Gary
En-Route
Have to put in a plug for Air Center of Salt Lake at U42. Had some time today so thought I'd check it out. Very pleasant and friendly people. As a "flatlander" from Philly, flying here is a bit different.
Was a beautiful day in Salt Lake City, so off to the airport (Salt Lake City 2, U42) to see what's up. Decided to splurge and rent the Diamond and a CFI for a tour about the area. Dan Albright was my CFI, newly minted, I was his first "student". I think he was more nervous than I was! Go through the start up checklists, man, that thing has a lot of stuff the Cherokee doesn't have! HSI, funny lever thing called "prop" control, Garmin 430/530, fuel injection and a ton of switches! My differential braking to steer needs work, wandered quite a bit, need more practice. Dan was working the radio's for me so that made things easier. Full prop and full throttle and down the runway we go. Rotate at 60 knots and climb out at 90. It really wants to climb! A very sweet handling airplane, using a stick took all of 5 minutes to get the hang of, really just learning how much pressure is needed. I will admit that I started to reach up to the ceiling to adjust the trim, but caught myself in time!
Head north at 6500' (field elevation is 4607) and out over the southern portion of the Great Salt Lake. Dan gets the Antelope Island transition throught the SLC Class B to the northern practice area located about 40 miles north of SLC. The visibilities here are tremendous, had to be >100 miles. The Diamond is cruising along at 120kts, the air is glass smooth and the views are just unbelieveable, the cockpit had excellent visibility all around. Do some turns, stalls and slow flight. The Diamond handles like a dream, quiet, very responsive and performance, even at 6500' is wonderful. After 15 minutes of manuvering we head back south to the I-15 transition corredor which takes us right over downtown Salt Lake. The controllers are pretty laid back, no problem with the transistion, move down to 6000', just west of Hill AFB they call traffic at 4 o'clock, two F-18's, 7000' climbing, westbound, they looked a LOT closer than that as they passed somewhat behind and overhead, wish I could have been faster with the camera. Bit bumpy over the city from the thermals, but again the Diamond handles them just fine, it does an excellent job to staying put once the power and trim are set.
ATC keeps us at 6000' as we pass over downtown. U42 is a pretty busy GA airport, two planes in the pattern and a helo. Do a mid-field crosswind to a right hand downwind. The sight picture is quite a bit different, kept thinking I've got the nose too low, but really no problem and a decent landing to boot!
An altogether wonderful day, I could really get used to this!
Gary
Was a beautiful day in Salt Lake City, so off to the airport (Salt Lake City 2, U42) to see what's up. Decided to splurge and rent the Diamond and a CFI for a tour about the area. Dan Albright was my CFI, newly minted, I was his first "student". I think he was more nervous than I was! Go through the start up checklists, man, that thing has a lot of stuff the Cherokee doesn't have! HSI, funny lever thing called "prop" control, Garmin 430/530, fuel injection and a ton of switches! My differential braking to steer needs work, wandered quite a bit, need more practice. Dan was working the radio's for me so that made things easier. Full prop and full throttle and down the runway we go. Rotate at 60 knots and climb out at 90. It really wants to climb! A very sweet handling airplane, using a stick took all of 5 minutes to get the hang of, really just learning how much pressure is needed. I will admit that I started to reach up to the ceiling to adjust the trim, but caught myself in time!
Head north at 6500' (field elevation is 4607) and out over the southern portion of the Great Salt Lake. Dan gets the Antelope Island transition throught the SLC Class B to the northern practice area located about 40 miles north of SLC. The visibilities here are tremendous, had to be >100 miles. The Diamond is cruising along at 120kts, the air is glass smooth and the views are just unbelieveable, the cockpit had excellent visibility all around. Do some turns, stalls and slow flight. The Diamond handles like a dream, quiet, very responsive and performance, even at 6500' is wonderful. After 15 minutes of manuvering we head back south to the I-15 transition corredor which takes us right over downtown Salt Lake. The controllers are pretty laid back, no problem with the transistion, move down to 6000', just west of Hill AFB they call traffic at 4 o'clock, two F-18's, 7000' climbing, westbound, they looked a LOT closer than that as they passed somewhat behind and overhead, wish I could have been faster with the camera. Bit bumpy over the city from the thermals, but again the Diamond handles them just fine, it does an excellent job to staying put once the power and trim are set.
ATC keeps us at 6000' as we pass over downtown. U42 is a pretty busy GA airport, two planes in the pattern and a helo. Do a mid-field crosswind to a right hand downwind. The sight picture is quite a bit different, kept thinking I've got the nose too low, but really no problem and a decent landing to boot!
An altogether wonderful day, I could really get used to this!
Gary
