Tonight's Flight

I flew the V tail Bonanza from FWQ (Rostraver) to VVS (Connellsville) tonight. It's only a 15-20 minute flight but we needed to reposition it to open up hangar space at FWQ. The weather has been lousy all December, so when the sky appeared to clear this afternoon I dropped everything to head up to the airport. I was going to takeoff before sunset but the engine was cold and wouldn't start (Bonanzas seem to be resistant to starting under 50 degrees). I put the Reddy heater underneath by the cowl flaps for about 15 minutes and tried it again and she turned over.

It was dark by then (about 1800). I taxied to 26 and checked everything twice (The airplane had some repairs last week -- a new flap actuator motor and a new starter). Run-up went fine, but radio didn't seem to be working. I switched to Com 1 & 2 and then the PCL came on. Winds were 220 at 9 gusting to 15, so I held it on a little longer before rotating.

With only me aboard she climbs like a homesick angel. Once the runway was no longer available gear came up. A few bumps crossing the ridge line just west of the runway (it's the valley where the Monongahela river flows) and then up to 3000 (ceiling was reported at 3400). I had the 496 on board, though I know where VVS is.

It's nice to have a GPS to help find airports at night, though. Even if you've flown in a few hundred times there are always those moments where you think, "Wait -- is that the airport there? Or is that it over there???" I pulled power back to 20" MP and 2000 RPM but she still wanted to fly 140 MPH. I wasn't sure how smooth it would stay so I slowed a bit to 130 to stay near Va.

 Descents have to be planned in this airplane -- she wants to fly. So the drill is pull the power back to 15" MP and slowly increase RPM to max. Then pull the nose up, trim and repeat until the airplane slowly decelerates. Only after airspeed is reduced do I begin a descent. If you put the nose down you'll be way too fast for pattern entry. Of course if this was a longer XC I would do a cruise descent until I got within range of the airport (15 miles or so). But I would still get the speed to a more manageable 110-120 max sooner rather than later.

A few more bumps and then a right turn onto final for 23 at VVS. No one else flying tonight. I turned onto final and slowed to 90. Someone put up a bunch of lights on a Christmas tree right in line with the runway final approach. It's a bit distracting, but no real hazard. A nice long descent down the glidepath (there are PAPIs on 23 and 5 at VVS), slow to 80, then 70 and then a squeak. She touched down a bit sooner than I'd planned but was acceptable. A nice short roll and then taxi up to the pad in front of the main hangar.

 Shut everything down, chock and lock, and head home. I really like that old airplane... bu she's strictly a VFR bird for now. She would need some serious panel work before any real IFR. The 496 is a great addition, though. It has XM Weather, terrain alerts, approaches -- everything. I have to take some time to set up the yoke mount and figure out how to power it in the V but that will be a fun challenge.