Cessna Checkout

My experience in high wing aeroplanes is minimal. Apart from a handful of hours flown in the USA I have none.

Now I have to say that I would have preferred the glass cockpit to be in a low wing Piper aircraft but it isn't and so there you go. I decided to "open my mind" to the new type and have to say that I rather like the Cessna. My checkout took around two and a half hours but then you need to play with the G1000 system to become more familiar. The one thing to guard about is spending too much time looking inside rather than outside the cockpit.

Compared to the Arrow the Cessna is quiet, modern and very well equiped but oh does it go slow! I really notice the lower airspeed in the cruise and to get somewhere at 105kts compared to 130 kts seems to take a long time. However, the information available to the pilot from the Garmin system is staggering and makes up a bit for the lack of cruise speed. The autopilot takes some getting used to but when you understand just what you've told it to do then you're fine.

My checkout complete I set off to learn more by flying the plane. I'm still not too happy with the high wing as visibilty is reduced but apart from that it is a pleasure to fly. I've done around seven hours on it now and overall my negative thoughts about the type were misplaced. So another aeroplane available for me to fly.