What comes after a DA40?

[Aart]

Great Antoine! Living the dream!

[Antoine]

Thanks Derek and Aart

Update:

We had some pretty spectacular weather on the island. Yesterday I decided to take off between two storms to get acquainted with the avionics. Ahem... not sure it was the brightest idea...

Before I knew what was happening a TCU took its quarters right in the final area and I ended up in IMC and heavy turbulence uncomfortably low over big Atlantic waves... The Extra is very good in turbulence so I am guessing that what I got there would have been too much for a DA40 to stay with the clean side up. I should have checked the radar just before taking off... A huge system was sweeping through at surprising speed and I got trapped in the air...

I ended up diverting to another airfield on the continent, spending one miserable hour in pouring rain and high winds waiting for AFIS to come back from lunch and unlock the fuel pump.
I was really soaked from running around to find a living soul in this desert place. Eventually retreated in the cabin which was not an unpleasant place to study the AFM again.

When I finally took off, weather had just cleared to marginal VMC and I got back to the island where a gusting crosswind greeted us. Now was the time to test the Extra's ability. The certified crosswind component is 20 knots. The AFIS agent was feeding me windchecks with a 15 second rythm while I was fighting to keep the runway on my half of the windshield.

First attempt was also my first go around with the Extra - I was reluctant to do this before as the engine is being broken in.
With the gear down, full power is needed to get some climb rate. The plane remains easily controllable with no tendency to react to torque but it takes a firm (single) hand and some trimming to haul the yoke in place while fighting the gusts and adjusting the engine levers with the other hand... you can't just slam the throttle open like in the DA40...
As soon as the gear is retracted all is well.

Second attempt was successful. The AFIS agent who was helping out told me the actual crosswind value but I won't publish it here. Suffice to say that I know why the EA 400 has a BIG tail!

Despite the miserable weather I did learn a lot about the aircraft and the autopilot. Enough to attempt today's flight. With good weather planning this time, I managed to take off at the last moment - storm was arriving and I got almost exactly the same cross wind as yesterday plus some rain.

The storm produced a huge tailwind and I was climbing at a ground speed of 170 to 200 knots (!!!) yes, that's in the climb, with 800 fpm dialed in and cruise-climb power, not even MCP:..

See this: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n121ag/#

After 20 minutes or so I leveled off at FL 180 and sailed across France overflying all sorts of clouds that would have given me hell in the DA40. What a great feeling!
The EDM 930 needed calibration of its % power display. We had again near ISA conditions so that gave an accurate indication of the aircraft's speed at FL180 with 75% power: tadaaa!!!
203 KTAS displayed or 205 KTAS calibration-corrected. This is consistent with the 198/200 knots previously seen at FL 150 and is also very close to book values.
Can't wait to see what happens when the NLG doors finally close!

I also tested the weather radar (... cool!) and got more familiar with the GTN750+G500.
The charts displayed on the GTN are way too small and I am very glad that the big iPad can take over this part of the job!
The ILS went smoothly and the landing in Geneva was uneventful.
Total time 2hours and 7 minutes.
I was greeted by a friendly customs officer and we had a laugh about the organic carrots and onions sticking out of my luggage

Flight after flight I am learning a lot. Not taking any passengers for obvious reasons so my screams of joy remain private so far. This is an awesome aircraft.
Yes it has some quirks - the drag of the landing gear is a deadly trap for the pilot who gets distracted - and some weak spots: the STEC 55, clearly, the dated cabin climate control...
But the airframe and powerplant are nothing short of amazing and the cabin is roomy and pleasant.
I also love the pilot's workplace, although I find the 4 point harness uncomfortable.

[Antoine]

More experience and feedback

Yesterday I flew Galatea back to the maintenance shop in Bonn Hangelar (EDKB). This was done in two legs. Leg one departing from LSGG Geneva to Strasbourg LFST. There was challenging weather and I would have cancelled the trip in the DA40. I took off in rain with a heavy precipitation line sweeping right behind me.

This is a view from the "wrong" side after making a 90 degree left turn after takeoff.
The airport has disappeared in the precipitation...

The forecast showed moderate icing (moderate by airliner standards) between FL 120 and 150 so I decided to stay below, in the soup. I stopped the climb at FL 100 and was in the tops of the lower cloud layer (SCu) in freezing temps.
The full blown de-icing gizmo collection was on (prop, windshield, 2 x pitot/static and stall warning) and the dual alternators got a little workout but remained completely unimpressed.
Icing started happening and I could see it growing on the leading edges. It was a very rewarding moment as I flipped the "boots" switch on. I was not worried: for this first icing test there was pretty of warm and clear air below me and it was a very short trip anyway.

The plane flew like a champ, LFST switched changed the active runway direction and I was so busy studying the landing charts and reprogramming my new avionics that ... I got behind the airplane's energy management.
All of a sudden I found myself intercepting the ILS with too much speed. Lesson learned... do not let an Extra 400 accumulate energy before going downhill. 20 inches of MP is required to keep the pressurization working so you can't really cut power and you can't lower the gear above 140 KIAS.
I felt like a little boy on a sledge going way too fast ! Since I was already in VMC I decided to pull up, accept that I would briefly bust the ILS ceiling, lower the gear and then manage the "vertical intercept". It was a bit tricky but it worked and the tower controller was kind enough to not tease me about my sloppy ILS.
As soon as the gear was down it felt like the airplane had lost its wings. This time I managed to adjust power proactively, got the flaps down, did my short final checks and the landing went well.
In Strasbourg, Galatea got 320 liters of AVGAS and I was treated to visiting the interior of a spanking new Hondajet. What a beauty!

After that I changed my flight plan to stay in positive temps, took off on a Z/Y plan and had another uneventful flight. Arriving in the traffic pattern at Bonn Hangelar was as tricky as usual with many slow planes and radio in German. I find it difficult to decide if it is safer to lower the gear early on (and be completely dependent upon engine power) or manage the speed difference with the Katanas and 152s...

I found another Extra 400 from the UK parked in front of the Flugzeugwerft. If you're reading this hello to you!

[Antoine]

All is well? not quite. First of all the buyer of my DA40 made use of his right to cancel the contract - his own buyer had defaulted - so I am back to being a DA40 owner - and not an unhappy one, read on...

The Extra let us down on our way to Athens. We had landed in Corfu and upon take off, the hydraulic pump would not stop running. There's a big orange alarm light that screams HYDR PUMP right in front of the pilot's nose. The pump has a life expectancy of 1 minute if it runs continuously and the procedure calls for pulling the breaker should this happen.
Schtonk! breaker pulled, GEAR DOWN, three green. all at 500 ft AGL (above water).
Request immediate landing. Ten days stranded in Corfu LGKR. Friendly Greeks, wonderful beach, lots of trouble fixing the plane. 10 days later return flight to Germany - plane dropped off in Bonn.
Now I am back to flying a DA40. It got overhauled mags and a pre-buy at Diamond Egelsbach and seems determined to showing me how good it is: "I can't do FIKI but here: 150 KTAS on 10 GPH, can your big fat Extra do that?".
My DA40 is a wonderful "little" plane and having it there like a faithful pet helps me accept the frustration...

[jon1746]

Antoine,

I am so sorry for all your troubles and hope you get a healthy bird soon.

That said. There was an Extra on our field in Sioux Falls, SD USA the other day. It looks just like yours. I asked who's it was at the front desk. The lady goes oh yeh some guy bought that to restore. All I could think was, I bet Antoine might have some sage words of advice.

Happy flying

N888ub

[Antoine]

Thank you Jon - that's OK you know, I am not complaining and very confident that this plane will eventually be a dream come true...
Remember the tail number of the Extra? I keep a database of all 28 of them

[Erik]

Thank you Jon - that's OK you know, I am not complaining and very confident that this plane will eventually be a dream come true...
Remember the tail number of the Extra? I keep a database of all 28 of them

Hi Antoine. You did some major rebuild / I bet it will just take a little time to chase out the bugs. It is a very complicated machine but you are building it into a real cream puff with proactive maintenance and overhauls. Maybe someday I will see it!

Erik

[Tommy]

Almost complete refurbishment of a 1969 Aerostar 600.

[rwtucker]

Beautiful aircraft Tommy! I've been around a few and none as nice as this. Magnificent avionics stack and placement. (A part of me is still a Piper guy.) Still running the 540K's? I seem to remember something about the engines.

[Tommy]

Thanks. Trying to keep up with Antoine is not easy. IO 540 K1J5s. They weren't the originals. I swapped out the original G1 B5s (1,400 hr. tbo) for the K1J5s. (2,000 hr. tbo) Lycoming won't even service the G1B5s anymore. I did get about $5Gs for the cores though. They were pretty nice about that.
Essentially the plane is a 1969 airframe brought up to 2017 standards in just about every way, airframe, avionics and power plant.