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