PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - My first aircraft - the ferrying of my old Aero Commander twin back to California.
Old 11th Nov 2013, 18:54
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AdamFrisch
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Los Angeles, USA
Age: 52
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India pretty much summed it up. Thanks for asking.

Plane is sold, but I still have aircraft in my possession as they haven't paid fully yet. Flew her for an hour just last week and she's never run better. Since my new one is in for engine overhauls, it keeps me current. I've been drip feeding her 20gals of fuel here and there just to cover the shorter flights I do to keep the juices going, and boy, does that old girl get going with empty tanks! Last week there was a training Cessna 172 on the upwind when I got cleared for takeoff, so I asked if I could get an early turn and get in front of them, which was approved. I only had about 30 gals in total onboard and a pretty stiff headwind. I was in the air in less than 600ft, was at 1000ft by the crosswind and at 1500ft by the time I rolled out on downwind! I was out of the circuit before that Cessna even turned crosswind. At moments like that I wish I could keep her. It would be fun to do a STOL competition for twins only, like they do in Valdez with the singles. I think the 520 would have a good chance of beating just about anything.
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