I just got back from my first flight in the Beechcraft Duchess. Much fun.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, I’ve only got a total of 5 more lessons followed by a check ride. Yes, I’m supposed to be able to learn to fly it in 6 lessons.<\/p>\n
Mostly, I’ll be working on how to fly it on only one engine. Today was just basic familiarization with the airplane. There’s a bit to get used to with two engines. The big difference was getting used to a significantly bigger, heavier and faster airplane. It’s also the first low-wing airplane I’ve flown, and without an engine directly in front, it’s quite a different view. For example, when in the pattern on downwind, you can’t see the runway at all– the engine and wing cover it up.<\/p>\n
But it’s much more stable and responsive. It’s not a rudder hog like the 172-RG, both because it’s got an adequately sized rudder and with two counter-rotating props so there’s no really obnoxious P-factor.<\/p>\n
It was so different than flying a Cessna, I felt like I was a brand new pilot again. We did slow flight, steep turns, and stalls. Stalls in a twin are only done until they’re “immenent”, because there’s the fear that a full stall could develop in a spin. The FAA does not require twin engine aircraft to be spin-tested, and their spin recovery abilities are unknown and generally very poor. So it’s alltogether best if you avoid spinning one. Steep turns were amazingly easy. Slow flight requires a bit more attention to detail, but since the plane is so stable it’s not that hard.<\/p>\n
So, in less than two weeks I should be multi-engine rated. I’m also starting flight instructor ground school on Monday. Sure would be nice if I could finish it all up in a month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I just got back from my first flight in the Beechcraft Duchess. Much fun. Unfortunately, I’ve only got a total of 5 more lessons followed by a check ride. Yes, I’m supposed to be able to learn to fly it in 6 lessons. Mostly, I’ll be working on how to fly it on only one…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-flying"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nachzen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nachzen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nachzen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nachzen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nachzen.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nachzen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nachzen.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nachzen.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nachzen.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}