800

Having recently crossed the 800 total hour mark, I thought I'd write a bit about my last few months of flying.

 I've done a fair number of trips back and forth to Texas, not the least of which was my last one. When the day came that I was scheduled to head home, there was a major cold front that had just rolled in the night before. 

After careful preflight planning (that I re-did at least three times to double check myself) I decided I could not only make it home with plenty of safety margin, but could climb up to 15,000', don the oxygen cannula, and get all the way home in one hop at 240kts.  It worked out really well, and I landed with nearly 2 hours of fuel still in the tanks. The FIKI (Flight into Known Ice) capability of the airplane helped during the departure as it gave that much more of a safety edge as I climbed out through about 6000' of thick, cold clouds.


 In general, I've expanded my weather envelope a bit recently - I feel better able to evaluate NEXRAD in flight and know when its ok to punch though some rain and when I need to run far far away. I'll always be conservative when it comes to weather, because I'll never truly completely "understand" it, but I am getting more familiar and comfortable.

 I've also logged a good bit of time testing ADS-B traffic. The traffic data I can receive over the Stratus 2 is amazing, now that I have ADS-B Out installed in the plane (in the form of a Garmin GTX-33ES). It blows away any other traffic data I've ever seen, even letting me watch folks fly in a traffic pattern at an airport dozens of miles away - pretty slick. I've also flown a bit more at night, which has been enjoyable.


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