new commercial pilot

[chrisk]

I just passed my commercial check ride today!  I wish I could say I did it in a Mooney, but it was a Piper Lance PA32RT-300.  Loved the climb rate, but it has the glide ratio of a brick.  The power off 180 was interesting.  Power off, prop back, and a 2000 fpm half spiral to the runway.  And the pattern better be really close, like a quarter mile.  The turn starts the minute you go to idle.   It really made me appreciate my Mooney and how well it glides.  Although the Lance was was nice to drop on the runway without the hard Mooney bounce.  That said, I would never own one.

 

Anyway, with a turbo 231, I just thought the commercial maneuvers might be too rough on my baby.  Time to grab a beer and relax.

[carusoam]

Congrats, Chris!

Best regards,

-a-

[TWinter]

Congrats..Well done

[Bob_Belville]

Congrats Chris!

Yeah, I have 211 hours in a PA28-300 (T-tail) from the '80s. Great station wagon. But passengers loved the roomy club seating and the back door.

[Txbyker]

Congrats!

[aviatoreb]

Congrats Chris!!!

I did my commercial almost exactly one year ago - and actually I did do it in my M20K.

Congrats!

Erik

[kmyfm20s]

Great start to a new year!

[MooneyBob]

Congrats Chris.

I'd like to get my commercial this spring. 

I was thinking about what plane to use. My J or rent school plane? 

Any ideas? Pros and Cons? 

Thanks.

[Parker_Woodruff]

great job!

[rbridges]

4 hours ago, chrisk said:

I just passed my commercial check ride today!  I wish I could say I did it in a Mooney, but it was a Piper Lance PA32RT-300.  Loved the climb rate, but it has the glide ratio of a brick.  The power off 180 was interesting.  Power off, prop back, and a 2000 fpm half spiral to the runway.  And the pattern better be really close, like a quarter mile.  The turn starts the minute you go to idle.   It really made me appreciate my Mooney and how well it glides.  Although the Lance was was nice to drop on the runway without the hard Mooney bounce.  That said, I would never own one.

 

Anyway, with a turbo 231, I just thought the commercial maneuvers might be too rough on my baby.  Time to grab a beer and relax.

do you feel like you learned a lot?  Been kicking around the Commercial for a few years.  Can't get myself to commit.

[ryoder]

Congrats!  I think te great that people get their commercial rating.  This was my plan all along with the Mooney but now airplane ownership and mods has taken over.

[slowflyin]

Congrats!

[chrisk]

23 hours ago, rbridges said:

do you feel like you learned a lot?  Been kicking around the Commercial for a few years.  Can't get myself to commit.

It's really tough to say how much you learn.  There is certainly value in the maneuvers and getting a feel for what the plane can do besides just a normal take off an landing.  On the other hand, your probably already familiar with the most useful maneuvers.     Things like  Lazy 8s, Chandelles, and 8s on pylons don't hold a lot of practical value for me, other than as a teaching tool for flying skills.  

[chrisk]

On 1/3/2016 at 6:46 PM, MooneyBob said:

Congrats Chris.

I'd like to get my commercial this spring. 

I was thinking about what plane to use. My J or rent school plane? 

Any ideas? Pros and Cons? 

Thanks.

 

I think the big pro of using your plane is you will learn to fly it better. 

There are a few down sides to using a Mooney:  You will have some hard landings, and the Mooney landing gear is not that forgiving.   If your J has cowl flaps, it's just another thing you will have to deal with.  And if your airspeed is off, you will float in the Mooney.  

To give you an example, when I took my exam, the winds were 17 kts, gusting to 25kts.  And keep in mind that the landing touch down must be within 200 (or 100) feet of a particular point.  i.e. you need to land on the 1000 foot marker.  The lance has such a bad glide ratio that the gusts really didn't matter.  And it doesn't float.  It also didn't have cowl flaps, so I didn't have to mess with that.  And if you get the sink rate a little high, the gear does a good job of absorbing it.   Getting the 200 foot precision for a power off 180 would have been harder in the Mooney.  -and please don't take this as Mooney criticism.   The Mooney is a harder plane to fly according to the test standards.  The Lance can glide 7 miles from 8000 feet.  My 231 can glide 17 miles.  It's great that the Mooney glides 2.5 times better, but it also means it's harder to land within a 200 foot spot, because any pilot error is multiplied by 2.5 compared to the Lance.     --Now with a real engine failure, give me a Mooney and its glide ratio any day!