Finally flying new Skyhawks!

Hi all,

This is probably a rather mundne thing for most of you, but it's something
I've been wanting to do since I got my ticket a few years ago. All of the
aircraft I've flown to this point have been early-model Cessna 152s, 172s
and a few Piper Warriors (only because the FBO's I flew out of either didn't
have any new aircraft or they were rediculously expensive). I've been dying
to get myself into the left seat of a 172SP and I've finally done it!

I recently moved from Sacramento, California to Surprise, Arizona where I
bought a new house. Glendale Muni is a short 5 mile drive from my house and
the folks at Glendale Aviation have proven to be wonderful so far. They're
an authorized Cessna dealer so, needless to say, they have a nice selection
of FBO-owned aircraft available for rental and a few leasebacks as well.
I've been saving money for my new house so flying had been put on hold for
the last nine months, but last Friday I decided to go get checked out in the
new SP.

What a thrill! The plane felt more stable, controls felt "tighter", that
extra 20 horsepower adds a nice kick on takeoff and I was impressed with the
avionics stack (GPS, MFD, dual-axis auto-pilot, etc). Not having flown in
nine months I was a little rusty but nailed all of my landings (although my
approaches were high). Phoenix airspace is also quite complex...our Class D
butts up against the Alert area for Luke AFB (the world's largest F-16
training base from what I was told), Phoenix Sky Harbor Class B is right
above us and there's a plethora of other airspace to be aware of. Should be
good experience. Overall it felt good to get back in the air again,
especially flying one of these newer aircraft.

The only "negative" thing I noticed was that I felt like my visibility
underneath the left wing was obstructed more than it was in the older 172s.
Maybe my seat just needed vertical adjustment but I felt comfortable with my
position in relation to the instrument panel and forward visibility was
good. When I looked out the left window on downwind though, I found that
sometimes I had to lower my head just to be able to see the runway off the
wing. I'm sure there's no fundamental design change responsible for that,
but it was still something I noticed nonetheless.

Anyways, I had fun. We did some power on/off stalls, steep turns, emergency
landings, etc. Other than my high approaches and and a little too much
forward pressure on the yolk during stall recovery, I did pretty good for
not having flown in nine months. Looking forward to flying in Arizona and
handling all of the challenges the environment here will throw my way! A
Sedona trip isn't very far off I think!

Blue Skies!

Scott Schluer
PP-ASEL

They are nice, aren't they?

I like the people at Glendale. I consider their operation to be a model FBO.

When I was stationed at Ft Bliss we would RON at Glendale on our way. In the
space of two days we'd bring 72 helicopters through there. Blackhawks,
Cobras, and OH-58C/CS. They were always very good to us. I thought it was
because of the 1000's of gallons of fuel we were buying.

They are good folks.

I am glad you got to get into something new.

Fred
"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...
They are nice, aren't they?

I like the people at Glendale. I consider their operation to be a model
FBO.

I'm looking forward to a lot of flying out of Glendale. I'll probably be
pickup up instrument and commercial with them as well, although I'm not sure
if it's worth the money to get my instrument rating in Arizona given the low
number of IFR days around here. I'd have a hard time keeping up currency and
would rarely need it as I don't do a whole lot of serious cross-country
flying. Might just hold out until the day comes where I move back to an area
with more IFR weather to contend with. Oh well...a topic for another thread
I suppose!

"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...
They are nice, aren't they?

I like the people at Glendale. I consider their operation to be a model
FBO.

On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 08:51:36 -0700, Scott Schluer wrote:

A Sedona trip isn't very far off I think!

go for it! it is greeeeeaaaat! :-)

#m

--
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=19990509

Scott Schluer wrote:
What a thrill! The plane felt more stable, controls felt "tighter", that

I agree, the controls on the new aircraft do not have the "slop" (free
play) that the older aircraft do.

extra 20 horsepower adds a nice kick on takeoff and I was impressed with the
avionics stack (GPS, MFD, dual-axis auto-pilot, etc).

You can download all the avionics operating manuals from the Bendix King
website. If you are going to fly the aircraft, learn to use the
avionics, expecially the KNS-94 GPS. The KS-155A NavComs also have some
interesting features that you will learn about in the manuals.

The only "negative" thing I noticed was that I felt like my visibility
underneath the left wing was obstructed more than it was in the older 172s.
Maybe my seat just needed vertical adjustment but I felt comfortable with my
position in relation to the instrument panel and forward visibility was
good. When I looked out the left window on downwind though, I found that
sometimes I had to lower my head just to be able to see the runway off the
wing. I'm sure there's no fundamental design change responsible for that,
but it was still something I noticed nonetheless.

Lower the seat.

your on the other side of town from where we just bought, we just bought 1.5
acres in Queen Creek, just below Mesa.
Will probably keep my plane ar falcon or williams gateway

Scott Schluer wrote:

Hi all,

This is probably a rather mundne thing for most of you, but it's something
I've been wanting to do since I got my ticket a few years ago. All of the
aircraft I've flown to this point have been early-model Cessna 152s, 172s
and a few Piper Warriors (only because the FBO's I flew out of either didn't
have any new aircraft or they were rediculously expensive). I've been dying
to get myself into the left seat of a 172SP and I've finally done it!

I recently moved from Sacramento, California to Surprise, Arizona where I
bought a new house. Glendale Muni is a short 5 mile drive from my house and
the folks at Glendale Aviation have proven to be wonderful so far. They're
an authorized Cessna dealer so, needless to say, they have a nice selection
of FBO-owned aircraft available for rental and a few leasebacks as well.
I've been saving money for my new house so flying had been put on hold for
the last nine months, but last Friday I decided to go get checked out in the
new SP.

What a thrill! The plane felt more stable, controls felt "tighter", that
extra 20 horsepower adds a nice kick on takeoff and I was impressed with the
avionics stack (GPS, MFD, dual-axis auto-pilot, etc). Not having flown in
nine months I was a little rusty but nailed all of my landings (although my
approaches were high). Phoenix airspace is also quite complex...our Class D
butts up against the Alert area for Luke AFB (the world's largest F-16
training base from what I was told), Phoenix Sky Harbor Class B is right
above us and there's a plethora of other airspace to be aware of. Should be
good experience. Overall it felt good to get back in the air again,
especially flying one of these newer aircraft.

The only "negative" thing I noticed was that I felt like my visibility
underneath the left wing was obstructed more than it was in the older 172s.
Maybe my seat just needed vertical adjustment but I felt comfortable with my
position in relation to the instrument panel and forward visibility was
good. When I looked out the left window on downwind though, I found that
sometimes I had to lower my head just to be able to see the runway off the
wing. I'm sure there's no fundamental design change responsible for that,
but it was still something I noticed nonetheless.

Anyways, I had fun. We did some power on/off stalls, steep turns, emergency
landings, etc. Other than my high approaches and and a little too much
forward pressure on the yolk during stall recovery, I did pretty good for
not having flown in nine months. Looking forward to flying in Arizona and
handling all of the challenges the environment here will throw my way! A
Sedona trip isn't very far off I think!

Blue Skies!

Scott Schluer
PP-ASEL

New 172's are awsome!
I flew a 172R with 2 hours on the tach.
Fully equiped with Garmin 295, full axis autopilot and dual VOR.s

HOT STUFF!

Trace Lewis
age 13

I flew a 172R with 2 hours on the tach.

When our FBO got a brand-new 172 (in addition to the 1 or 2 year 'old' 172), I
told him to let me know when it had accumulated 100 hrs or so.

I'm a strong believer in 'infant mortality' in such matters.

BTW, it now has over the 100 hrs and actually I'm scheduled in it today but
looks like I'll get weathered out (again).

The 'old' new 172 rents for $95, the new one $105. I consider it a bargain
because I couldn't own and fly one like it for that little. Been there, done
that.

(I took our oldest grandson out to look at it and he was impressed...mostly
with the leather seats...)

(Tlewis95) wrote in message ...
New 172's are awsome!
I flew a 172R with 2 hours on the tach.

You must live very close to Independence, KS! Usually test flying
and ground running at the factory will put about an hour on the tach.
That only leaves an hour for the ferry flight.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)