End of the (first) Adventure!
End of the (first) Adventure!
N114BL is finally home, sitting on the ramp at Taylor! It's the prettiest plane there, if I do say...
I flew up to Memphis Wednesday evening, expecting my new CFI, Brad to meet me there with my plane and take me back up to Jackson. When I finally got over to the FBO, there was another Commander there, but not mine. I found the Brad inside, and found out that since the oil temps were running high, he didn't want to fly it at night, so he brought another plane instead. No problems, so we started loading my bags, until a line guy noticed a flat tire on the plane. We messed with that for awhile, but didn't want to bring someone out at 11pm to fix it, so I rented a car in Memphis and we drove up to Jackson. Finding my hotel is a whole 'nother story, but I did get to bed around 1:15 am or so.
On Thursday morning, I found my plane parked over at Tennessee Aviation, and met Paul the A&P and owner, and we discussed things... oil temps were high because it was filled twice with oil! He had drained it back to 8 qts, and flew it, and it was fine.
I found Brad and we went out and started getting the plane ready... a good long, detailed preflight, discussing all the systems, and learning a lot about how this plane really works. It's a good deal more 'complex' than the planes I've flown, with retract gear, cowl flaps, rudder trim, etc. We flew out of Jackson and up to about 6500 feet, where we did lots of airwork. Slow flight, power on stalls, and some power off stalls. We then headed over to Dexter, MO and had 2 hundred dollar hamburgers... I guess these particular burgers cost quite a bit more than that!
After that, Brad took the rental and headed back to Memphis to get the plane and return the car, so I hung out with Paul going over all the work done on the plane and understanding what things ran over, what ran under etc. Had plenty of questions for him too about the plane, so we talked for a good while. I also had time to go through the POH and W&B from the actual plane, the Garmin book and that sort of thing.
That afternoon, we went out again and did traffic patterns over and over. I was consistently putting out the gear midfield, but not always getting the triple GUMPS check on downwind, base and final. Next pattern, he pulled the power out abeam the numbers looking for a power off landing. Turned to the runway and all was looking fine, until he asked me to go around. Pitch up, power up, clean up... No GUMPS check, no landing... I was so focused on making the runway that I completely forget the rest of the checks. We did a few more patterns and emergency procedures, but I was really cooked at that point so we called it a night. 4.6 hours done, so we were a little behind the curve...
After I got some dinner, I went to the hotel and chair flew about 10 patterns, to really make the habit of repeating that check three times every time around.
Got back to the airport at 9:30 Friday, so they'd have time to weld a cracked step I'd found (only found because it was the thread of the day on the Commander website...) It was done, and even painted pretty nicely!
We headed back out into the traffic pattern, understanding that if I missed a GUMPS check we were going around. Never missed it, and we threw in some emergency procedures as well, and still included the checks. Looking good there, so we practiced pulling the prop back to increase glide, and using gear and flaps to slow down as needed. After that, we headed out for a couple of practice approaches under the hood. I was pretty rusty, but felt like that was from me not flying in some time, and not many approaches, rather than looking at a new (OLD) panel with different presentation.
We flew over to Houston Co. airport, which is in valley between a couple of tree covered hills, and only 3000' runway to work with. We worked the traffic pattern to go around a hill and give us a longer final, and I got the plane down and stopped nicely. Taxied all the way to the end where there's a small apron to park, and hiked up the hill for lunch. Talk about out of they way dining! We had a great meal and plenty of sweet tea. 2.6 hours more..
Flew back home after that, and hung out in the shop for awhile and back at the hotel, reviewing POH and stuff. Met back up at 6:00 to get out after the heat, needing 2.8 more hours to go. We took off and flew a couple more approaches, one ILS and one VOR, and then headed out to find some cheap gas to fill up on. Topped her off, then we headed back up to altitude. Brad was comfortable with everything, so asked me what I wanted to do. I was curious what kind of performance I'd see at altitude, so we climbed up to 6500 and got traffic advisories from Memphis Center. At WOT, 2500 rpm and 16 gph, I was making 145 knots TAS. Pulled back to 2200 rpm and 14 gph, and was still doing 140. We climbed up to 8500 and checked again, was getting 139 at 2500 and 130 at 2200. I need to check my DA and look in the book, but I'm pleased with that performance. I think as the weather cools, I'll be able to lean a bit more and keep CHTs where they need to be with less fuel in the mix.
We still had time to burn, so headed back to Jackson for some more patterns, it was night, so got to check out the panel lighting, which is very nice and the view over the city was beautiful. Back into the pattern, and we did 3 landings until the Hobbs meter had the magic number, and taxied in and tied her down. 10 hours, complete!
The forecast for Saturday was VFR, but when I awoke in the morning the sky was overcast. The ceiling was 6000 feet but I checked the weather and there was a lot of rain and lightening to the north that I didn't want any part of, so I got myself together as quick as I could. I didn't have a solid plan for getting home yet, so checked online and decided the best place for a stop would be in Henderson, near my sister and brother in law, so planned for that.
Found some breakfast, and headed up to the airport, loaded the bags in the plane and returned my (second) rental car. Paid for the fuel purchased at the airport and then I was ready. It was a quiet morning at the airport, I looked around and got in and got ready to go. The only hitch was that the well expired nav database in my Garmin 430 didn't have the current identifier for Henderson, KRFI, but I checked in my also out of date A/FD and found the old id, F12. Had plenty of sectionals on board.. just in case!
Air was smooth, but very hazy, so I only climbed to 3500 for the trip to Henderson. Was in no rush, so didn't push it. Had a nice lunch there, courtesy of my brother in law, then I filled her up ($2.87/g!) and took it on home. Direct from there was only 1.5 on the Hobbs, usually an awful, four hour drive! Won't drive that one any more!
Got into Taylor, had to fight to get the plane down with all the convection off the fields around, but managed to get it on pavement without too much trouble. Taxied off and found a spot, secured and tied her down in her new home!
Glad to be back, now comes the really good stuff!
David
That would make for a good Texas fleet of Commanders!