Piper Arrow & Other News

A slow day at work has me contemplating what else I’d like to accomplish during my flying season this year. The goals are rather straight-forward and will be outlined point by point:

Piper Arrow Check ride/Complex Rating – Our club offers members the opportunity to fly three different aircraft, one of which is the “complex” Piper Arrow. It’s not necessarily that I am jumping at the opportunity to fly this aircraft, however, due to me serving as a hopeful safety pilot during the second half of this year, I’d like to broaden the range of aircraft available to me for scheduling, as our club has grown quite a bit in the recent months (more than 60 active members disbursed among three club aircraft). The Arrow aircraft is outfitted with an Aspen PFD/ND display, along with at least one GPS430 unit. The technology is streamlined with our other aircraft, so from that perspective, it should not be difficult to adjust. However, having extending gear and a constant propeller does add to the intricacies of flying this particular aircraft more than the technology.

For instance, with retractable gear, you must now introduce an entire new electrical or hydraulic system to bring the gear up and down, which complicates the aircraft integrity. Additionally, a constant prop adds in a new variable to control during the various stages of flight. These are all things I will need to work on when I begin to fly this airplane.

More XC time building – I need to log hours as XC PIC to fulfill requirements of the IR license, and, in general, to become a more competent pilot in general. XC time will allow me to build up the experience I so very much need in order to become a better pilot, there is no short cut around obtaining this experience. A simulator will only take you so far.

IR “Under the Hood” work – I need to log hours under the hood, flying by the instruments, and concentrating on building good and positive habits related to these aspects of flying.