Today I got a ride in a buddy's brand new 2008 G3 SR-20. Very nice machine. The avionics and entire design are outstanding. The folks at Cirrus have really done a great job making this plane "easily flyable" by the average Joe.
We took off from Danbury airport (KDXR) and flew to the Madison VOR (MAD) and then the GPS 24 approach to Gabreski airport (KFOK) in West Hampton. Our mission was to check out the vertical guidance provided by the WAAS receiver in the Garmin 430. The GPS functioned as expected, but the wind was coming from 010 degrees, so we broke off the approach, circled around and landed on runway 1.
A nice breakfast was had at the Cafe at Malloy East. We sat outside and watched the banner planes takeoff and come back in to pick up their signs. Their technique is to make a steep decent, hook the sign and then make a dramatically steep climb to 300ft, level off to gain speed just before the banner comes up off the ground causing tremendous drag which almost makes the plane stall! The cowlings are actually removed from the tow planes to help with cooling. They run at almost full power all day long. Young pilot's building time -- not for me.
After breakfast, we took off from FOK for the east end to fly over my in-law's new house. I took the controls at 1,oooft MSL and flew for about 40 minutes. The Cirrus is very responsive to pilot's inputs and flies very smoothly. This was my first experience with the spring-loaded side-yoke and the overactive Cirrus trim controls. While I think I could get used to the trim controls over time, I hate the spring loading in the yoke. It did not take long for my wrist to get sore. I can see why people just fly the thing with the trim control entirely -- much easier on the wrist. The yoke is the only thing wrong with what is otherwise an exceptional airplane.
Breakfast with a friend and another plane type in the log book. That meets my definition of a great day.
No comments:
Post a Comment