Fond memories of the 210. What? I SAY AGAIN...FOND MEMORIES OF THE 210. WHAT'S THAT? YOU CAN"T HEAR ME?
Picked up three drillers once on a hot day and they loaded their stuff (bedding, some clothes, spare boots) to come home. Seemingly no big deal with weight. Plane took most of the runway to get off the ground. Engine sounded fine. 40 miles later and we're still trying to get to altitude. Landed at destination to find a 5 gallon drum of drill bits weighing what seemed like half a tonne in the back. (I'm sure this has happened to many.)
Fueled from drum stock. One drum with a bad seal, stored upright in the open and many litres of water were pumped in too. Thought I had it drained. Rocked wing. Drained some more. Took off on good tank to make sure. An hour into the flight, changed tanks and within a couple of minutes, prop was windmilling. Changed tanks. Landed. Drained a few more litres. Took off again and the rest was uneventful, but still annoyed at having paid fuel prices for water.
Not recommended, but a beautiful aircraft on wet, soggy strips. There'd be a lot of people that will take issue with this these days. Hold the stick back and it will bust off the ground in no time. Just keep it in ground effect while building up speed before trying to climb away and raising the gear and flap. And on landing it can be held a few feet off the ground in ground effect with power to very low speeds and then cutting the throttle and dropping it onto the target. Don't try this out of ground effect at low altitudes though. The 210 will operate into places a Bonanza can only dream about. Great plane for the bush and long distances in comparison with other light singles.
Oh! And one more thing...make sure the seat is locked in place. On aircraft with worn seat tracks, the seat locking pin might not be seated properly almost guaranteeing a surprise on lift off. There will be a decision to be made...keep the hands on the control column or the feet on the rudder pedals, because you won't be able to do both.
Great for flying along beaches on beautiful days at 500ft. For some reason that might not be justified, the Bonanza was more comfortable and reassuring scud busting VFR in crappy weather. The Bonanza has better visibility in the direction of the turns and that might have something to do with it. BUT JUST FLY THE 210 WITH A GOOD SET OF HEADPHONES.
Last edited by Lodown; 28th Apr 2005 at 05:14.