Picking up a pimped out Cirrus

Had the great privilege of helping out a fellow Cirrus owner by picking up and flying his aircraft home after getting some work done. The plane N60034, a 2003 Cirrus SR22 G1 was just completely pimped out to look better than a new Cirrus. The owner had the plane painted, interior completely redone and had a new four-blade MT propeller installed.

Midwest Aircraft Refinishing strip and repaint the entire aircraft. The quality of the paint job is like nothing I have ever seen before. It has numerous fades and color variations and all the colors have a little metal fleck in them, which really looks sharp. All stripping and numbers are painted (no cheap vinyl here) and then a final clear coat is applied to make the entire plane look wet. TRULY AMAZING! It’s not to say it’s perfect, but the flaws are few are unnoticeable unless you really look for them. Regardless, this paint job is better than any new Cirrus I have ever seen and better than any aircraft paint job I have ever seen! I would love to do this to my Cirrus!

SCS Custom Interiors in Duluth (the same manufacturer that does the factory Cirrus interior) replaced all the seat covers and foam as well as added new leather armrests and leather wrapped yokes and renovated the old plastic to look new and colored it black. The seat covers were custom designed to the owners specifications and were reshaped to look like the new G3 version and had suede inserts added to the design.  The plane also received a new suede headliner and a Cirrus G3 bolster and center console panel was installed.

Finally Midwest Aircraft Refinishing also installed a new MT four-blade composite propellor to round out the package. This was a great add-on not only for looking amazing, but for also being 27 pounds lighter, it helps increase the useful load of the aircraft. This propeller also makes the plane a little quieter and takes out some of the vibration. Performance wise, the plane seemed to climb a bit better and also aided in slowing the plane down a bit if you chopped the throttle. Not really beta, but kind of like that when at speed.

Prior to having all this work done, the owner also upgraded all the G430 com/navs with the new Garmin GTN650s and is looking at getting a DFC90 installed next month. With all the work he has done to this aircraft, you have to wonder why anyone would want to buy a new aircraft. This aircraft looks, smells and performs just as good as a new 2012 Cirrus and is every bit as capable, yet total cost is a quarter of a new one! I had a great time picking it up and flying it home from Wisconsin and I’m guessing this will be the closest I will ever come to actually flying a “new” aircraft.  Thanks for the opportunity Justin!

Size Does Matter

The new Apple iPad Mini

After a couple of weeks of flying cross country in some good IMC, I am completely sold on the new Mini. Although technically there really isn’t much different about it other than being smaller and the LTE cellular connectivity; size does matter. I have been using an iPad for flying (mainly as a backup) for almost two years and it has completely changed how I do preflight, flight plan, navigate, and maintain situational awareness while flying. The more I use the iPad and Foreflight, the more I like it because it’s just such a great tool for pilots. The new Mini just seems to make it that much better because the size is more convenient for the cockpit. It’s basically the size of a typical kneeboard and doesn’t clutter up your lap/cockpit as bad as the full size iPad. I haven’t had any issues with reading approach plates, sectionals or IFR charts. I put it through its paces several times when ATC would give me reroutes and I would have to figure out my clearances with Foreflight before programming the navigators and it all works great. Like I said, there really isn’t anything new about it other than size, but the size just seems to work better (at least for me) in the cockpit.

I used the iPad Mini on several flights without any case and I love how thin and tiny it is, but quickly realized that it does need to be in a case to protect it just in case it slides off the lap onto the floor. I researched cases at all the major electronic stores as well as on line and found that once again, Otter Box had the best case. I purchased my Otterbox Defender case on Amazon for $45.33 with free shipping.

http://www.amazon.com/OtterBox-Defender-Series-Hybrid-Case/dp/B009WU5XUG/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1354423762&sr=8-5&keywords=ipad+mini+case

This was $20 cheaper than anybody else and the case is awesome. The overall dimensions are still pretty small, but the rubber silicone outer shell keeps the iPad Mini from sliding around. The case really protects the Mini well and definitely worth the money!

If you are looking at purchasing an iPad for flying, I would look very hard at the Mini. I use it all day for surfing the web, e-mails, Facebook, book reading, etc and love it. It’s easy to carry around and fits in the coat pocket. Once again, thanks Apple for another great product!