gear, 180hp singles such as the Archer. As I mentioned before, climb rates around 1000fpm are normal. At roughly 23" MP and 2400 RPM, we were seeing around 145 KTAS.
Finally it was time to land. Pattern speeds for the DA40 are 90, 80, 70. However, since we landed on a long straight-in final, I kept the speed up until about 3 miles out. While the DA40's low-drag airframe makes slowing down a bit more difficult than other planes in its class, it did not take much effort to get down below 108 KIAS and add approach flaps, then down to 91 KIAS for landing flaps. Since it was a windy day, we kept to 70 over the fence and I managed to get down with only a single, gentle bounce.
The DA40 is, in some areas, better than any plane in its class. The panoramic view is certainly one of those areas. The speed is another, besting the Tiger by about 10 knots, and most of the other 180hp fixed-gear singles by 30 knots thanks to the low-drag composite design. You have more choices for avionics than other manufacturers offer: Two traditional "steam-gauge" packages, and two glass cockpits.
The safety record of the DA40 so far is excellent. No fatal crashes, no post-crash fires. The fleet size is still relatively small, but I expect that the safety record will continue to be fairly good - This plane is easy to handle and doesn't attract the "more-money-than-brains" type of pilots that often do stupid things and wreck planes.
The Diamond Star with the King avionics goes for $188,900 and with the G1000 for $224,900. They now have a version with an O-360 and fixed-pitch prop as well that goes for something like $176,000 which should appeal to flight schools. The normal injected, CS prop version really should make a good fun cross-country bird.
Here are some Pictures of the plane (and me) just after the flight.
For more info:
Diamond DA40 Star:
http://www.diamondair.com/contentc/da40frame.htm
VM1000 Engine Management System:
http://www.visionmicrosystems.com/product/vm1000.html
Garmin G1000 glass cockpit:
http://www.garmin.com/products/g1000/
SlickStart and LASAR ignition systems:
http://www.unisonindustries.com/