Teller1900
En-Route
I've been talking about doing it for at least a month now. Today, finally, I dragged my lazy (and cheap) butt down to Chesapeake Regional (KCPK) and got my first Diamond experience.
Holy crap!!!!
What an airplane! I sat in and gawked at a DA-40 three or four years ago when we had one in the shop when I was a lineman at Hap's. It was a beautiful sight then, and even better now as PIC. Those seats are more comfortable than some of the hotel beds I stay in! The visibility out of the green house is astounding; the controls are light and responsive, but not too touchy (though it is a little more touchy than I was ready for); and the 180HP engine tied to that sleek three-bladed prop is a solid performer through every phase of flight. And the G-1000...we hardly got into everything it can do, but it's at least as capable as the Universal UNS-1 that we have in the Q-400. The only thing it's missing is the alpha-numeric keypad for data entry.
After a quick walk around we fired it up and taxied over to the gas pumps. This is the first plane I've ever flown with a castering nose wheel. At normal taxi speeds the lack of nose steering is negligible, but it took a little getting used to for low speed maneuvering. Put 40 gallons on-board then taxied out to 23 for takeoff. We taxied behind a Symphony SA-160, also a neat looking airplane, owned by the same FBO. Just before leaving the ramp the right door popped open and the CFI stepped out...somewhere in Virginia we have a new aviator in our midst today.
I couldn't have asked for a better day to fly. AWOS was calling 230@6, 10 miles, clear below 12,000, 13/-4, 30.30. A quick runup and it was onto 23 for departure. A short takeoff run and a quick climb to 2,500 put us over the south eastern practice area. CFI Mike gave me some pointers on the G-1000, then put me through the normal steep turn and stall series. That thing didn't seem to want to stay in a tight turn, but I managed to maintain +-40 feet and roll out spot on my original heading without too much effort. Slow flight and stalls were a non-event; that plane makes everything easy.
The ILS 5 brought us back into the pattern for a circle-to-land on runway 23, followed by three touch-and-goes. My first two landings were surprisingly good. On the third I slightly misjudged the massive float and tried to force it onto the thousand footers. It wasn't horrible, but I found the bounce-ability of the Diamond's stiff gear. Once more around the patch for good measure and I got my sign off. 1.2 hrs in the air and about 2 hrs on the ground...not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
Driving home I wanted nothing more than to turn around and go back to the airport, but I figured the wife and the bank account wouldn't appreciate that too much. Oh well, there's always next week!
Holy crap!!!!
What an airplane! I sat in and gawked at a DA-40 three or four years ago when we had one in the shop when I was a lineman at Hap's. It was a beautiful sight then, and even better now as PIC. Those seats are more comfortable than some of the hotel beds I stay in! The visibility out of the green house is astounding; the controls are light and responsive, but not too touchy (though it is a little more touchy than I was ready for); and the 180HP engine tied to that sleek three-bladed prop is a solid performer through every phase of flight. And the G-1000...we hardly got into everything it can do, but it's at least as capable as the Universal UNS-1 that we have in the Q-400. The only thing it's missing is the alpha-numeric keypad for data entry.
After a quick walk around we fired it up and taxied over to the gas pumps. This is the first plane I've ever flown with a castering nose wheel. At normal taxi speeds the lack of nose steering is negligible, but it took a little getting used to for low speed maneuvering. Put 40 gallons on-board then taxied out to 23 for takeoff. We taxied behind a Symphony SA-160, also a neat looking airplane, owned by the same FBO. Just before leaving the ramp the right door popped open and the CFI stepped out...somewhere in Virginia we have a new aviator in our midst today.
I couldn't have asked for a better day to fly. AWOS was calling 230@6, 10 miles, clear below 12,000, 13/-4, 30.30. A quick runup and it was onto 23 for departure. A short takeoff run and a quick climb to 2,500 put us over the south eastern practice area. CFI Mike gave me some pointers on the G-1000, then put me through the normal steep turn and stall series. That thing didn't seem to want to stay in a tight turn, but I managed to maintain +-40 feet and roll out spot on my original heading without too much effort. Slow flight and stalls were a non-event; that plane makes everything easy.
The ILS 5 brought us back into the pattern for a circle-to-land on runway 23, followed by three touch-and-goes. My first two landings were surprisingly good. On the third I slightly misjudged the massive float and tried to force it onto the thousand footers. It wasn't horrible, but I found the bounce-ability of the Diamond's stiff gear. Once more around the patch for good measure and I got my sign off. 1.2 hrs in the air and about 2 hrs on the ground...not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
Driving home I wanted nothing more than to turn around and go back to the airport, but I figured the wife and the bank account wouldn't appreciate that too much. Oh well, there's always next week!
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