spiderweb
Final Approach
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2005
- Messages
- 9,488
- Display Name
Display name:
Ben
You may have read about my mostly positive experience with this recent cross-country which, nevertheless, found me returning a day earlier. In this case, the thing which would have helped would have been weather in the cockpit. The school where I rent has a few birds with that. After yesterday, though, my wife asked if we could possibly fly something faster for these trips. The C182 I fly is faster, but alas has no weather. The solution was suggested to me by one of our POA members--get checked out in the TB-20.
I called the school to discuss this, and found that I easily met their minimum requirements which were PPL, IR, 100 TT, and 10 retract. I discussed the bird with one of the CFIs there who flies it frequently. He loves it. He said it really will do 160 KTAS at cruise, if you are willing to go to 75% power. At a quieter 65% power, it will still do 150 KTAS or better. Right there, I have a hidden card up my sleeve. My wife and I like to stop after two hours to take a rest. That means, in the trip I just did (2.6 hours), the total flight time became 4 hours with the one-hour stop. But with the Trinidad, the trip would have taken about 2.1 hours; thus, we wouldn't need to stop and the actual trip time would be cut in half. The other MAJOR benefit is that the plane has a stormscope and is very comfortable.
I asked about a checkout--and this part is to update Joe--and he said that most typical IFR checkouts are just one flight of 1.5 hours including VFR airwork, three approaches and three landings. Additionally, as long as I am really up on the POH, I would just need to take the aircraft's written test, and allow 1.5 hours of ground with the CFI.
I showed the actual airplane to my wife yesterday, and she was very excited about the prospect of renting it. So, now it is off with me to buy a POH and study up for a checkout in a week or so!
I called the school to discuss this, and found that I easily met their minimum requirements which were PPL, IR, 100 TT, and 10 retract. I discussed the bird with one of the CFIs there who flies it frequently. He loves it. He said it really will do 160 KTAS at cruise, if you are willing to go to 75% power. At a quieter 65% power, it will still do 150 KTAS or better. Right there, I have a hidden card up my sleeve. My wife and I like to stop after two hours to take a rest. That means, in the trip I just did (2.6 hours), the total flight time became 4 hours with the one-hour stop. But with the Trinidad, the trip would have taken about 2.1 hours; thus, we wouldn't need to stop and the actual trip time would be cut in half. The other MAJOR benefit is that the plane has a stormscope and is very comfortable.
I asked about a checkout--and this part is to update Joe--and he said that most typical IFR checkouts are just one flight of 1.5 hours including VFR airwork, three approaches and three landings. Additionally, as long as I am really up on the POH, I would just need to take the aircraft's written test, and allow 1.5 hours of ground with the CFI.
I showed the actual airplane to my wife yesterday, and she was very excited about the prospect of renting it. So, now it is off with me to buy a POH and study up for a checkout in a week or so!