On Tue, 7 Feb 2006 16:44:40 -0500, LWG wrote:

A Sundowner is the easiest and most stable plane you will likely ever fly.
There is one thing that really makes it a delight. When you are landing,
dial in 75 kts on final using the trim. The trim will maintain the
airspeed. Use the throttle for altitude. When you are in ground effect,
slow up and pull back slowly until the runway disappears, and hold the yoke
back in your lap. If you use full flaps, you can stop in a few hundred
feet.

Add in the droop wing tips I have on my plane, and it is stable as a table.
Only thing above I do differently is fly final at 68 knots unless I am
doing an ILS, which I go at 90 knots down to the middle marker.

One nice thing that is rarely discussed is that it is almost immune to
crosswinds. It's big and heavy, and doesn't get blown around much. The
demonstrated cross wind is not that high, but I think it can be landed
safely with a considerably greater crosswind.

Its funny you mentioned this as I posted my experiences on
rec.aviation.student on going out in direct Xwinds of greater then 15
knots. I was extremely pleased how the plane handled, and here I thought
it was me *big smile*.

You won't break many speed records, and headwinds can be frustrating. I
think if Beech put a bigger engine in the Sundowner, like they did with the
earlier Super Musketeers, they could sell them today.

You mean that the Super M's had more then 180HP?

Allen