Winter operations

After a lot of flying in the last year, thought it's time to share pictures from the latest flights. Here are the most recent ones :-)

4 days of sun

So flying season starts now. I was eager to take Lola for a ride and to enjoy some days of sun and clouds from above :-)

The routing took us from Kassel to Biaritz in 5:20h to enjoy the beautiful atlantic coastline. The next leg a day later was along the pyrenees via Barcelona to Ibiza for dinner. Next moring to Annecy and than a day later back home.

There was nothing bad about that trip, only good weather, nice routings, many shortcuts and zero technical problems. What a season start :-)

Winterwonderland

A little checkride in wintertimes brings a smile to your face and some ice to your boots!

Like a feather in the wind

The world is NOT flat!!

Pic: Curvature of the earth

Lola and we never really went high. Actually our highest was FL150 (15.000 feet for the non-flying audience) so far, so time to take that wonderful day and check the real, reachable, altitude of our beloved bird. We stopped in FL220 and surely could have gone to FL240 since our vario still showed a moderate 500 ft/min climb rate.

We not only experienced that Lola felt very comfortable but also proofed that the world is not flat!



Here are the facts & figures for my Comanche-friends:

Takeoff weight: 3600 lbs, approx. 125 lbs below MTOW (3725 lbs)

Powersetting: 28'' Manifold Pressure and 2600 RPM, which is the Max Cont. Power Setting according to the POH. I usually climb with those numbers at 130 mph (cruise climb) to keep the CHT below 430 F. That is a wonderful setting and gives you normally a good 1000 ft climb rate and brings you to altitude as fast as possible. Lola went up to FL 200 with exactly that setting. It was -10°C at FL 200, so density altitude was already at 21600 feet. Nice.

From >FL 200 the manifold pressure felt back to 26'' and finally in FL 220 to 24'' at 2600 RPM. It was -15°C up there as shown on the Aspen PFD, so the "real" or density altitude was 23.500 feet.

Antwerpen, July 2010

A song about the turbos. Applause. Why? Because you might need them and than you will sing a song about them. First picture in FL90 and than climb out to FL150 in less than 6 min.



One hour cruising on top and singing songs was all we did to enjoy that beautiful but demanding flight.




Picture were taken on the way back from Antwerpen to Kassel.

Business Flying

There are certain meetings where you always wonder how to get there. By Car is 5h driving. By train about the same. By commercial airline 1h - but to get to the airport, check-In, security, waiting etc you also have 5h triptime in total. "Kassel - Bruxells" is one of these 5h trips, so 10h travel time for an 1h meeting. Hm.

That is the reason why men invented "general aviation". Flying time for Lola is 1:25h, so let's say a total of 2h triptime from my house to the taxi which brought me to the meeting. Great!

Sun-seekers

After it has been snowing and snowing for almost 3 month now, the spring now wants to break through. And we want that, too.

It has been too long since we took Lola for a joyride. This time only to enjoy the winter-wonderland in the vicinity of Kassel.

Normandy Landing

Caen, Normandy. Thanks to an invitation from Kathleen and John we had the chance to visit Normandy. It is approx. 3 h from Kassel flying time for Lola to visit the family. The nice part was to fly "over" a front...well, not just crossing it on top, but climbing out through the front in Kassel and following the front "on top" all the way to Normandy. The pictures were taken the next day when flying sightseeing along the landing beaches.

It is a beautiful place and we will definitely be back soon for a further and closer look!