Skip to main content

Doing my homework

I've owned my airplane for a week, but I haven't flown it yet.

As I noted earlier, my insurance company requires that I receive an hour of dual instruction in the plane before I fly it as pilot in command, either solo or with one or more passengers, and this is currently scheduled for this Friday afternoon. Weather permitting, of course. In the meantime, I've been doing some homework.

First thing is to go through the Pilot Operating Handbook for the plane. For those not familiar with pilot-speak, the POH is basically the user manual for the airplane, much like the one that comes with a new car. With a car, you can get in and drive it after some familiarization with its operation provided by the dealer or the person you bought it from. Or just sitting in it and noting where the controls are. With an airplane, doing that would be foolhardy if you've never flown that model of airplane before. Since I've flown only Cessnas, this is the situation I'm in.

In addition to the POH, there are a couple of upgraded components in the airplane that require going through the operation manual for. First is an Electronics International FP-5L Fuel Computer that was installed back in 2019. This is a fairly sophisticated instrument that provides a lot of functionality in a compact package. Because that package is compact, however, the user interface consists of two buttons and a small switch that you can push left or right from its center position. Its operation reminds me of my first digital watch or my current thermostat. In both cases, some functionality requires pushing or holding two buttons at once. I went through the manual and wrote down some notes for a quick reference that I plan to print out and carry in the plane.

The other is an Electronics International SC-5 Super Clock, also installed in 2019. It's a bit simpler than the Fuel Computer, but it's still a compact package with the same set of controls so its operation isn't exactly intuitive.

Both of these, the Fuel Computer especially, will be very useful. Because this airplane does not have a "Both" setting for the fuel valve, I need to switch between the left and right tanks as I fly in order to keep the plane balanced. The Fuel Computer is set to flash a notification after a certain amount of fuel has been consumed to remind me to switch tanks.

The Super Clock will become more useful once I start going on cross country flights. That'll be a while, though. To begin with, I plan to fly the plane mostly in the local area, practicing landings and becoming familiar with its handling characteristics. Maybe after a few such flights I'll head on over to another airport. Who knows, maybe by then I'll be able to do the traditional pilot thing and have an effectively expensive meal at the airport restaurant.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Approaching the annual

I know I haven't been posting much, but that's mainly because nothing much of note has been happening. I've been flying, but not really going anywhere in particular. The engine continues to run very well, and the plane is still solid. I was hoping to do more "destination" flying this year but, for whatever reason(s), it didn't really happen. Next year, hopefully.... On the horizon, though, is the annual inspection. It's already scheduled for mid-December, since the last annual is good to the end of that month. I've also arranged for it to be an owner-assisted annual. I'm told that every airplane owner should do this at least once and I can certainly understand why that is the case, even before I do it. I will be learning about my airplane in a way that nothing else will match and, incidentally, save some money at the same time. I'm looking forward to it. Leading up to the annual, I have been compiling a list of squawks that I want to take care ...

First Oil Change

It's been a while since my last post here. I've been flying, but the flights have been intended simply to put time on the plane and most have been pretty uneventful. However, the last two flight have been particularly nice because my wife came with me. I had enough hours on the engine that I felt I could trust it enough to take a passenger. I've now put over 25 hours on the engine since the overhaul and it's time for its first oil change. That was just completed, and the Aeroshell mineral oil used for break-in has been replaced with Phillips XC ashless-dispersant oil. The plan is to run it another 25 hours, at which point we'll change the oil again. At that time, we'll send a sample to Blackstone for analysis, and I will also resume adding Camguard. I also had the shop take care of a few other squawks while they had it in. The biggest of these is its tendency to pull to the left in the air and on the ground. I suspected that it was due to the nosewheel centering...

Precipitation

The weather was rather nice yesterday and I was able to get up in the air in the afternoon. The flight was pretty uneventful, essentially another jaunt up to the north and back. There were two things that were a bit different from the norm. First, on the way back to Harvey Field, I ran at full power. I've done full power runs before; it's a part of the break-in process for an overhauled engine. And I did another good long one yesterday. I was doing a bit better than 110 knots on the airspeed indicator, and that's with the built-in calibrator for true airspeed set for the temperature and altitude so it should be pretty close to what I was actually doing. Yep, still not a fast plane, but I still think the roomy cabin and large fuel capacity make up for that. Second, as I was flying back to Harvey, I decided not to straight back but rather to take a quick detour off to the east to prolong my full-power run. I turned east, then headed back north for a bit. I saw a couple of clo...