Quote:
Originally Posted by JAG
Great feedback John - thanks. Look forward to hearing your post flight reports!
|
Hi Jeff,
Just realized I didn't follow up on this.
My experience mirrors what everyone else in this thread has had to say...that is, in a word, excellent. The slow flight and stall are VERY benign. The airplane is a joy to land...such accurate feel in pitch through the flare. The vast majority of my landings now are "grease it on" with the stall horn blaring and I usually make the first turn off.
I was bouncing around today in pretty bad chop (both convective and mechanical) down low shooting approaches and the right seater commented on what a stable instrument platform it is.
As far as cruise speed I don't think it's hurting me at all. Yesterday I departed CYSB at a takeoff weight of about 4000lbs. Field elevation of 1141' and Density Altitude of 2400'...warm, humid and gusty. I climbed to directly to 9550' MSL in 11 minutes flat. So that's 8400' of climb for an average of 765fpm...throttles to the stops and 2600rpm in the climb, leaning to maintain about 1275 degrees EGT and 375 degrees CHT. Cowl flaps closed (I spend A LOT of time on baffle seals) and holding about 115KIAS in the climb.
Once I leveled off I left the throttles forward for 20"MAP and props pulled back to 2400rpm. Still warm up there with a DA over 10000' and she settled in at 154KTAS on a total burn of 18 GPH.
On the other leg of that flight I was 162KTAS/6500'/20GPH.
I know that my rigging is a bit sloppy so there's a few knots left to go.
Cheers,
John