Great Day to Fly - Except for the "Gusts"

Flying over the Cascade Mountains

I haven’t been flying much lately due to an extremely busy work load and other family fun, so today I finally got to get up and do some exploring in a new area.  Today’s adventures were to head east over the Cascade Mountains and check out a couple new airports and do some mountain flying.

Since I had the Cirrus booked well in advance, I had a five-hour window to burn for my little adventure.  Unfortunately I was off to a late start since I had to do some coordination’s with the flight school manager since my account was locked due to not meeting the school requirements of three landings in 90 days.  This was waived for me since I owned a Cirrus and had hundreds in the aircraft, but I still had to catch him and play text tag to get the system to allow me to check the plane out.  Once all that was done, I did my pre-flight and departed Renton, VFR to the east. 

It was a beautiful day to fly with little wind and severe clear VFR.  I made my way out of the Class B and then climbed to 9500’.  The mountains were gorgeous and it was fun to look at this new challenge and play “what if.”  In the event of an engine failure where do you go, what do you do.  CAPS is ALWAYS the right option, but when you look at the ruggedness of the mountains below, and the desolation of the forest, one has to wonder what the outcome would be like. 

 

Approaching Ellensburg, WA

The flight only took about 30-minutes to make my way to Bowers Field, Ellensburg, WA (KELN).  I maneuvered my way to cross midfield and then set-up for a landing on RW11.  As I approached I felt the plane gain some lift which floated me down the runway, but it settled in for a nice touch and go and then I departed to the North on a fairly steep climb to get over the ridge enroute to Pangborn Memorial (KEAT).  This short 10-minute flight was fun in that as I crested the ridge, there was a very sharp cliff like drop into the river valley and Wenatchee below.  Since I was at 7,500’, I had to do some long S-turns to maneuver and descend to get to the airport which was at 1249’.  This is one of those things about flying in the mountains that you have to think about during planning.  These short steep descents also set-up the potential for shock cooling of the engine if you aren’t careful.  The other challenging part of getting to the proper altitude was to do it in a safe manor that set me up for a landing and yet staying out of the way of others flying and not becoming CFIT all in a valley that is only about 6-8 miles wide. 

Wenatchee Below

I landed on RW30, which according to ASOS was preferred, however the wind at the airport was favoring RW12.  I landed and taxied back to RW12 and the departed.   On the climb out I turned to the northwest and followed the valley up to Cashmere (8S2).   Cashmere is what I would consider as a retirement airport.  It’s small (1800’), in a small town community and has a lot of hangers and planes.  Awesome place.

 

Flying up the valley to Cashmere

Getting to Cashmere was beautiful since I was farther up the valley, so the valley narrowed and the wind was a little more sporty.  I made my way up the valley and maneuvered around the fairly tight box canyon to set-up for a landing on RW7.  Flying in the mountains is really fun, but challenging in that you now have to worry even more about flying into something.  I maneuvered around and set-up for my approach.  The sloping terrain to the west caused me to be a bit high and as I came I got another gust of wind and floated again.  Being that the runway was only 1800’ and also has a downward slope of 1.4% (RW7), you can’t give up too much in a Cirrus or you will end up without enough runway.  I went around and set myself up again on another approach.  This time I was a little lower and slower.  I touched down right about where I needed to be, but since this plane wasn’t mine and I wasn’t sure of how great the brakes were, I applied power and performed a touch and go.  On my climb out I noticed a few people watching me and probably thought I was nuts to be trying to land in that small airport with a Cirrus.  Truth be told, the Cirrus does just fine as long as you hit your marks and control your airspeed.  I have done shorter runways in my SR22 with no problem, but I also had the power on hand to get out of a pinch if I needed to.  The SR20 doesn’t give you that kind of performance, so you have to know the plane’s envelope pretty well to be safe.  Although I have quite a bit of time in the SR20, I don’t feel as comfortable as I do in the SR22.  I’m guessing in the summer time, this would be a very challenging airport with the density altitude and the heat.

 

Cle Elum, WA

I departed down the valley back towards KEAT and then climbed direct up and over the ridge to Cle Elum (S93).  This is another one of those neat airports you find when exploring.  At 2500’x 40, its not all that challenging, but the scenery of this well kept airport was awesome.  I maneuvered around the valley to set up for a landing on RW7 and enjoyed the aerial view of all the gorgeous houses in the valley and around the airport.  As I approached to land I got another “gust” of wind, but this time more abrupt and I just happen to catch out of the corner of my eye the flap moving.  Since this “gust” made me float down the runway, I went around again and as I was downwind, I put the flaps from 50% to 100% and noticed they went down to 100% and then back up to around 60%.  LIGHTBULB!  The gusts were not “gusts”; it was a malfunctioning flap servo.  I adjusted this several times and sometimes they went to 100% and sometimes they came back up!  I landed at S93 and back taxied to take off again.  This airport was unique in that it had white and green poles around the tarmac to mark it for the plows since they get a lot of snow here.  The Cirrus wings were just barely tall enough to clear them, but I’m not sure my G2 would have made it! 

Snow Poles at Cle Elum

I departed and headed back to KRNT to conclude my journey.  I flew for 2.4 hours and had a blast exploring some new airports.  Cashmere will definitely be on my return list since I would like to land and check it out a little more.  I like the area and it’s close to Leavenworth, WA, which is a great area.  The community is small, but from what I can tell, it has a great aviation presence.

As for the flaps, I spoke with one of the instructors at the flight school and he stated that he had noticed this too.  This particular aircraft has always had issues with the flaps and for some reason something is trigging the flaps to retract intermittently and then once you get below 90ish knots, they sometimes come back down.  I also noted this on the squawk list and I received an e-mail from the flight school stating that N941SR was going into maintenance to have this looked at again.  Hopefully it will be rectified and I can take it out again for another adventure soon.

Synthetic Vision on PFD

Flying the Sportsman

Today I finally got to get some flight time in the Glasair Sportsman 2+2.  I have made two previous trips up to Arlington, WA to the factory to fly one, but the weather has never worked out.  Today however it was a beautiful sunny day and I made it up there to go fly.  My thanks goes out to Nick for working me into his schedule on short notice to fly the Sportsman and to take it to lunch.  The demo aircraft I flew was a fiberglass Sportsman with the IO-390 Lycoming engine and the two-blade Hartzell propeller.

After looking over the plane and talking a bit we taxied the plane out and did a run-up before departing.  The plane taxied with great ease and the castering nose wheel made it feel much like the Cirrus, so adapting to it wasn’t a big deal.  We did our run-up and departed Arlington Municipal (KAWO) climbing to 4500’ direct to Roche Harbor (WA09).  Airspeeds are all a bit different than the Cirrus in that we rotated at 60kts with Vx being 75 and Vy being 85.  Right off the bat I was really impressed with the responsiveness and the push back into the seat that the IO-390 provided.  At 210hp, it has a lot of snap and we were off the ground very quickly.  Climbing to altitude went very quickly since the plane has plenty of ability with full fuel an only two of us on board.  Without trying we were easily 1000-1500’ fpm climb.  Once at altitude, I fiddled around with the Advanced Flight 5000 PFD/MFD.  The plane was really easy to fly and getting it trimmed out was much easier than any Cirrus I have ever flown.  It too has electric trim the trim hat on the stick like the Cirrus, but the motor was significantly more smooth and not hyper sensitive like in the Cirrus.  The plane trims nice and easy and stays put.  Flying the plane takes nothing more than you finger and thumb and feels a lot like a Diamond DA40, very smooth.

We descended down into Roche Harbor and my first awkwardness of the flight took place.   I am pretty used to flying a Cirrus which has a much higher pattern speed, so when I entered the pattern, Nick was trying to get me to slow down.  It was just a totally different sight picture for me.  As we turned final, I felt way high and was still fast at 75 knots IAS and Nick told me to put the throttle to idle and point the nose down.   I am more used to a gradual approach to land, but in this case we were pointed down pretty steep and I was faster than needed to be (should be 65kts or lower).  We got over the fence, I flared and she set down with a little plop.  Nick said it was a good landing, however I felt it was a bit of a bump.  As it turned out this is normal and how it was designed so that when you are flying in the back country the plane plants to get you on the ground.  It wasn’t hard, just different than I’m used to.   If you keep a little power on, it will land nice and smoothly with little effort.  We taxied to park and headed to lunch.

This was my first time to Roche Harbor and man it is really cool!  This would be the perfect place to take a wife or significant other for a weekend getaway.  Landing at this private airport costs $10, but the walk to town is only about a block to the harbor.  You can also rent mopeds or little three wheeled vehicles too.  We walked down to a great little café on the harbor and had a great burger.  Unfortunately I forgot the name of the place and can’t find it on the Internet, but the food was really good.

After lunch we walked back up to the plane and departed for Arlington.  On the way back we climbed to 5500’ and I did some air work.  Turns, slow flight with turns, and power off stalls.  The plane was really docile and controllable.  Stalls were a non-event with an easy break, but no buffet.  After some air work we leveled off at 5500’ with very little wind we had the plane trimmed out to 24” of manifold pressure at 2500 RPMs and leaned to 11.6 GPH.   The plane was showing 133kts indicated, 149kts true and 154kts ground.  That’s pretty darn good for this configuration and would easily out run most certified aircraft on the market.

I fiddled some more with the Advanced glass which worked pretty well.  The symbology is a little different than what I’m used to, but it’s fairly intuitive.  This aircraft also had synthetic vision, which also worked really well and was pretty accurate.  The autopilot was the one thing that didn’t work so well, but it may have been that I couldn’t figure that one out and Nick was pretty new to the team as well and didn’t know it all that well yet either.  The MFD/PFD combo has a lot of utility, but the numerous buttons and knobs take some getting used to.  I think the system would be pretty decent with some time, but my choice would be the new Garmin G3x Touch with the Garmin autopilot and the GMC 305 control panel.  This new system gives you everything the G1000 does and more for a fraction of the cost.  

We got back to Arlington and did a couple of touch and goes and then called it a day.  My overall impressions of the aircraft are really good.  It’s an amazing airplane with serious utility and flexibility.   I have been a little apprehensive about the overall internal size, but it’s actually really wide and much bigger inside than you would think.  They say its four inches wider than a Cessna 182.  The bubble windows probably help too, but even with the two of us in it, we weren’t bumping arms or anything.  The seats are comfortable and the visibility is great out the front and down the sides.  The high wing makes looking out above very limited, but in a turn there are two windows above your head that allow you to look out.  Overall I think this plane is a serious contender for my future hanger and I think doing a Two Week to Taxi (TWTT) program is the way to go and a great experience as well.  Time will tell what route we go, but like I said, I’m really impressed with this aircraft.  I only wish I could get more time in it to get a better feel for it and some more flight time.

Flying to Friday Harbor

On 7 July I got to complete another bucket list item by flying to Friday Harbor in the great Pacific Northwest and this was also the first time my entire family got to fly since selling our Cirrus.  Friday Harbor (KFHR) is a really cool airport out in the Puget Sound area, not too far from the Canadian border.  KFHR is located on San Juan Island about 60 NM northwest of Seattle, WA.  There is nothing really challenging about this airport, other than it can be pretty busy with all sorts of GA traffic (singles, twins, turbines, and some jets), but the view to fly here is amazing.  Once you land, there is a nice parking ramp on the northeast side of the airport for transient parking.  It is free if you are not overnight and the walk to town is relatively short, but keep in mind that it is up hill on the way back.  Friday Harbor is a popular get away spot and has numerous restaurants and café’s to eat at and also lots of bed and breakfast type places.  There is also a large harbor here and it’s fun to come down and watch the ferries and floatplanes come and go.  This is a very scenic area to visit and if you are looking for a fun weekend getaway, I highly recommend it.

Two very cool completely refurbished DeHavilland Beaver turboprops

Lots of seaplanes come and go.  The white one is Kenmore Air.

Gorgeous Beaver!  I would love to fly one someday.

Flying in Hawaii

As part of my bucket list of flying in all 50 states, I took the opportunity to check off another state, a hard one, while on a business trip in Hawaii.  As I’m sure it is obvious by now that I am a huge Cirrus fan, it only seemed fitting to find a Cirrus to rent in Hawaii.  This is not an easy task since there are very few of them in Hawaii and there aren’t any for rent.  I had posted a note on the COPA forums and got a suggestion to fly with Maui Flight Academy since they have a Cirrus to do training in.  I started exchanging e-mails with Laurence Balter the owner and instructor at Maui Flight Academy a couple months ago and I started to formulate a plan to accomplish this task on one of my upcoming trips.

While on a TDY trip in Australia, my travel plans changed and I had to leave early for my follow-on trip to Hawaii, which got me to the island a few days early and with time to kill.  Since it just so happened to be Fathers Day, I thought “why not go do something fun since I can’t be with my family”, so I contacted Laurence and he was very accommodating to meet my requirements.  He was able to work me into his day since he had clients that put them on Lanai for a couple hours of site seeing and lunch.  On the morning of 15 June, I hopped on an Island Air ATR-72 and took a short 30 minute flight from Honolulu to Lanai to link up with Laurence. 

I linked up with Laurence and we headed out to his Cirrus, a 2007 SR22G3.  What was comical about his plane was the tail number N779LB, which is pretty darn close our past aircraft N779WC.  Climbing into this plane felt like coming home.  I had been flying a 2009 SR20G3 with Perspective, but I never feel that comfortable in it like I did my Avidyne equipped aircraft.  We started it up and I taxied to RW21 and took off.  We departed to the east and around the coastline of Lanai and then proceeded north to Molokai.  We intercepted the coast and then proceeded to follow it to the northeast.  The area was gorgeous, especially Molokai, and for you movie buffs you may know that the opening scenes of Jurassic Park as they fly toward the island.  We made our way close to the coastline by several waterfalls and then by the old Belgian missionary Saint Damien founded in 1873.  Then we proceeded farther west over the Kauhako Crater Pond  - a small yet 800-foot deep pond.  From here we flew out over Kahiu Point light house and circled around for a touch and go at Kalaupapa Airport (PHLU) on RW5.  Kalaupapa is also the airport for the last “leprosy” colony that has had more than 8000 residence over the years.  The remaining few have since been cured.  After this we circled back around and followed the coast to the West and then cut across the island just east of Molokai (PHMK) and headed back to Lanai where I landed on RW 3.

Kauhako Crater Pond 

Kahiu Point light house and Kalaupapa Airport (PHLU) 

Flying this Cirrus was totally comfortable as if I had been flying my old plane non-stop for the past year.  It was really as if I hadn’t ever sold it.  It was a great experience to get back in the left seat of an SR22 again and the scenery was amazing.  Laurence was awesome and was a great tour guide.  He said my skills didn’t show any degradation and made his “instruction” more of a joy ride for him. 

Although the plane is based out of Maui, Laurence is very accommodating to link together other flights to help make travel work out.  He can also ferry the plane to Oahu if needed, but additional costs may be incurred.  If you are looking for a great way to see the islands, I highly recommend giving Laurence a call.  Check out his website at www.mauiflightacademy.com.

My approximate flight path (via Foreflight)