After doing some work with bruceh on Thursday (documented here) I wanted to fly today on a sort of .. extended test flight.
Preparation for today's flight actually started last night with moving some chart data onto the aircrafts USB drives for the AFS panel, and the SD card for the GNC 355 GPS. Last nights goal was to get the upcoming data cycle files transferred over to the USB drives and the SD card so it's ready for data cycle 2009.
I've been battling with the Seattle Avionics ChartData Manager since the AFS panel was installed. Last night I tried out their beta loader, which should be released approximately in conjunction with AFS v16 (which has a new data format, hence the requirement for a new loader). It's better, but I still prefer to do manual loads of the data (may just be the computer geek in me, and almost certainly has to do with using MacOS, and needing to dual boot into Windows to use the Seattle Avionics loader).
Data cards loaded, I headed off to the airport to get the plane ready. But first, to update the panel to the latest AFS v16 beta. It's an automated process, so there's not much to do other than sit and watch it happen.
As AFS v16 is really close to release, I wanted to get a flight on it so I could report back with anything I found before the wider release. Turns out, the software is good!
Anyhow, I took off, and headed to Torrance (KTOA). Bruce had suggested Torrance the other day, and I figured why not? Initially, I did not think I had ever been to Torrance, but on second thought, I think I have been. The year was 2001 or 2002, and I was flying a PC-12. If I recall correctly, I flew from Chino to Torrance, picked up the owners, and then flew them to Monterey, and then I took the PC-12 back to Chino. Certainly, I had never left the Torrance airport ramp, anyhow. Upon landing today, I took a quick walk down the way to grab lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant. Overall, a very good meal!
I walked back to the airplane, and figured that I'd fly over to Oceanside (KOKB) to get some fuel, and then back home to Fallbrook to put the airplane in the hangar. The flight down to Oceanside was great. A very clear day, but also a lot of airplanes flying. I still really enjoy flying down the coast. After a pretty routine landing in Oceanside, and getting some fuel, I took off for Fallbrook and called it a day.
Overall, a really great day of RV'ing. My newly installed alternator functioned great. The AFS v16 software that I had loaded worked great. And I was able to pull off nice landings at each of the airports that I flew to. Key for me to get consistently good landings.. be on speed, look down the runway, and hold the airplane off as long as possible. If I can remember to do those three things, it will always end well.
Preparation for today's flight actually started last night with moving some chart data onto the aircrafts USB drives for the AFS panel, and the SD card for the GNC 355 GPS. Last nights goal was to get the upcoming data cycle files transferred over to the USB drives and the SD card so it's ready for data cycle 2009.
I've been battling with the Seattle Avionics ChartData Manager since the AFS panel was installed. Last night I tried out their beta loader, which should be released approximately in conjunction with AFS v16 (which has a new data format, hence the requirement for a new loader). It's better, but I still prefer to do manual loads of the data (may just be the computer geek in me, and almost certainly has to do with using MacOS, and needing to dual boot into Windows to use the Seattle Avionics loader).
Data cards loaded, I headed off to the airport to get the plane ready. But first, to update the panel to the latest AFS v16 beta. It's an automated process, so there's not much to do other than sit and watch it happen.
As AFS v16 is really close to release, I wanted to get a flight on it so I could report back with anything I found before the wider release. Turns out, the software is good!
Anyhow, I took off, and headed to Torrance (KTOA). Bruce had suggested Torrance the other day, and I figured why not? Initially, I did not think I had ever been to Torrance, but on second thought, I think I have been. The year was 2001 or 2002, and I was flying a PC-12. If I recall correctly, I flew from Chino to Torrance, picked up the owners, and then flew them to Monterey, and then I took the PC-12 back to Chino. Certainly, I had never left the Torrance airport ramp, anyhow. Upon landing today, I took a quick walk down the way to grab lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant. Overall, a very good meal!
I walked back to the airplane, and figured that I'd fly over to Oceanside (KOKB) to get some fuel, and then back home to Fallbrook to put the airplane in the hangar. The flight down to Oceanside was great. A very clear day, but also a lot of airplanes flying. I still really enjoy flying down the coast. After a pretty routine landing in Oceanside, and getting some fuel, I took off for Fallbrook and called it a day.
Overall, a really great day of RV'ing. My newly installed alternator functioned great. The AFS v16 software that I had loaded worked great. And I was able to pull off nice landings at each of the airports that I flew to. Key for me to get consistently good landings.. be on speed, look down the runway, and hold the airplane off as long as possible. If I can remember to do those three things, it will always end well.