Flying the PH-DIY is much easier than we could imagine.
May 5th we made our first real trip with the PH-DIY: we went to
Helgoland (EDXH).
(Helgoland is a very small island about 30nm North of Germany).
The longest runway is 480 meter, fairly small, and for that reason only
allowed for pilots with a minimum of 100 flying hours. Well, the PH-DIY
came to a stop halfway down the runway. ;-)
It is just about 1 hour flying from our homebase EHHO.
Our review can be found at www.vfrflights.nl/verslagen/helgoland
Fuel consumption for an economy cruise of 110 knots IAS is 13 liters per
hour, not bad!
With 13 hours on the hobbs we now appreciate the avionics we installed
and the "user interface". So, for the "not-yet-flying" people, this is a
list of things we found very usefull:
- The SmartASS (Talking Airspeed Indicator of Smart Avionics) is a real
"must have". Apart from a non-panel-space-consuming redundanct backup
airspeed indicator (I gave it its own pitot), it is a real assistant
during take off and landing. During take off we set it in talking
airspeed mode so we can focus on the outside world while monitoring the
airspeed auraly. During landing, on final, I press and hold the green
button on the stick for a moment to capture the airspeed, and it
announces periodically "speed good" if I remain within 5% of the target
airspeed, or "slow", "very slow", "fast", "very fast" if I stray off
that speed. It becomes very easy to keep the eyes focussed on the runway
all the time and correct any speed deviations immediately. It is one of
the reasons we find landing this airplane so easy: it is like flying
with a teacher who is telling you what to do all the time. ;-)
- We have the flaps switch on the stick as well. This worked out as
planned: during take off and landing we keep one hand on the throttle,
and the other hand on the stick, and it is convenient this way to adjust
the flaps without moving your hands. It feels natural to adjust the
flaps with the same hand that also controls the speed and pitch. The
other hand is for power, prop and brakes.
- The Smart Avionics prop controller works perfectly! Easy to use as
well. The mode button is duplicated on the stick, and the pitch toggle
is duplicated next to the throttle, so it can be operated with the hand
resting on the throttle.
- The Trio Avionics autopilot is another favorite piece of equipment.
The auto pilot release is connected to the "trigger" of the stick. This
works particularly intuitive for the Pilot Command Steering: while the
auto pilot is active, pull the trigger, change heading and release the
trigger, and the auto pilot continues on the heading just set with
releasing the trigger. (And of course the auto pilot can also follow a
programmed GPS route, or direct to a GPS target).
- The overhead vent is a real winner. Works perfectly and is very
convenient. A close second are the "ultimate ventilators" at the corners
of the wind screen. They work, but it is impossible to direct the air
and regulate the amount of air at the same time. Still we like them.
The windows at the side are nice for making pictures and avoiding the
visual distortion of the canopy. Ilona doesn't like these windows so
much, because they suck her hair out!
Of course there are also things that didn't work out so well:
- Forget about an aileron trim. I never used it, except for confirmation
that it works, and to discover that precisely in neutral the airplane
flies straight and level. There is nothing to trim. Thinking about the
time invested to devise this trim tab, what a waste!
- I don't like the Andair gascolator so much (I have the bigger one). It
needs to be wire locked (making it less attractive to "field clean" the
gascolator) and the rubber O-ring breaks far too easily. I spoiled
already the spares I had, if I break another one this means I'm
grounded. :-(
Well, this is it for now, hope it is usefull to someone.
Frans
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