Skip to main content

Airplane go zoom!

There haven't been any developments in the story of my airplane's engine. I'm still waiting for the shop to pull it in and take the engine off. While I'm waiting, I've decided that, if I can't fly my plane, I'll fly someone else's and get some training. Several weeks ago, I went up with an instructor to refresh my night flying knowledge and skill. Today I went up in a Cessna 182 and got my high performance endorsement.

The main differences between a 182 and a plane like mine or a 172 are that it's a bit larger and heavier, it has a considerably more powerful engine, and it has a constant-speed propeller. I've long known the basic operating principles of a constant-speed prop, but this is the first real practical experience with one. Well, I did go up with a former coworker in his 182 back around 2004 but that doesn't really count.

It was a lot of fun! It's definitely a different experience. And even though he signed off on my endorsement, I'd still want to spend at least a couple more hours with an instructor before I flew that plane by myself. Snohomish Flying Service requires at least five hours in the plane before they'll rent it to me so that problem would take care of itself if I decided I wanted to do that. But I can certainly understand why the 182, and similar aircraft, are so appealing. If I ever decide to sell my plane and upgrade to a larger one, a 182 will certainly be on my short list.

Snohomish Flying Service's 182RG is in the shop and will likely be there for a while. Once it's back in service, I could go ahead and get my complex aircraft endorsement. Or I could get my taildragger endorsement in their J3. That would definitely be a lot of fun, and it would also make me a better pilot.

Comments

Post a Comment

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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

April showers....

I haven't been flying in a few weeks due to the weather. It has been a rather wet April and the alignment of rain showers with the weekend has been exquisite. I have nineteen hours on the engine so far. The plan is to run it to 25 hours, then do the first oil change. At that point we'll most likely switch to regular oil. I do have Camguard that I intend to use but my understanding is that, with a new or overhauled engine, you should run at least one oil change interval on regular oil without Camguard before starting to use it. If the weather is nice at some point during this next week, I may just take a half day off from work and go flying, then make up the time later.
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more