flyingcheesehead
Taxi to Parking
Going up to CAD this weekend was one of the very few instances where a twin is actually cheaper than a single. (4.4 hours around the lake last year in the 182 *$109/hr = $479.60, 1.9 over the lake this year in the Seneca * $242.50/hr = $460.75.)
So, I took the Seneca. It was my third flight in a Seneca. #1 was with Dr. Bruce, did an engine out. #2 was at Wisconsin Aviation in their Seneca II, N6878C (which is not nearly as nice as Bruce's!
), just getting used to doing everything. #3 was again in 78C going to Cadillac.
I think I'll tell the story and just scatter my comments and questions throughout. Please feel free to comment and advise on anything contained herein!
We loaded the bird up to just shy of gross weight. 100 lbs of bags in the baggage compartment, 40 lbs of flight bags in the middle seats, and 525 lbs of me + good-sized CFII/MEI in the front, and full fuel (extended tanks, 123 gallons/738 pounds of 100LL) put us at 4568 gross, just two pounds under the Seneca II's MGTOW of 4570.
I calculated that with the conditions for the flight we should have a takeoff roll of around 1100 feet, accelerate-stop of about 1900 feet, and a climb of 220fpm on one engine. Cruise speed at 32"/2300 RPM at 9000 feet was calculated to be 165 KTAS, and sure enough, we trued out right at 165. Not too bad when a 12,000 hour airframe still makes book numbers!
I looked at a couple of routes. Airways would have taken us via BAE MKG HIC but that made kind of a loop and was 41nm farther than direct. So, I filed IFR, V9 OSH MTW MBL at 9,000 feet. I chose the route because it was 24nm shorter and kept me over territory I'm much more familiar with (and it's a route I flew in July in the 182), making improved situational awareness easier which I figured would be good in an airplane that's relatively new to me.
We packed our stuff in the bird and strapped in. CFI has insisted that I use the Piper checklists on this plane rather than making my own.
Luckily, I've been doing lots of flying (130 hours last year) and I've pretty much ingrained the IFR procedures into my head, so not having my own checklist didn't turn out to be that big of a deal.
OK, time to start. I haven't flown a fuel-injected airplane in a while. Following the checklist: Prop full, mixture rich, throttle full. Run the left primer pump for several seconds. Throttle back to idle, left engine mags on, crank left engine starter. Vroom, cough, sputter, quit. Okay, throttle up, prime for two more seconds, throttle idle, and try again. At the direction of my CFI, I kept cranking until the engine actually started and stayed that way. (Felt like I was starting a turbine or something!) Engine's going, oil pressure's good, alternator is charging. Lather, rinse, repeat on the second engine, which started on the first try.
Man, it's cool to start two engines. 
So cool, that I actually forget I'm now burning money at the rate of over four dollars a minute! 
The checklist says to run the boost pumps on low for 1-3 minutes in cold weather to attain smooth engine operation. The right engine is still a bit rough and I go to turn the boost pump on low, but Joe (CFI) says that's for hot weather. Huh? It says below 20 F.
So... When SHOULD the boost pumps on the Seneca be used? When would you use the high setting?
OK, now for ground leaning. Joe says that we only need to pull the mixture back a little on these engines, maybe the width of the mixture knob (actually, the metal arm to the knob would be more accurate). Okay.
We leave the engines running at 900-1000 RPM. I switch one engine to crossfeed while I listen to the ATIS, and then switch it back to "on" and switch the other engine to crossfeed while I get the clearance (As filed, up to 5, 9 after 10). We taxi off to the wide-open area at the north end of the East ramp to do the runup.
The runup begins with a feather check at 1000 RPM, pulling each prop lever all the way back to the feather position and looking for the RPM to begin dropping, then immediately pushing the knob back to full forward. Then, it's up to 1900 RPM for the normal mag check, exercise the prop, check alternate air, vacuum, etc. We switch off one alternator at a time, checking to make sure the other picks up the load and that they once again split the load when both are back on.
Now, time to do all the stuff that's not on the checklist: Set up the radios, do a VOR check, and call ground for taxi clearance. As expected, we got cleared to 21 via Juliet and Bravo. There'd been a very nice Lear 40 that called up just before us and got the same taxi clearance. Though we were quite a ways ahead of him, I told Ground that we'd wait for him to go past so they could depart and I wouldn't feel rushed.
I checked the instruments as we rolled down the taxiways, and paused short of the runway to clear the controls, check trim, go through my last-minute checks (GUMPS, Lights, Camera, Action, 5 T's).
Joe briefed the takeoff, which went something like this: "If we lose one on the roll, prior to blue line, or with usable runway remaining, we chop and drop even if we'll go off the end. Heavy braking. If it'll fly, we clean it up and go..."
What are the elements of a good takeoff briefing? How about in a single? (I do that sometimes, just to remind myself that I don't want to turn back too low...)
So... Fuel selectors on. Pumps off. Gear down and showing three green. Mixtures rich. Props forward. Seat belts on. Doors locked and bump-checked. Lights on. Transponder - ALT. HSI set to proper course, with bug on runway heading. Time hacked. I think through what to do with the throttles as I take the runway, take two deep breaths, and...
"Madison Tower, Seneca 6878C short of 21 ready for takeoff."
"Seneca 78C, fly heading 140, runway 21, cleared for takeoff."
I read it back and pull onto the runway. Onto the centerline, stop. Hold the brakes, push the throttles to 30" MP and let them stabilize a bit. Brake release, push to 38" MP, hold the centerline, watch for overboost, airspeed alive, engine gauges green, up above red line, rotate, and we're airborne. Pitch for 89 KIAS, no runway left, gear selector up, there's 400 AGL, start the left turn, "Seneca 78C, contact departure," confirm gear up and locked, remove hand from gear selector, finish the turn, "Over to departure, 78C, G'day," pitch down a little, switch the audio panel back to Com1, accelerate to 100 KIAS, "Madison Departure, Seneca 6878C climbing through 2,600, 140 assigned," pull back (very carefully, sensitive engine controls!) to 35" MP for the climb, "Seneca 78C, radar contact, turn left heading 070," pull the props back a bit, "Left 070, 78C," twist the bug, start the turn, adjust the throttles slightly to match MP on both sides, finish the turn, start to sync the props, "Seneca 78C, climb and maintain 9,000, turn left 020 and join V9, resume own navigation," give up on the props, twist the bug, start the turn, read back the clearance, nudge the throttles forward to gain back the couple of inches of MP we've lost, finish the turn, let Joe mess with the props.
And that's just the first two minutes.
I'm beginning to see why they want 700TT or 100 multi as well as 25 in type to rent this bird.
Deep breaths.
Fly.
Look outside the airplane.
Wow. we're just a few (maybe 4-5) miles due east of the airport, nearing 4,000 feet. We're stabilized in the climb at a little over 100KIAS and making 1350 FPM, which again exactly agreed with the book value I'd calculated. I'm again impressed that a 12,000 hour airframe is making book performance! Of course, I can't be impressed for too long, it's time to nudge the throttles back up to 35" MP again.
As we near 5,000 feet, Joe says "Confirm cleared to 9,000" and I said "Affirmative." At 5,100 feet, he pushes the yoke over and calls Departure to confirm, which they do. "Sorry, it's my name on the flight plan and my ticket." Yup. I forgive him, as I'm sure that at the almost-overwhelming pace of those first two minutes, he's got to watch like a hawk and make sure I get everything done right and he doesn't know what I'm doing in what order unless I say something, which I didn't because my hands were full without talking.
Climbing through 7,800 feet we get handed off to Chicago Center. We continue the climb to 9,000 and intercept the airway almost as soon as we reach cruise altitude. I began to relax a lot more during the climb. Once you get this bird going, she's just an airplane, after all. I just have to remember to keep nudging the throttles forward as we climb. You'd think I'd be used to this after flying with a CS prop so much, but I fly the 182 at WOT until descending near the destination most of the time.
I make the turn onto the airway and begin my cruise checklist. Trim forward. Time hacked. Landing lights off. Pumps off. Power back to 32" MP and 2300 RPM. Mixtures set. Compass... Wait, I don't need no steenkin' compass, I have a slaved HSI here!
Cowl flaps closed. Cruise checklist complete, and it'd time to start navigating off OSH.
The middle section of the flight seems relatively easy. Just regular old IFR procedures, and enjoying the view.
Just prior to OSH, Center told us to maintain present heading for traffic, then a couple minutes later cleared us direct MTW and handed us to GRB approach. A brief busy moment in an otherwise relaxed cruise, I did a quick TIT, took a wild guess that the course to MTW would be 085 (I was only off by a degree), started the turn and called Green Bay. We flew over Lake Winnebago which is now nicely iced over and populated with ice fishermen. (You southerners don't know what you're missing, not being able to eat an icefish.
)
As we neared the Lake Michigan shoreline, we were handed off to Minneapolis Center. In contrast to Lake Winnebago, Lake Michigan was almost completely free of ice. There's snow on the shoreline, and some ice floating near the western edge, but the rest is clear blue water.
Joe also suggested that I start briefing the approach as we were starting over the water. Huh? I'm still navigating off MTW, and I'll fly both sides of MBL too... I was thinking of waiting until near MBL so that I wouldn't confuse myself too much.
I'd decided to fly the NDB 25 approach into CAD. Winds were whipping out of the west, and I don't get to do much with NDB's in our club planes. (182 doesn't have an ADF, one Archer's is inop, the other Archer I do not fly IFR or at night.) Originally I thought that was a kind of crazy thing to do, but the only approaches to 25 are an NDB and a GPS, which this bird was not equipped with. Besides, I've done plenty of ILS approaches lately, and they're really not that hard. Another challenge sounded good. So, I started briefing, slowly.
I'd calculated that I would need to begin my descent right about at MBL, and Center cleared us to descend to 4,000 at pilot's discretion prior to that. I pulled the first inch of power and reported leaving 9,000.
Hmmm. Go down, airplane! One inch isn't much. I pitched down but wasn't able to get more than about a 300 fpm descent without getting excessively fast. Wait a minute, pull another inch. Still 300fpm. Pull back to level, slow to 138KIAS so I can throw out a notch of flaps. Pull another inch of MP. OK, now we're starting to get somewhere. Pull another inch, slow down again, below 129KIAS and drop the gear. Okay, now we're talking. 700fpm to catch up with my desired descent profile.
Joe said that once below 25" MP it's pretty much OK to pull power at any rate. I'd have thought that with the Seneca's fixed wastegates, it would be better to keep pulling power slowly.
About 10 miles out we were cleared for the approach. I finished briefing and setting up just about as I crossed the NDB. I was no longer ahead of the airplane, but I did at least manage to stay with it and not get taken for a ride.
I'd never realized this, but... An HSI makes flying an NDB approach really darn easy! Twist the OBS to the desired inbound course, and attempt to make the arrows look the same. Cool! So, despite the fast airplane, it was probably the best NDB approach I've ever flown, or at least the easiest.
Now came the toughest part of the flight. The winds were really blowing. It began getting quite turbulent way back at 4300 feet. On final, we were getting tossed around quite a bit. Since the Seneca is a much heavier airplane than I'm used to, I was having some trouble. (Heck, I even had a little trouble with the 182 when I first started flying that for the same reason... It just takes time.)
So, there I am wrestling the plane down final, and I still don't know if I was helping or hindering the ride! The plane responds somewhat slower due to its weight (yeah, I know, inertia), so I think that by the time I was getting the plane about back to where I wanted it, the turbulence was helping me go right through where I wanted to be... As if my control inputs were out of phase from where they should have been to counteract the turbulence.
I somehow managed to get the plane down OK, but it sure wasn't pretty. It wasn't until after I'd landed that I found out I had an audience - Rick and Nigel had been holding short in Nigel's Bonanza when I landed.
Okay, I'm gonna take a break and post this part. A few more observations on the return flight in the next post...
So, I took the Seneca. It was my third flight in a Seneca. #1 was with Dr. Bruce, did an engine out. #2 was at Wisconsin Aviation in their Seneca II, N6878C (which is not nearly as nice as Bruce's!
), just getting used to doing everything. #3 was again in 78C going to Cadillac.I think I'll tell the story and just scatter my comments and questions throughout. Please feel free to comment and advise on anything contained herein!
We loaded the bird up to just shy of gross weight. 100 lbs of bags in the baggage compartment, 40 lbs of flight bags in the middle seats, and 525 lbs of me + good-sized CFII/MEI in the front, and full fuel (extended tanks, 123 gallons/738 pounds of 100LL) put us at 4568 gross, just two pounds under the Seneca II's MGTOW of 4570.
I calculated that with the conditions for the flight we should have a takeoff roll of around 1100 feet, accelerate-stop of about 1900 feet, and a climb of 220fpm on one engine. Cruise speed at 32"/2300 RPM at 9000 feet was calculated to be 165 KTAS, and sure enough, we trued out right at 165. Not too bad when a 12,000 hour airframe still makes book numbers!
I looked at a couple of routes. Airways would have taken us via BAE MKG HIC but that made kind of a loop and was 41nm farther than direct. So, I filed IFR, V9 OSH MTW MBL at 9,000 feet. I chose the route because it was 24nm shorter and kept me over territory I'm much more familiar with (and it's a route I flew in July in the 182), making improved situational awareness easier which I figured would be good in an airplane that's relatively new to me.
We packed our stuff in the bird and strapped in. CFI has insisted that I use the Piper checklists on this plane rather than making my own.
Luckily, I've been doing lots of flying (130 hours last year) and I've pretty much ingrained the IFR procedures into my head, so not having my own checklist didn't turn out to be that big of a deal.OK, time to start. I haven't flown a fuel-injected airplane in a while. Following the checklist: Prop full, mixture rich, throttle full. Run the left primer pump for several seconds. Throttle back to idle, left engine mags on, crank left engine starter. Vroom, cough, sputter, quit. Okay, throttle up, prime for two more seconds, throttle idle, and try again. At the direction of my CFI, I kept cranking until the engine actually started and stayed that way. (Felt like I was starting a turbine or something!) Engine's going, oil pressure's good, alternator is charging. Lather, rinse, repeat on the second engine, which started on the first try.
Man, it's cool to start two engines.
So cool, that I actually forget I'm now burning money at the rate of over four dollars a minute! The checklist says to run the boost pumps on low for 1-3 minutes in cold weather to attain smooth engine operation. The right engine is still a bit rough and I go to turn the boost pump on low, but Joe (CFI) says that's for hot weather. Huh? It says below 20 F.
So... When SHOULD the boost pumps on the Seneca be used? When would you use the high setting?
OK, now for ground leaning. Joe says that we only need to pull the mixture back a little on these engines, maybe the width of the mixture knob (actually, the metal arm to the knob would be more accurate). Okay.
We leave the engines running at 900-1000 RPM. I switch one engine to crossfeed while I listen to the ATIS, and then switch it back to "on" and switch the other engine to crossfeed while I get the clearance (As filed, up to 5, 9 after 10). We taxi off to the wide-open area at the north end of the East ramp to do the runup.
The runup begins with a feather check at 1000 RPM, pulling each prop lever all the way back to the feather position and looking for the RPM to begin dropping, then immediately pushing the knob back to full forward. Then, it's up to 1900 RPM for the normal mag check, exercise the prop, check alternate air, vacuum, etc. We switch off one alternator at a time, checking to make sure the other picks up the load and that they once again split the load when both are back on.
Now, time to do all the stuff that's not on the checklist: Set up the radios, do a VOR check, and call ground for taxi clearance. As expected, we got cleared to 21 via Juliet and Bravo. There'd been a very nice Lear 40 that called up just before us and got the same taxi clearance. Though we were quite a ways ahead of him, I told Ground that we'd wait for him to go past so they could depart and I wouldn't feel rushed.
I checked the instruments as we rolled down the taxiways, and paused short of the runway to clear the controls, check trim, go through my last-minute checks (GUMPS, Lights, Camera, Action, 5 T's).
Joe briefed the takeoff, which went something like this: "If we lose one on the roll, prior to blue line, or with usable runway remaining, we chop and drop even if we'll go off the end. Heavy braking. If it'll fly, we clean it up and go..."
What are the elements of a good takeoff briefing? How about in a single? (I do that sometimes, just to remind myself that I don't want to turn back too low...)
So... Fuel selectors on. Pumps off. Gear down and showing three green. Mixtures rich. Props forward. Seat belts on. Doors locked and bump-checked. Lights on. Transponder - ALT. HSI set to proper course, with bug on runway heading. Time hacked. I think through what to do with the throttles as I take the runway, take two deep breaths, and...
"Madison Tower, Seneca 6878C short of 21 ready for takeoff."
"Seneca 78C, fly heading 140, runway 21, cleared for takeoff."
I read it back and pull onto the runway. Onto the centerline, stop. Hold the brakes, push the throttles to 30" MP and let them stabilize a bit. Brake release, push to 38" MP, hold the centerline, watch for overboost, airspeed alive, engine gauges green, up above red line, rotate, and we're airborne. Pitch for 89 KIAS, no runway left, gear selector up, there's 400 AGL, start the left turn, "Seneca 78C, contact departure," confirm gear up and locked, remove hand from gear selector, finish the turn, "Over to departure, 78C, G'day," pitch down a little, switch the audio panel back to Com1, accelerate to 100 KIAS, "Madison Departure, Seneca 6878C climbing through 2,600, 140 assigned," pull back (very carefully, sensitive engine controls!) to 35" MP for the climb, "Seneca 78C, radar contact, turn left heading 070," pull the props back a bit, "Left 070, 78C," twist the bug, start the turn, adjust the throttles slightly to match MP on both sides, finish the turn, start to sync the props, "Seneca 78C, climb and maintain 9,000, turn left 020 and join V9, resume own navigation," give up on the props, twist the bug, start the turn, read back the clearance, nudge the throttles forward to gain back the couple of inches of MP we've lost, finish the turn, let Joe mess with the props.
And that's just the first two minutes.
I'm beginning to see why they want 700TT or 100 multi as well as 25 in type to rent this bird.Deep breaths.
Fly.
Look outside the airplane.
Wow. we're just a few (maybe 4-5) miles due east of the airport, nearing 4,000 feet. We're stabilized in the climb at a little over 100KIAS and making 1350 FPM, which again exactly agreed with the book value I'd calculated. I'm again impressed that a 12,000 hour airframe is making book performance! Of course, I can't be impressed for too long, it's time to nudge the throttles back up to 35" MP again.
As we near 5,000 feet, Joe says "Confirm cleared to 9,000" and I said "Affirmative." At 5,100 feet, he pushes the yoke over and calls Departure to confirm, which they do. "Sorry, it's my name on the flight plan and my ticket." Yup. I forgive him, as I'm sure that at the almost-overwhelming pace of those first two minutes, he's got to watch like a hawk and make sure I get everything done right and he doesn't know what I'm doing in what order unless I say something, which I didn't because my hands were full without talking.
Climbing through 7,800 feet we get handed off to Chicago Center. We continue the climb to 9,000 and intercept the airway almost as soon as we reach cruise altitude. I began to relax a lot more during the climb. Once you get this bird going, she's just an airplane, after all. I just have to remember to keep nudging the throttles forward as we climb. You'd think I'd be used to this after flying with a CS prop so much, but I fly the 182 at WOT until descending near the destination most of the time.
I make the turn onto the airway and begin my cruise checklist. Trim forward. Time hacked. Landing lights off. Pumps off. Power back to 32" MP and 2300 RPM. Mixtures set. Compass... Wait, I don't need no steenkin' compass, I have a slaved HSI here!
Cowl flaps closed. Cruise checklist complete, and it'd time to start navigating off OSH.The middle section of the flight seems relatively easy. Just regular old IFR procedures, and enjoying the view.
Just prior to OSH, Center told us to maintain present heading for traffic, then a couple minutes later cleared us direct MTW and handed us to GRB approach. A brief busy moment in an otherwise relaxed cruise, I did a quick TIT, took a wild guess that the course to MTW would be 085 (I was only off by a degree), started the turn and called Green Bay. We flew over Lake Winnebago which is now nicely iced over and populated with ice fishermen. (You southerners don't know what you're missing, not being able to eat an icefish.
)As we neared the Lake Michigan shoreline, we were handed off to Minneapolis Center. In contrast to Lake Winnebago, Lake Michigan was almost completely free of ice. There's snow on the shoreline, and some ice floating near the western edge, but the rest is clear blue water.
Joe also suggested that I start briefing the approach as we were starting over the water. Huh? I'm still navigating off MTW, and I'll fly both sides of MBL too... I was thinking of waiting until near MBL so that I wouldn't confuse myself too much.
I'd decided to fly the NDB 25 approach into CAD. Winds were whipping out of the west, and I don't get to do much with NDB's in our club planes. (182 doesn't have an ADF, one Archer's is inop, the other Archer I do not fly IFR or at night.) Originally I thought that was a kind of crazy thing to do, but the only approaches to 25 are an NDB and a GPS, which this bird was not equipped with. Besides, I've done plenty of ILS approaches lately, and they're really not that hard. Another challenge sounded good. So, I started briefing, slowly.
I'd calculated that I would need to begin my descent right about at MBL, and Center cleared us to descend to 4,000 at pilot's discretion prior to that. I pulled the first inch of power and reported leaving 9,000.
Hmmm. Go down, airplane! One inch isn't much. I pitched down but wasn't able to get more than about a 300 fpm descent without getting excessively fast. Wait a minute, pull another inch. Still 300fpm. Pull back to level, slow to 138KIAS so I can throw out a notch of flaps. Pull another inch of MP. OK, now we're starting to get somewhere. Pull another inch, slow down again, below 129KIAS and drop the gear. Okay, now we're talking. 700fpm to catch up with my desired descent profile.
Joe said that once below 25" MP it's pretty much OK to pull power at any rate. I'd have thought that with the Seneca's fixed wastegates, it would be better to keep pulling power slowly.
About 10 miles out we were cleared for the approach. I finished briefing and setting up just about as I crossed the NDB. I was no longer ahead of the airplane, but I did at least manage to stay with it and not get taken for a ride.
I'd never realized this, but... An HSI makes flying an NDB approach really darn easy! Twist the OBS to the desired inbound course, and attempt to make the arrows look the same. Cool!
So, despite the fast airplane, it was probably the best NDB approach I've ever flown, or at least the easiest.Now came the toughest part of the flight. The winds were really blowing. It began getting quite turbulent way back at 4300 feet. On final, we were getting tossed around quite a bit. Since the Seneca is a much heavier airplane than I'm used to, I was having some trouble. (Heck, I even had a little trouble with the 182 when I first started flying that for the same reason... It just takes time.)
So, there I am wrestling the plane down final, and I still don't know if I was helping or hindering the ride! The plane responds somewhat slower due to its weight (yeah, I know, inertia), so I think that by the time I was getting the plane about back to where I wanted it, the turbulence was helping me go right through where I wanted to be... As if my control inputs were out of phase from where they should have been to counteract the turbulence.
I somehow managed to get the plane down OK, but it sure wasn't pretty. It wasn't until after I'd landed that I found out I had an audience - Rick and Nigel had been holding short in Nigel's Bonanza when I landed.
Okay, I'm gonna take a break and post this part. A few more observations on the return flight in the next post...
