what a trip...what a plane! (long)

I just got back last night from picking up my first plane.
It's a Beech Super III, A23-24.
I think planes are like kids: mine is better looking, smarter, etc...
Anyone else feel that way ;-)
I flew down to Dallas from Minden, NV on Friday.
On Friday evening when I got there, the weather was nice, skies were blue.
Of course, the first thing Saturday morning, when I was to meet the CFI for
a checkout, overcast at 500'.
I waited all day Saturday for a break...nothing.
The ceiling lifted slightly in the afternoon, so another CFI took me around
the pattern a bit, but the ceiling was too low to do any stalls, etc.
Man, what a plane! It flew so nice. Of course, it was just about as
different from the C-172 I had been renting as possible.
I had heard from other baby Beech owners that you CAN'T let the nose touch
first, or it will porpoise.
I was so paranoid that when shooting patterns with the CFI, I was landing
EXTREMELY nose high.
After a few landings, it was under control, though.
The one difference that I did not expect to be so big was the steering.
The C-172 has the spring-loaded nose wheel steering, and the Beech has
direct-linked steering.
I actually had a some difficulty maintaining directional control after
touchdown.
Again, a few patterns fixed that, but it was surprising (and a little
scary).
The weather didn't break all day Saturday, so I had to sit in the airport in
McKinney all day.
As it turned out, Sunday wan't any better!
Again, I sat in the airport all day long hoping for a break, but no such
luck!
Monday morning came, and the weather was the same, and the outlook was the
same for the next couple days.
So I got a CFI (yet another one) to file an IFR flight plan and fly me out
of there!
That was soooo cool. That was the first time I flew in actual IMC.
After about 10 or 15 minutes, we popped out on top, where the sun was
shining and it was a beautiful day.
My original flight plan was to go from Dallas to Santa Fe to Bryce Canyon,
and finally to Minden.
All of that route had rain and clouds.
So we flew to Midland, Odessa, and then on to El Paso. I left the CFI at El
Paso, and then set out to Tuscon.
There was a thunderstorm between El Paso and Tuscon, and I had to outrun it
to get past it.
That was kind of exciting, and I had plenty of room to get around it, but
you don't see that too often here in NV.
After that, it was a straight shot to Tuscon, but the sun was setting, and I
wasn't going to make it before dark.
So, I set it down in Willcox, AZ. Actually, I had to try twice. I found
out the hard way that what I had been warned about the porpoising was
absolutely correct.
I came in with the nose slightly low, and it bounced. After the first one,
I thought it might just settle to the runway. Nope. It got worse.
On the second bounce, I executed a go-around and came around again for an
uneventful landing.
The couple who lives at the Willcox airport were awesome, and set me up for
the night at a motel in town.
First thing in the morning, I set out for home, with a stop in Laughlin, and
one in Tonopah.
I got out before the presidential TFR in Pheonix took affect, and Las Vegas
approach steered me around their TFRs for some business jet convention.
So other than that, it was pretty quiet. I landed at Tonopah for fuel.
What a cool old WWII airport! I felt like I was walking on ancient ruins.
Finally, I made one more leg to Stead to drop my Dad off, then home to
Minden.
What a day! I was beat. I left for this trip with about 65 hrs TT, and got
home with about 80, plus 5 hrs real instrument!
That was definitely a trip I won't soon forget!

I couldn't be happier with the plane. At gross, it climbed up to 10,000'
and kept 110KIAS.
I was pretty happy with that. With a little tail wind (and minus one CFI)
from Tuscon to Laughlin, I was getting 145Kts ground speed.
And finally, after I dropped my Dad off, I climbed out of Stead at 700-800
fpm.

Now, the downside...
I got my first real taste of ownership, too. Somewhere along the way, I
started leaking oil.
I took it to the shop today, and somehow I blew a gasket, but I should be up
and flying again by Friday.
Hopefully, nothing else happens for a little while.


Adam
PP-ASEL
N7966L

Adam.. great trip report... and yes.. that nose wheel is touchy about
landing first.. it just don't like it... I'm glad you went around after the
second bounce.. I'd always been told that 3 is the magic number because of
the increasing intensity of the oscillation.. they (nose gear) tend to break
off at the pivot point.. and then you are left to slide down the runway on
the stub.. with prop/engine damage of course..

Seen it done... but to their credit.. the older Beech, Sport, Sundowner,
Sierra, Musketeers and Super's are a solidly built airframe. Rest assured
the same Sports and Sundowners are still in the same flight schools for over
30years of student flying with no damage.

Either Private Pilot or Plane and Pilot (or one of those types of
magazines) recently had an article on that type of Beech lineage and did
mention the landing problem... here's the key to a good landing... it's not
a problem really.. just some pilots never learn to fly.. (ready for
flamers).

AIRSPEED CONTROL... fly the proper airspeeds and the landings will be
there.. on the mains. Fly fast... and it will float down the runway and you
will be tempted to force a landing, from which the nosewheel will touch
first and start the PIO... get slow on final and you'll get a high sink
rate.. you may land on the mains, but the downward movement of the nose will
again "slam" the nose down, compress the rubber donuts.. and it's PIO heaven
or hell.. with all 3 gears contributing.

Beech aircraft really need to be "flown by the numbers".. pipers and cezznas
are forgiving.. Beech?.. not really.

You mention the stiffness in the ground steering, you'll also notice that
the ailerons are interconnected via springs to the rudders.. let go the
stick and watch the ailerons move during taxi turns.. best not to fight it
unless you really need cross wind controls in during taxi..

Also, remember, remember, remember, RETRACT FLAPS prior to braking, hard
braking with flaps extended are the best way to be buying new tires.. you'll
flat spot the tire in a hurry if you don't have full weight on the wheels..
the RETRACT FLAPS BEFORE BRAKING should be placarded on the panel.

But congratulations.. the Super III has a fine aircraft lineage..

You came up through our area today.. good thing too.. cause the Prez TFR is
here tomorrow. The local restrictions around the area are for the NBAA
convention... they are not TFRs.. just NOTAMS to try to stem the flow of
aircraft to support the convention.. and only gas and goes at the local
airports.. there is no parking space to be had. FLOW Control procedures were
in effect for IFR aircraft and "Airport congestion management" procedures to
attempt to control over crowding on the ramps.

Oh.. when the Prez leaves here tomorrow.. I think he's heading your way.

BT

"The Weiss Family" wrote in message
...
I just got back last night from picking up my first plane.
It's a Beech Super III, A23-24.
I think planes are like kids: mine is better looking, smarter, etc...
Anyone else feel that way ;-)
I flew down to Dallas from Minden, NV on Friday.
On Friday evening when I got there, the weather was nice, skies were blue.
Of course, the first thing Saturday morning, when I was to meet the CFI
for
a checkout, overcast at 500'.
I waited all day Saturday for a break...nothing.
The ceiling lifted slightly in the afternoon, so another CFI took me
around
the pattern a bit, but the ceiling was too low to do any stalls, etc.
Man, what a plane! It flew so nice. Of course, it was just about as
different from the C-172 I had been renting as possible.
I had heard from other baby Beech owners that you CAN'T let the nose touch
first, or it will porpoise.
I was so paranoid that when shooting patterns with the CFI, I was landing
EXTREMELY nose high.
After a few landings, it was under control, though.
The one difference that I did not expect to be so big was the steering.
The C-172 has the spring-loaded nose wheel steering, and the Beech has
direct-linked steering.
I actually had a some difficulty maintaining directional control after
touchdown.
Again, a few patterns fixed that, but it was surprising (and a little
scary).
The weather didn't break all day Saturday, so I had to sit in the airport
in
McKinney all day.
As it turned out, Sunday wan't any better!
Again, I sat in the airport all day long hoping for a break, but no such
luck!
Monday morning came, and the weather was the same, and the outlook was the
same for the next couple days.
So I got a CFI (yet another one) to file an IFR flight plan and fly me out
of there!
That was soooo cool. That was the first time I flew in actual IMC.
After about 10 or 15 minutes, we popped out on top, where the sun was
shining and it was a beautiful day.
My original flight plan was to go from Dallas to Santa Fe to Bryce Canyon,
and finally to Minden.
All of that route had rain and clouds.
So we flew to Midland, Odessa, and then on to El Paso. I left the CFI at
El
Paso, and then set out to Tuscon.
There was a thunderstorm between El Paso and Tuscon, and I had to outrun
it
to get past it.
That was kind of exciting, and I had plenty of room to get around it, but
you don't see that too often here in NV.
After that, it was a straight shot to Tuscon, but the sun was setting, and
I
wasn't going to make it before dark.
So, I set it down in Willcox, AZ. Actually, I had to try twice. I found
out the hard way that what I had been warned about the porpoising was
absolutely correct.
I came in with the nose slightly low, and it bounced. After the first
one,
I thought it might just settle to the runway. Nope. It got worse.
On the second bounce, I executed a go-around and came around again for an
uneventful landing.
The couple who lives at the Willcox airport were awesome, and set me up
for
the night at a motel in town.
First thing in the morning, I set out for home, with a stop in Laughlin,
and
one in Tonopah.
I got out before the presidential TFR in Pheonix took affect, and Las
Vegas
approach steered me around their TFRs for some business jet convention.
So other than that, it was pretty quiet. I landed at Tonopah for fuel.
What a cool old WWII airport! I felt like I was walking on ancient ruins.
Finally, I made one more leg to Stead to drop my Dad off, then home to
Minden.
What a day! I was beat. I left for this trip with about 65 hrs TT, and
got
home with about 80, plus 5 hrs real instrument!
That was definitely a trip I won't soon forget!

I couldn't be happier with the plane. At gross, it climbed up to 10,000'
and kept 110KIAS.
I was pretty happy with that. With a little tail wind (and minus one CFI)
from Tuscon to Laughlin, I was getting 145Kts ground speed.
And finally, after I dropped my Dad off, I climbed out of Stead at 700-800
fpm.

Now, the downside...
I got my first real taste of ownership, too. Somewhere along the way, I
started leaking oil.
I took it to the shop today, and somehow I blew a gasket, but I should be
up
and flying again by Friday.
Hopefully, nothing else happens for a little while.


Adam
PP-ASEL
N7966L

On Wed, 13 Oct 2004 22:40:41 -0700, BTIZ wrote:

AIRSPEED CONTROL... fly the proper airspeeds and the landings will be
there.. on the mains. Fly fast... and it will float down the runway and you
will be tempted to force a landing, from which the nosewheel will touch
first and start the PIO... get slow on final and you'll get a high sink
rate.. you may land on the mains, but the downward movement of the nose will
again "slam" the nose down, compress the rubber donuts.. and it's PIO heaven
or hell.. with all 3 gears contributing.

I second this. Airspeed control is absolutely essential. Too slow and you
drop like a rock. Too fast, and you will use every bit of pavement
available. My approach speed in my Sundowner is 68 knots.

As soon as I cross the numbers, I start my flare, get the stall horn going,
and as the stall horn goes, add a real small touch of power (no more then
50 rpm) to ease the plane on the deck. As soon as the mains touch and nose
wheel is down, I reduce power and I retract flaps.

Great plane, creature comfort is much better then a Cessna. Much more
elbow room!

Allen

Congratulations on joining the ranks of Beech owners. You may now
officially turn your nose up at all others. Start shopping for your
Bonanza now and in a year or two when you're ready, you'll have a jump
on it.


Wed, 13 Oct 2004 20:31:18 -0700, "The Weiss Family"
wrote:

I just got back last night from picking up my first plane.
It's a Beech Super III, A23-24.
I think planes are like kids: mine is better looking, smarter, etc...
Anyone else feel that way ;-)
I flew down to Dallas from Minden, NV on Friday.
On Friday evening when I got there, the weather was nice, skies were blue.
Of course, the first thing Saturday morning, when I was to meet the CFI for
a checkout, overcast at 500'.
I waited all day Saturday for a break...nothing.
The ceiling lifted slightly in the afternoon, so another CFI took me around
the pattern a bit, but the ceiling was too low to do any stalls, etc.
Man, what a plane! It flew so nice. Of course, it was just about as
different from the C-172 I had been renting as possible.
I had heard from other baby Beech owners that you CAN'T let the nose touch
first, or it will porpoise.
I was so paranoid that when shooting patterns with the CFI, I was landing
EXTREMELY nose high.
After a few landings, it was under control, though.
The one difference that I did not expect to be so big was the steering.
The C-172 has the spring-loaded nose wheel steering, and the Beech has
direct-linked steering.
I actually had a some difficulty maintaining directional control after
touchdown.
Again, a few patterns fixed that, but it was surprising (and a little
scary).
The weather didn't break all day Saturday, so I had to sit in the airport in
McKinney all day.
As it turned out, Sunday wan't any better!
Again, I sat in the airport all day long hoping for a break, but no such
luck!
Monday morning came, and the weather was the same, and the outlook was the
same for the next couple days.
So I got a CFI (yet another one) to file an IFR flight plan and fly me out
of there!
That was soooo cool. That was the first time I flew in actual IMC.
After about 10 or 15 minutes, we popped out on top, where the sun was
shining and it was a beautiful day.
My original flight plan was to go from Dallas to Santa Fe to Bryce Canyon,
and finally to Minden.
All of that route had rain and clouds.
So we flew to Midland, Odessa, and then on to El Paso. I left the CFI at El
Paso, and then set out to Tuscon.
There was a thunderstorm between El Paso and Tuscon, and I had to outrun it
to get past it.
That was kind of exciting, and I had plenty of room to get around it, but
you don't see that too often here in NV.
After that, it was a straight shot to Tuscon, but the sun was setting, and I
wasn't going to make it before dark.
So, I set it down in Willcox, AZ. Actually, I had to try twice. I found
out the hard way that what I had been warned about the porpoising was
absolutely correct.
I came in with the nose slightly low, and it bounced. After the first one,
I thought it might just settle to the runway. Nope. It got worse.
On the second bounce, I executed a go-around and came around again for an
uneventful landing.
The couple who lives at the Willcox airport were awesome, and set me up for
the night at a motel in town.
First thing in the morning, I set out for home, with a stop in Laughlin, and
one in Tonopah.
I got out before the presidential TFR in Pheonix took affect, and Las Vegas
approach steered me around their TFRs for some business jet convention.
So other than that, it was pretty quiet. I landed at Tonopah for fuel.
What a cool old WWII airport! I felt like I was walking on ancient ruins.
Finally, I made one more leg to Stead to drop my Dad off, then home to
Minden.
What a day! I was beat. I left for this trip with about 65 hrs TT, and got
home with about 80, plus 5 hrs real instrument!
That was definitely a trip I won't soon forget!

I couldn't be happier with the plane. At gross, it climbed up to 10,000'
and kept 110KIAS.
I was pretty happy with that. With a little tail wind (and minus one CFI)
from Tuscon to Laughlin, I was getting 145Kts ground speed.
And finally, after I dropped my Dad off, I climbed out of Stead at 700-800
fpm.

Now, the downside...
I got my first real taste of ownership, too. Somewhere along the way, I
started leaking oil.
I took it to the shop today, and somehow I blew a gasket, but I should be up
and flying again by Friday.
Hopefully, nothing else happens for a little while.


Adam
PP-ASEL
N7966L

On Wed, 13 Oct 2004 20:31:18 -0700, "The Weiss Family"
wrote:

I just got back last night from picking up my first plane.
It's a Beech Super III, A23-24.


Good story, and good experience for you! Glad you had a ball.

z

Great to hear about your new toy. I haven't flown a mouse but I was
considering buying one before I got my citabria. I admit that I was
really shopping based on price. The mice are tough to beat for the
money. They get a bad rap from some but never from the folks that own
them. I understand that the super III is one of the best. There's a
great group of mouse pilots on the yahoo groups.

best of luck!
Dave
68 7ECA


The Weiss Family wrote:

I just got back last night from picking up my first plane.
It's a Beech Super III, A23-24.
I think planes are like kids: mine is better looking, smarter, etc...
Anyone else feel that way ;-)
I flew down to Dallas from Minden, NV on Friday.
On Friday evening when I got there, the weather was nice, skies were blue.
Of course, the first thing Saturday morning, when I was to meet the CFI for
a checkout, overcast at 500'.
I waited all day Saturday for a break...nothing.
The ceiling lifted slightly in the afternoon, so another CFI took me around
the pattern a bit, but the ceiling was too low to do any stalls, etc.
Man, what a plane! It flew so nice. Of course, it was just about as
different from the C-172 I had been renting as possible.
I had heard from other baby Beech owners that you CAN'T let the nose touch
first, or it will porpoise.
I was so paranoid that when shooting patterns with the CFI, I was landing
EXTREMELY nose high.
After a few landings, it was under control, though.
The one difference that I did not expect to be so big was the steering.
The C-172 has the spring-loaded nose wheel steering, and the Beech has
direct-linked steering.
I actually had a some difficulty maintaining directional control after
touchdown.
Again, a few patterns fixed that, but it was surprising (and a little
scary).
The weather didn't break all day Saturday, so I had to sit in the airport in
McKinney all day.
As it turned out, Sunday wan't any better!
Again, I sat in the airport all day long hoping for a break, but no such
luck!
Monday morning came, and the weather was the same, and the outlook was the
same for the next couple days.
So I got a CFI (yet another one) to file an IFR flight plan and fly me out
of there!
That was soooo cool. That was the first time I flew in actual IMC.
After about 10 or 15 minutes, we popped out on top, where the sun was
shining and it was a beautiful day.
My original flight plan was to go from Dallas to Santa Fe to Bryce Canyon,
and finally to Minden.
All of that route had rain and clouds.
So we flew to Midland, Odessa, and then on to El Paso. I left the CFI at El
Paso, and then set out to Tuscon.
There was a thunderstorm between El Paso and Tuscon, and I had to outrun it
to get past it.
That was kind of exciting, and I had plenty of room to get around it, but
you don't see that too often here in NV.
After that, it was a straight shot to Tuscon, but the sun was setting, and I
wasn't going to make it before dark.
So, I set it down in Willcox, AZ. Actually, I had to try twice. I found
out the hard way that what I had been warned about the porpoising was
absolutely correct.
I came in with the nose slightly low, and it bounced. After the first one,
I thought it might just settle to the runway. Nope. It got worse.
On the second bounce, I executed a go-around and came around again for an
uneventful landing.
The couple who lives at the Willcox airport were awesome, and set me up for
the night at a motel in town.
First thing in the morning, I set out for home, with a stop in Laughlin, and
one in Tonopah.
I got out before the presidential TFR in Pheonix took affect, and Las Vegas
approach steered me around their TFRs for some business jet convention.
So other than that, it was pretty quiet. I landed at Tonopah for fuel.
What a cool old WWII airport! I felt like I was walking on ancient ruins.
Finally, I made one more leg to Stead to drop my Dad off, then home to
Minden.
What a day! I was beat. I left for this trip with about 65 hrs TT, and got
home with about 80, plus 5 hrs real instrument!
That was definitely a trip I won't soon forget!

I couldn't be happier with the plane. At gross, it climbed up to 10,000'
and kept 110KIAS.
I was pretty happy with that. With a little tail wind (and minus one CFI)
from Tuscon to Laughlin, I was getting 145Kts ground speed.
And finally, after I dropped my Dad off, I climbed out of Stead at 700-800
fpm.

Now, the downside...
I got my first real taste of ownership, too. Somewhere along the way, I
started leaking oil.
I took it to the shop today, and somehow I blew a gasket, but I should be up
and flying again by Friday.
Hopefully, nothing else happens for a little while.


Adam
PP-ASEL
N7966L

Great post. You will love your Beech. They do tend to land nose low to the
uninitiated. That's why they're so fast, they fly nose down. {|;-)

Enjoy.

Victor J. (Jim) Osborne, Jr.

I flew down to Dallas from Minden, NV on Friday.

Congrats, Adam -- great flight, great plane, great report!

(When you get some pix, send 'em to me, and I'll get 'em in the Rogue's
Gallery for you...)

See 85 of us at http://alexisparkinn.com/rec_aviation.htm .
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

At the onset of the first bounce, gently add 100-200 rpm, stabilize your
nose up pitch attitude and the aircraft will settle gently to the runway
on the mains. Do not add more than 100-200 rpm as it may cause the nose
to go too high.