Thursday I took the morning to train some more. First up was flight maneuvers. 360 turns to begin and then steep 360 turns. I always enjoy steep turns. In a single engine plane the cowling is an excellent reference point for the horizon. In the twin, the nose is actually longer but slope down more so you have to project the horizon above the glare shield. It's not hard but takes some practice.
After some more maneuvers, we headed back to Palatka for a simulated single engine approach. After landing we taxied back and did a few more landings and then stopped to fill the tanks. On the way back home, we did some additional simulated engine out including climbs, turns and just plain flying.
In the first 3 lessons we focused on the discrete aspects of safely operating the plane but long time readers will recognize that these flights are nothing like a typical mission for me. Today we tied it all together and took a short trip. We flew to Walterboro, SC and then on to Jesup, GA to refuel and then home.
Why these places? Well it allowed for 3 hops which approximate the type of trips I take. It allowed me to program and manage the electronics, manage the engines from start, to departure, to climb, to descent and finally landing. The locations picked were based upon the weather. I wanted to avoid anything bad and with a big front coming, that pretty much set our direction.
Overall the trip went well. I did get distracted at one point while getting the autopilot modes wrong. I descended off intended altitude and heading while playing with all the new toys. My instructor let me get far enough off my intended path before mentioning it to make the point. Hopefully lesson learned. I still need to work on my flows and scans.
The amount of information displayed is more than I had previously had but several key pieces of information are now in very different places. This causes 2 problems, first I am wasting time and brain power getting to things. This just means I need more practice behind the panel.
For example loading a new frequency. I am used to just twisting it in and hitting the flip flop button. With the new radios, you can type it, which theoretically is faster and then select it active. This only works if you hit the right sequence.
The second issue is that I am used to certain behaviors. For example my old panel had a very distinct "Altitude" call whenever I started to deviate from my set altitude. This one does not. Basically this means I just need to practice more.
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