Thank you very much Max, I really appreciate that.
Great shots. I continue to be pretty amazed at that scenery and assembly of ground structures.
((all auto_contrast adjusted for daytime viewing))
after replying to a topic which made me want to re-visit the Malibu to just put a hand on the controls and hand fly it to ensure that everything still feels fine, I did. What better place to hand fly and feel out an aircraft than Bonneville. It's deeply late night here again, so, time set to similar. I saw a little glitch around the edge of the windshield frame that I'll attend, but to get around the fast track... 350hp of the Mirage seemed like a better plan. 310hp of the Malibu made for ... about 200'ish.. while the 350hp of the Mirage made for.. about 220-230'ish. and remember, this is the *test facility* so Vne and prudent op limits are beside the point. They're both fine tuned for power settings @ speed @ altitude. this was about hand flying and putting-through-paces.
yet again, i confirm, they feel fine. rotation, liftoff, initial climb, basic handling for turns, climb-turns, weight feel, pitch feel, roll feel, and that was at default load (half weights). so, off to the course for some running and a little test of trim rate, trim stability, at maximum worst case scenario airspeed and pitch sensitivity due to beyond excessive airspeed. also, fine.
I had forgotten about the lamps for the overhead switch row, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the glowing overhead panel, and that compass lamp cast on the glareshield is just inviting to want to reach out and touch. no doggin the blur on the A pillar, my own texture resolution is lower than yours. Anyway. it was a nice run. What was very interesting was that the 350hp Mirage doesn't quite have the oomph to have the climb gradient to get up over the quad gates. I'm so used to doing it in much more athletic aircraft, that it was startling to almost stall out climbing the face of the mountain to the quad, a climb that began at over 200 and crested the quad gates at ~100 dipping into deep alpha and grateful for the drop off on the far side. It puts the scale and 3d altitude change of the course into perspective that's for sure.
- PA-46-350P Mirage (also in Meridian) overhead switch row lighting.
- a nice nose high touch, and touch again on rolling wheels sort of landing.. in the dark. at Bedrock.