What comes after a DA40?

[Star57]

Antoine, the wings on the Columbia 300 are diferente, and more docile, they introduced a leading edge wing cuff, that was part of the certification process, the inner wing part stalls first, and gives a pre warning of unstable air flowing over it.
The leading edge cuff is a fixed aerodynamic wing mod to improve the stall and spin characteristics, and makes it more spin resistant, the cuffing on leading edge is lightly drooped, I think it starts at aprox.70% half-span of the wing.
Cirrus and Icon also have that cuff, if I recall correctly the Pipistrel Panthera also has it.I stalled it about 4 times, it’s noticeable and gives you prewarning, recovery is a slight nose down and voila!
The Lancair ES is not and should not be flown bellow 80 KIAS, that’s best glide speed.
We are re analyzing the weight and balance on it, it’s nose heavy as it is, and we have dual Gil batteries in the back.
My CFI has it in Phoenix, we will have the guys at Performance1 go over some squaks.
I’m also installing a Garmin G3X 7” Portrait in the middle of the G900’s LRU’s and a Garmin AOA mounted on the glare shield and also displaying on G3X.The G3X will give me back up Instruments with a a full AHRS and an Air Data computer, a full backup to the G900X plus full ADS-B IN.
My G900X came off a 2008 Cessna 182 that crashed, it’s a WAAS system, the AP is the latest TruTrak Sorcerer, I upgraded it to a latest revision including the auto trim for pitch and a straight and level button. It also has active traffic from Avydine. The Interior is not luxurious, but it can be changed, the paint work could have been a better job, to do a good paint job on it it will be close to 20 AMUS US .
Im looking forward to all the tweeks and upgrades and start building up hours.

[Lance Murray]

You guys have me drooling. I love the Aerostar and also the Extra. I know the Aerostar would eat my lunch in upkeep cost but I am really curious about the Extra. I know parts are probably a fortune for the Extra too but I would love to hear about the true cost down the road a little. Maybe Antoine will sell it to me when he is ready to move up to a jet.

[carym]

Maybe Antoine will sell it to me when he is ready to move up to a jet.

Sorry Lance, but i am hoping that i am next in line since i no longer have my DA42 and am in desperate need for a replacement airplane

[Derek]

Great plane Frank! Enjoy your new bird. I think about various upgrade paths from my DA20 which thankfully I love. Something faster, bigger and ifr certified. My favourite at this time due to family size would be a used piper matrix (can't afford a da62). The thing that keeps stopping me is safety. The statistical safety of the diamonds vs everything else is big. I compare it to the difference between a car and a motorbike. The bike is way more fun and I've enjoyed many of them but now I'm married w 3 kids and people who rely on me. The risk no longer seems justifiable. With a da20 or 40 you are relatively likely to walk away from a crash if worst comes to worst, at least where I fly most often. Unfortunately with anything else faster/better, not so much.

Apologies for bringing up a dark topic but it's worth talking about. Did you spend a lot of time thinking about risks and how do you (or anyone else here) justify the undeniable increase? Same question for stats between certified and non certified. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I wish for a 200knot machine with a safety record of a diamond. Sigh...

[Lance Murray]

Flight Safety’s tag line is that the best safety device in an airplane is a well trained Pilot. I think that is very accurate. Add to that quality maintenance and you are just fine. Be involved in your maintenance and you can mitigate many risks.

[carym]

Something faster, bigger and ifr certified. My favourite at this time due to family size would be a used piper matrix (can't afford a da62). The thing that keeps stopping me is safety. The statistical safety of the diamonds vs everything else is big. I compare it to the difference between a car and a motorbike. The bike is way more fun and I've enjoyed many of them but now I'm married w 3 kids and people who rely on me. The risk no longer seems justifiable. With a da20 or 40 you are relatively likely to walk away from a crash if worst comes to worst, at least where I fly most often. Unfortunately with anything else faster/better, not so much.

Apologies for bringing up a dark topic but it's worth talking about. Did you spend a lot of time thinking about risks and how do you (or anyone else here) justify the undeniable increase? Same question for stats between certified and non certified. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I wish for a 200knot machine with a safety record of a diamond. Sigh...

Derek,
If you like the Diamond, there are plenty of used DA42's available and for less than the cost of a used Piper Matrix. Here is a pic of us crossing the Rockies in our DA42 at 14K and happy that we have a second engine on the plane.

[Derek]

Beautiful Cary! You’re right, I would love the 42 but I need 5 seats (or give a kid back). So I can wait for a used da62 or get a matrix/Malibu or maybe a 5 seat cirrus sooner. I was looking at a Cessna 185 (beautiful plane) but after much research I didn’t feel right putting my whole family in an older bird.

[Antoine]

Funny that this comes right after Derek's post...

More Extra 400 tales:

today I did three flights with the Extra 400 (six seats - hint hint). one was a short hop but the last two were cross countries at FL200 and FL160. During the first one, I climbed at MTOW from sea level to FL 200 at 1'000 ft per minute. This is a huge improvement versus the sluggish performance that was due to overheating.
IAS was around 115 and 120 knots which translated into some solid TAS as we climbed.
cabin altitude was pleasant - 6000 ft- OAT was minus 23C and the seat heating proved to be a very useful addition to the plane's otherwise spartan heating (could be that something is wrong... I can't believe it is that minimal).
During this flight I saw 206 KTAS at 75% power, 92 liters per hour ( 24 USG) before reverting to my favorite economy setting at 68 liters per hour ( 18 GPH) and 185 KTAS. I also had a temperature data logger installed with 7 probes inside the engine compartment. Found the hot spot...

On the second flight I was able to test the full meaning of FIKI - an unfavorable vector made us enter icing at FL 080 and exit at FL150. I made a couple of videos on the way. It is quite impressive to watch how the boots shed ice and the difference between the heated pilot windscreen and the non-heated copilot side.

I found a way around the STEC55X's dangerous "VS" climb mode and tested it successfully.
1. Set the AP for NAV and VS and activate.
2. Disconnect the AP, the aircraft remains trimmed with the nose up for this VS
3. Re-engage the AP with only the NAV mode, no vertical mode. The aircraft 's nose up attitude remains, but the AP can no longer increase pitch if the VS falls below the dialed in value.
4. Set the altitude bug of the G500 to the desired target altitude. It will flash when nearing it.

I also finally have my ILS settings and energy management strategy in place. Here goes:
Fly the arrival with eco cruise settings and minus 1500 fpm. IAS reaches 200 which is the beginning of the yellow arc. TAS is much higher.
Intercept the ILS with 170 KIAS and reduce engine power to 26.5 inches and 2300 RPM. This gives 170 KIAS at 800 fpm which is perfect for a standard ILS and fast enough for ATC to be happy (in Geneva they expect 160 KIAS minimum).
At 5 miles, let the plane slip below the ILS by half of the full deflection. at 4 miles set 2500 RPM and cut MP, watch the ball. Pull up to reduce speed, at it nears 140 KIAS, gear down, and MP up to 25 inches, watch the ball. Use MP to dampen the fall into the ILS glide. Trim
Works like a charm...

[Colin]

let the plane slip below the ILS by half of the full deflection

Can you explain that in more detail? You can't mean fly the plane below the ILS glideslope, but that's how I read it.

[Antoine]

Sorry Colin, I should have gone into more detail, here:

The Extra400 has a Vle of 140 KIAS. So if you're doing 170 you need to find a way to reduce speed. No airbrakes either...
Once the gear is down it wants the engine at 25/2500 immediately or you can expect to fall seriously below the ILS within 5 seconds.

What I do is:

1 Set RPM at 2500 first, while reducing manifold pressure and letting her slip below the CENTER of the vertical guidance) by about half of the full scale. So I'm still within the ILS tolerance. This gives me some margin to pull up.

2. Cut power (while pushing the "bitching betty" disconnect button to avoid scaring the bejesus out of my PAX) and pull up. Extra must have bought this alarm siren from the Berlin Wall equipment sale.
Now the plane is soaring towards the upper limit of the ILS vertical guidance,

3. As speed nears 140, pull the gear out and immediately add MP to 25-27 (hard to do accurately due to turbo lag). All this needs to happen while one's feet are playing on a grand organ. It is a lot of work to keep her coordinated during the big power swings...

Short final speed is 90 so you can imagine how much change happens in - did I mention that I have given up letting the STEC55X fly the ILS? Makes for a busy 10 minutes...