Re: Flew an R44 Raven II today...

[joe]

Have you priced the insurance on the 44? Thats what killed my dreams.

Joe


> I'd been kicking around the idea of going in halves with a co-worker
> on an R22 but now that I've flown the 44, I don't think I want to go
> back to the 22s.. Anyone got $150k I can have???
>
>

[Steve R.]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
message ...
> Did some transition training in a Raven II today. Man, what a sweet
> ship that thing is compared to the 22s...
>

It is sweet moving up to a more powerful machine, isn't it! I got my fixed
wing license in a wore out 1967 C150 with a climb prop. Max cruise was
about 105 mph! After my check ride, my instructor took my through my high
performance check off in C182. Man, what a difference! :-) At one point,
we did a max performance short field take-off with just the two of us and a
little less than half tanks. Accelerate in a 3 point attitude to Vx, rotate
and climb to clear the 50' obstacle. We hit Vx, I rotated and the aircraft
kept accelerating. I kept pulling the nose up to hold Vx, or rather get
back down to it (!), until my instructor said enough. Push the nose back
over to a normal climb attitude and accelerate away and we're at 400+ feet
and not quite half way down a 5000' runway. Great fun! :-D

My question is, how did you have the Raven loaded? I imagine that the R22's
you trained in were flying close to gross weight most of the time. I know
that we kept that old 150 right up next to gross weight all the time.
Flying a more powerful aircraft and running it as a relative fraction of
it's carrying capacity doesn't hurt the performance figures!

Fly Safe,
Steve R.

[Steve R.]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
message ...
> Full fuel and 400 lbs of bodies on board - just about 200 lbs shy of
> max gross. Even though my next flight in the beasty is going to be
> under the foggles, I can't wait..
>
>

I / we can't wait to read about it! :-)

Fly Safe,
Steve R.

[Darrel Toepfer]

The OTHER Kevin in San Diego wrote:

> Full fuel and 400 lbs of bodies on board - just about 200 lbs shy of
> max gross. Even though my next flight in the beasty is going to be
> under the foggles, I can't wait..

Hey, room for the family...

[Darrel Toepfer]

The OTHER Kevin in San Diego wrote:

>>Hey, room for the family...
>
> Someone's gonna be sittin' in the terminal.. Only 4 seats in the
> Raven and 5 souls in the family. Gonna need a Long Ranger or wait for
> Frank & Co. to come out with the R66. :)

200lbs of space allows you to take 1 or 2 along at a time... ;)