First Flight in Over Two Months...

Ted

Ted

The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
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iFlyNothing
For the first time since I started flying, I had a two-month hiatus from flying. Actually, it was more like 2.5-months. Between the new baby and work, flying wasn't going to happen anyway. And with the 310 being down and not having engines, that didn't make things easier. The Aztec has been living elsewhere until it's time to move it to its new home. We're going to fly it over Thanksgiving, and so today I moved it down here from where it had been living. A beautiful VFR day.

An easy flight. I did some stalls, Vmc demo, and a mid-air shutdown and restart, simply since it had been a while and I wanted to maintain proficiency there. Even though it's been close to 6 months since I last flew the Aztec (hard to believe), it was just like getting back on a bike. I guess 1,000 hours and around 600 landings in the plane are good for something.

So nice to get back in the saddle.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
For the first time since I started flying, I had a two-month hiatus from flying. Actually, it was more like 2.5-months. Between the new baby and work, flying wasn't going to happen anyway. And with the 310 being down and not having engines, that didn't make things easier. The Aztec has been living elsewhere until it's time to move it to its new home. We're going to fly it over Thanksgiving, and so today I moved it down here from where it had been living. A beautiful VFR day.

An easy flight. I did some stalls, Vmc demo, and a mid-air shutdown and restart, simply since it had been a while and I wanted to maintain proficiency there. Even though it's been close to 6 months since I last flew the Aztec (hard to believe), it was just like getting back on a bike. I guess 1,000 hours and around 600 landings in the plane are good for something.

So nice to get back in the saddle.
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Welcome back into the saddle sir...:yes::wink2:
 
Welcome back. I hate hiatus time.

Your comment about getting on the bike is interesting. I never felt that way until somewhere around 200 hours. Always felt like I was way "off" when returning from a break.

Nowadays it feels much more comfortable (VFR). I suspect I'll have to hammer in many many IPCs before it ever feels that comfortable IFR.
 
denverpilot said:
Welcome back. I hate hiatus time.

Your comment about getting on the bike is interesting. I never felt that way until somewhere around 200 hours. Always felt like I was way "off" when returning from a break.

Nowadays it feels much more comfortable (VFR). I suspect I'll have to hammer in many many IPCs before it ever feels that comfortable IFR.
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Well, I can say that at 2,000 hours it's a lot different than at 200, and agree fully. Plus it also depends on which plane I'm flying. About 75% of my time is split between the Aztec (50%) and the 310 (25%). So getting in either one of those, everything comes back very quickly, and it's just like putting on a glove.

If I were to get in the Navajo, I'd be a little sluggish, just because I've only got about 150 hours in Navajos.

If I got in a single, I'd have no idea what to do.
 
Every winter I take a 2-3 month hiatus because of short daylight hrs and weather. Flying in the winter is tough, but Glad to hear you are back in the air!
 
Even with similar airframes, the panels, avionics, instrumentation, STCs and options are much different. Jumping back in your 310 or Aztec could be much different than saddling up others in the fleet.

It's easier to move among planes with integrated suites and a limited number of options, since everything in the cockpit is essentially the same.
Ted DuPuis said:
Well, I can say that at 2,000 hours it's a lot different than at 200, and agree fully. Plus it also depends on which plane I'm flying. About 75% of my time is split between the Aztec (50%) and the 310 (25%). So getting in either one of those, everything comes back very quickly, and it's just like putting on a glove.

If I were to get in the Navajo, I'd be a little sluggish, just because I've only got about 150 hours in Navajos.

If I got in a single, I'd have no idea what to do.
Click to expand...
 
wabower said:
Even with similar airframes, the panels, avionics, instrumentation, STCs and options are much different. Jumping back in your 310 or Aztec could be much different than saddling up others in the fleet.

It's easier to move among planes with integrated suites and a limited number of options, since everything in the cockpit is essentially the same.
Click to expand...

Very true, and that was part of my point (although you said it better). My 1000 hour of Aztec is in the same Aztec, and all but about 10 hours of 310 time in the same 310.

Before I moved to Ohio, I was regularly flying the Aztec, the 310, two Navajos (a 310 and a 350), the Cheyenne, and the Commander. That's 6 different engines burning 2 types of fuel from 4 different manufacturers with 6 different power setting requirements, 4 different starting procedures, turbines that operated very differently from eachother, 5 different autopilots (although 3 of the types were varying forms of Century IIIs, they all had varying levels of functionality and suicidal tendencies), 6 very different avionics stacks, 3 planes with cowl flaps, 1 without, 1 with oil cooler doors, 1 without. Basically 5 different sets of systems knowledge.

It was hell on proficiency. One day I found myself wanting to start the Navajo by getting to 10% N1 and then adding fuel. At least I never tried to lean out the Cheyenne in cruise.
 
It could be worse. I once spent about 30 minutes looking for the prop-sync switch on a different King Air.

Ted DuPuis said:
It was hell on proficiency. One day I found myself wanting to start the Navajo by getting to 10% N1 and then adding fuel. At least I never tried to lean out the Cheyenne in cruise.
Click to expand...
 
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