zaitcev.mee.nu

I was re-reading the manual and suddenly noticed that Arrow is somewhat faster at about 6,000 ft than at my standard cruising altitudes of 9.5/10.5/11.5. Before, I always followed the "airliner" profile: take off, climb at Vy to the boundary of oxigen, cruise high over the mountains and valleys, dive to the destination airport, land. It seemed like the right thing in a trainer Cherokee, where I had to pull back on the throttle to prevent overrevving. The airplane topped at about the same 120 mph indicated, but up high it translated to a better true speed. But Arrow has an constant speed prop, so it can extract all of the available power from the engine, and the power drops off quickly above 8,000 ft.

So, last Saturday I went low, to see how that worked. The manual was right, of course. But more importantly, everything looks so different down below. The terrain in the area is at about 6000, give or take, so I stayed about 1500 above. That low, things really appeared new and strange. The skyline is different, with peaks and ridges noticeably raising from beyond the horizon. This affects the navigation, as I need to recognize different shapes. The flight path has to be adjusted to account for every little hillcock, and obstructions need attention. And there's so much stuff on the ground!

Unfortunately, I am unable to capture the novelty with a camera. It all looks very much the same in pictures.

P.S. Bird strikes are a significant danger down low, but I saw no bird this time.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 10:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 266 words, total size 2 kb.