First 414 Fun Family Flight

Lance F

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Lance F
As a first flight together in the new 414 Sue and I flew down to St Augustine FL for a long weekend to stay with friends who have a condo there. This is a 255nm flight from our Atlanta area airport.

Went down at 13,000' and back at 11,000' to optimize winds and time to climb. Flight time ended up about 1:20 each way. Still uncovering hopefully minor squawks, like a pegged vacuum gauge and alternators not equally sharing the load. But overall it's a sweet ride. Sue totally enjoyed the A/C, the room and the lower noise level compared with the Mooney we've made so many trips in.

I need to redo the baffling so haven't tackled LOP yet. Consequently fuel burn is a bit painful - about 63 gallons each way. Oh well. Can't have everything.

I'll get the problems worked out, LOP figured out and hope to make good use of this great plane for some years.

And we had a great time in St. Augustine eating good food, walking on the beach, listening to a blues band on a rooftop bar on a beautiful night, checking out some fine art and just chilling out with friends. That's why we fly.

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Nice photos. That is some serious room in the back you have there. How many seats do you have in the current configuration?
 
Cool pics. Getting above a deck like that into sunny skies is also another great reason to fly!

How much fuel do you think it would've used if you ran it LOP?

P.S. Looks like you forgot to wash your face.

And put on some pants! :eek:
 
Yea... Appears some manscaping is in order. Flying a 414 is so easy a caveman can do it. Literally!!
 
Hey, I was in Florida so I was wearing shorts. And what's wrong with my professorial look?

I was burning 19.5gph per side at cruise and getting 188kts TAS. My goal is 15gph a side and 200kts TAS. We'll see.

Oh, and it seats 7.
 
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I vote for the thread to be renamed "First Four-Fourteen Fun Family Flight" to allow applicable and amusing alliteration!

Great pics btw!
 
Nice photos. That is some serious room in the back you have there. How many seats do you have in the current configuration?

As Lance said, it's a 7-seater. The 421B/Cs and 414As (same cabin) could be 8-seaters since they had more balance options with the long nose.

I have an optional 8th seat for the 414. Realistically you'd only ever put 8 people in it if some were children or otherwise small. It's a very comfortable 6-seater with lots of baggage space.
 
Hey, I was in Florida so I was wearing shorts. And what's wrong with my professorial look?

I was burning 19.5gph per side at cruise and getting 188kts TAS. My goal is 15gph a side and 200kts TAS. We'll see.

Oh, and it seats 7.

Ahhh, we're just giving you lip because we're jelly.

(and we'll keep it up until you show it off at The Flying Machine :D)
 
Great airplane!! Once your wife has ridden in the back of a 400 series Cessna, there is no going back to something smaller!! :D
 
Looks like a great trip, flying a great machine! Thanks for the photo's Lance!
 
Her exact words after the trip..."not only is it better than the Mooney, it's better than commercial." So we ain't going back.
When I was looking at a 414 many years ago, Larry Westbrook the GM at Hill Aircraft, told me "don't ever let your wife ride in one if you don't plan on buying one." We had a 310R at the time and well it's been 23 years and I've had 6 cabin class Cessnas since then. :eek:
 
:yikes:, Thanks for the head's up!!! No cabin class rides for the wife!!! Got it!!!:goofy:
 
:yikes:, Thanks for the head's up!!! No cabin class rides for the wife!!! Got it!!!:goofy:
When I was looking a few years ago, I mentioned looking at a 310R. Wife said fine, but I am NOT climbing up on the wing to get into an airplane!o_O In hindsight, maybe I should have went ahead and bought one! :rolleyes:
 
When I was looking a few years ago, I mentioned looking at a 310R. Wife said fine, but I am NOT climbing up on the wing to get into an airplane!o_O In hindsight, maybe I should have went ahead and bought one! :rolleyes:

They are nice flying planes...:yes: It' the only plane I ever wanted... I'm a Sky King baby I guess. :goofy: The wife loves it so far... Let's hope it stays that way for a while.
 
They are nice flying planes...:yes: It' the only plane I ever wanted... I'm a Sky King baby I guess. :goofy: The wife loves it so far... Let's hope it stays that way for a while.
Great airplanes, I loved mine! But we had 3 kids 8 and under at the time and taking them required a LOT of space. :eek:
 
Great airplanes, I loved mine! But we had 3 kids 8 and under at the time and taking them required a LOT of space. :eek:

I guess "empty nest" comes we benefits...:yes: Now if I could just convince her that we don't need half the house when we travel my useful load would go way up!!!:goofy:
 
Great pics! That's fantastic.
 
With the Ram conversion too?! My dream plane.... one of my customers has one that he just bought and he converted. Insane amounts of power


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