Oshkosh - Day 3 - the day of many flights
Day 3 of our Oshkosh trip, the 2nd day of the show, was our "flying" day.
We started off with a flight in an old Trimotor:
Then we moseyed on over to the complete opposite side of the airport (using shuttles when able) to find the ultralights. Jim set up a ride in a trike
and then promptly told me to take his spot - I tried to refuse but he had none of it. He even held all my junk so I wouldn't have to worry about it falling
overboard. Here's some pics from that 10 minute flight (I think I may buy one someday - they are WAY too fun):
Then it was back to the Eclipse area for a special event - test driving the E500 jet. Jim is in the market for a new plane and is very interested in the Very Light Jets that are coming out. Seeing as how Cirrus' is still on the drawing board, the E500 was the one to check out.
We hopped on the Eclipse golf cart to go across the airport. From there we got a ride out to the Appleton airport. After a bit of numbers talk in the terminal we hopped in the jet.
I sat in the back initially - the seats were configured such that there were 3 passenger seats. I sat closest to the door with all the legroom in the world.
The first thing I noticed was the interior. It was of top notch quality - and this is a test/demo airplane that had no doubt been on many rides. Fit and finish was in line with the best interiors I've even seen. The cockpit is even better - 3 big screens, keyboards for data input, autopilot panel at the top and a smooth throttle control for the two jets. The throttles are full FADEC - which basically means fly-by-wire. There is no direct mechanical linkage involved - the computer senses the throttle lever positions and tells the jet engines what power to produce. This means you can move the throttle as quickly as you'd like and not worry about damaging anything.
The only thing that caught me off guard a bit was the joystick. It was nice enough, but almost had the feel of an off-the-shelf flight simulator controller - I think it was made of plastic.
Our pilot, callsign "Molson", fired up the jets and handed off the plane for Jim to taxi.
I'll let the video describe most of the flight for me:
The part not shown on the video was my time in the left seat. Jim and I swapped places during the middle of the flight. I did some turns and descents and brought us back to the airport. Molson did one touch and go landing to show me how it's done and then I took over.
I managed to pull off a very soft touchdown (though not as good as Jim's at the end of the video). I hear the trailing link landing gear smooths out the touchdown and I believe it. That flight was big set of "firsts" for me: first time flying a jet, first time flying a twin, and first time flying a T-tail airplane.
In the end I came away with the opinion that the airplane is worth every bit of its cost. It was fast, agile, strong, and easy to fly - maybe easier than the Cirrus (the eclipse has no mixture to deal with, is pressurized, can go through ice, and has a great deal more systems automation). It would be a bit tough to fly that out of JGG's 3200' runway - at least until you were skilled in the plane. But if you're in the market for a VLJ - this is the one to fly first. Well, right now I guess it may be the only one you can fly - except the pricier Cessna Mustang.
Then we visited Diamond again to see the DA50. We were at their space on the previous day just as they were unveiling it, but we didn't hang around long enough for the speeches to finish.
And, just before closing time, I made it back to the Piper area to get a better look at the PiperJet.
We started off with a flight in an old Trimotor:
Then we moseyed on over to the complete opposite side of the airport (using shuttles when able) to find the ultralights. Jim set up a ride in a trike
and then promptly told me to take his spot - I tried to refuse but he had none of it. He even held all my junk so I wouldn't have to worry about it falling
overboard. Here's some pics from that 10 minute flight (I think I may buy one someday - they are WAY too fun):
Then it was back to the Eclipse area for a special event - test driving the E500 jet. Jim is in the market for a new plane and is very interested in the Very Light Jets that are coming out. Seeing as how Cirrus' is still on the drawing board, the E500 was the one to check out.
We hopped on the Eclipse golf cart to go across the airport. From there we got a ride out to the Appleton airport. After a bit of numbers talk in the terminal we hopped in the jet.
I sat in the back initially - the seats were configured such that there were 3 passenger seats. I sat closest to the door with all the legroom in the world.
The first thing I noticed was the interior. It was of top notch quality - and this is a test/demo airplane that had no doubt been on many rides. Fit and finish was in line with the best interiors I've even seen. The cockpit is even better - 3 big screens, keyboards for data input, autopilot panel at the top and a smooth throttle control for the two jets. The throttles are full FADEC - which basically means fly-by-wire. There is no direct mechanical linkage involved - the computer senses the throttle lever positions and tells the jet engines what power to produce. This means you can move the throttle as quickly as you'd like and not worry about damaging anything.
The only thing that caught me off guard a bit was the joystick. It was nice enough, but almost had the feel of an off-the-shelf flight simulator controller - I think it was made of plastic.
Our pilot, callsign "Molson", fired up the jets and handed off the plane for Jim to taxi.
I'll let the video describe most of the flight for me:
The part not shown on the video was my time in the left seat. Jim and I swapped places during the middle of the flight. I did some turns and descents and brought us back to the airport. Molson did one touch and go landing to show me how it's done and then I took over.
I managed to pull off a very soft touchdown (though not as good as Jim's at the end of the video). I hear the trailing link landing gear smooths out the touchdown and I believe it. That flight was big set of "firsts" for me: first time flying a jet, first time flying a twin, and first time flying a T-tail airplane.
In the end I came away with the opinion that the airplane is worth every bit of its cost. It was fast, agile, strong, and easy to fly - maybe easier than the Cirrus (the eclipse has no mixture to deal with, is pressurized, can go through ice, and has a great deal more systems automation). It would be a bit tough to fly that out of JGG's 3200' runway - at least until you were skilled in the plane. But if you're in the market for a VLJ - this is the one to fly first. Well, right now I guess it may be the only one you can fly - except the pricier Cessna Mustang.
Then we visited Diamond again to see the DA50. We were at their space on the previous day just as they were unveiling it, but we didn't hang around long enough for the speeches to finish.
And, just before closing time, I made it back to the Piper area to get a better look at the PiperJet.
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