Happy Birthday, Adam!

Gary

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Gary
Hope you have a great day!

The sky is blue, the sun's out, and don't see a cloud - you going flying?

Gary
 
Happy Birthday Adam! Hope you get to have some fun today!

:drink:
 
Happy Birthday, Esq.

Oooooooh, I know what a PERFECT present for yourself would be!
 
Happy Birthday. Go flying!!!!
 
Happy Birthday Adam! Hope you have a perfect day with a smooth sky!
 
Happy birthday, Adam!
 
Dang, I wanted to be the first to wish you a Very Happy Birthday! Let me instead be one of the multitude! Happy Birthday!
 
Man, you are getting old! :p

Happy Birthday to a good man. :drink:
 
Hey Adam! Happy Birthday! I hope you have a great day today. :yes:
:cheerswine:
 
Happy Birthday Adam! :) :cheers:
 
Happy Birthday my friend -- get some air beneath the wings and some barbecue in your belly. Enjoy your day!

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
HBTY, Hoss!
 
Thanks everyone!!! Its nice to be appreciated :D Everyone always says to go flying on your birthday so I did. I booked a CFI and a Cirrus SR20 for an hour. The CFI was great and flying the SR20 was well AWESOME. It handles soooo solid. After the preflight we fired up the Cont 6 banger and flipped the switches on the Avidyne PFD and MFD. Ironically the Cirrus was parked right next to Andrew's Matrix on the ramp and Wings and luckily we did not experience the blue screen of death as did Andrew. The CFI ( a young but very mature guy) and I spoke about the Cirrus Rep as the 21st century's doctor killer and we both agreed its usually a case of To much plane to little pilot ( as Ron likes to say) and the fact that folks can sometimes think oh its ok I have a chute. not a great attitude.

It was neat to be back in a free castoring nosewheel plane ( I learned in grumans) The engine is de-rated to only 200hp but I was really surprised at the amount of right rudder it took on takeoff. Interestingly it rotated at about the same speed as Gary's Cherokee 140. It does require 50* flaps on take off something I'm not used to with the Pipers.

The side stick did take some getting used to I kept trying to move my entire arem left and right rather than just twist my wrist. The side stick was really nice however in giving a wide open view of the panel.

As for the panel the Avidyne system although perhaps not as favored by some as the Garmin was pretty darn cool to this steam gauge flyer. The downside I felt was that I spent too much time staring at the PFD and not enough time outside the window. I think this is something that would hopefully stop after getting used to the glass panels. The fixation on the PFD was evident in my steep turns. Actually Steep turns are one of my favorite manuvers. I lost too much altitude when doing them. after about 4 of them I finally looked out the dang window and kept it with in PTS. Stalls were incredibly non events buffet buffet nose drop. Slow flight was easy with 360 degree turns in slow flight at standard rate with stall horn chirping.

Landings were interesting about 100kts on downwind 80 base and 75 on short final. Landings are funny because they are a bit flat but in general its a great plane to fly. At 155kts true it is a sweet plane to fly and I am definitely spoiled. Unfortunatly between the hourly rate, fuel surcharge and instructor it runs about $260 per hour including the ground with the instructor.
 
Good report Adam! Glad you got the flight time in the 20. What's the rate for just the plane without instructor?

They should get a few DA40's at KLOM.
 
Great, Adam! Glad that you got to go fly!
 
Good report Adam! Glad you got the flight time in the 20. What's the rate for just the plane without instructor?

They should get a few DA40's at KLOM.

IIRC the plane is $160 per hour CFI is $60 per hour and Fuel Surcharge for that plane is $15 per hour so the plane is basically $175 per hour.
 
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