LoneAspen
Line Up and Wait
Well, I finally got around to scheduling a discovery flight yesterday. Took a few weeks since my initial email to actually get in the air because of some scheduling issues, plane taken out of service due to maintenance interval, etc. But it ended up working out great, and my instructor was fantastic.
I had specifically requested a Cirrus SR22 for the discovery flight, since if I ever purchased a single down the road for myself, that would probably be what I'd get, and I wanted to see what they were like. We ended up in a 2015 SR22T.
In short, had an amazing time. We actually flew out of SJC because that's where the plane was at the time. I had imagined SJC would be busy, with jets constantly landing and taking off, but we had no delays with either.
We were out for almost an hour and flew over to the Watsonville area and near the coast.
I was surprised by two things: how little control input was needed on the sidestick, and also it was trickier than I thought to maintain an exact altitude. I found myself overcompensating a few times trying to maintain 4000 feet for example, and found myself going over, then under, then over again... I suppose better altitude control (especially while turning) comes with practice.
As far as the plane itself, it was an amazing machine, although I have no other base of reference since this was my first time ever in a GA aircraft. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of space in the cockpit (I'm a bigger guy at 6'1", long legs, and carrying more baggage than I should be
). Had the seat all the way back, which gave me plenty of room, although my left knee was pretty close to the sidestick. Not a huge issue, since the car I drive has a pretty cramped cabin, too, so I'm used to my knees hitting up against things.
The flying club the instructor is a part of (West Valley) just got a second SR20 for instruction, so assuming the cockpit of the SR20 is similar to the SR22 as far as size, I should be fine. That was one of my main concerns with the Cirrus is could I fit comfortably, and it looks like that won't be an issue.
So now I just need to make sure I can make the finances work over the next year or so. I might move back to Colorado this time next year, so that would give me 12 months to complete training and maybe tack on high performance and complex. Long term, I'd also want to get IR and multi, but that might be pushing it to get done in a year.
Anyway, had a great time and definitely got the itch. Now if I can just make the financial and time commitment to scratch it
I had specifically requested a Cirrus SR22 for the discovery flight, since if I ever purchased a single down the road for myself, that would probably be what I'd get, and I wanted to see what they were like. We ended up in a 2015 SR22T.
In short, had an amazing time. We actually flew out of SJC because that's where the plane was at the time. I had imagined SJC would be busy, with jets constantly landing and taking off, but we had no delays with either.
We were out for almost an hour and flew over to the Watsonville area and near the coast.
I was surprised by two things: how little control input was needed on the sidestick, and also it was trickier than I thought to maintain an exact altitude. I found myself overcompensating a few times trying to maintain 4000 feet for example, and found myself going over, then under, then over again... I suppose better altitude control (especially while turning) comes with practice.
As far as the plane itself, it was an amazing machine, although I have no other base of reference since this was my first time ever in a GA aircraft. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of space in the cockpit (I'm a bigger guy at 6'1", long legs, and carrying more baggage than I should be
). Had the seat all the way back, which gave me plenty of room, although my left knee was pretty close to the sidestick. Not a huge issue, since the car I drive has a pretty cramped cabin, too, so I'm used to my knees hitting up against things.The flying club the instructor is a part of (West Valley) just got a second SR20 for instruction, so assuming the cockpit of the SR20 is similar to the SR22 as far as size, I should be fine. That was one of my main concerns with the Cirrus is could I fit comfortably, and it looks like that won't be an issue.
So now I just need to make sure I can make the finances work over the next year or so. I might move back to Colorado this time next year, so that would give me 12 months to complete training and maybe tack on high performance and complex. Long term, I'd also want to get IR and multi, but that might be pushing it to get done in a year.
Anyway, had a great time and definitely got the itch. Now if I can just make the financial and time commitment to scratch it
