I took delivery of N62PZ with 34 hours on it on January 6. Myself and a Lifestyle employee picked it up from London, ON and flew it back to Raleigh, NC. That first flight in it was exhilarating. We took off in IFR conditions and proceeded south in IFR conditions. Prior to owning this plane I had a Cessna 206, so no experience with TKS or flying intentionally into icing conditions. We encountered ice! It was a great experience with a qualified CFI to understand what the plane could do. First takeaway, the TKS indication light in the cockpit is obnoxiously bright, especially at night. I have a piece of scotch tape and paper over the light, it’s bright enough that it still shines through the paper.
I flew around NC for a week before beginning my journey back to the PNW, getting more and more comfortable landing this plane in varying airport lengths and conditions, including First Flight (a lifelong checklist!). I got an IPC, a BFR and 15 hours of flight time before I departed NC.
Leg one from RDU to BNA was uneventful, we used exactly the amount of fuel that the G1000 had said we did. Slowly my confidence was building in the plane. Leg two BNA to TUL was a little more exciting. Halfway through we encountered a line of thunderstorms, an SR22, myself and a Cessna 410 were all trying varying ways to get through. Eventually we all made it, with the help of ATC, our onboard weather radar and nexrad. Second takeaway, it’s hard to use the onboard weather radar without any weather, but having an understanding of how it works and how to use it is important. CFI Dave has a really wonderful write up, I wish I would have read that before flying. Flying into TUL, we were IFR, ceilings were reported at 600’. We were on the RNAV for 18R and we had complete GPS failure, immediately went missed had ATC vectored us back around and at the exact same location GPS failure AGAIN! Went miss and asked for the ILS for 18L, we were sent around vectored back in and had a safe and sound landing. I suspect that there was GPS interference as I haven’t had that happen again. Though I have been leery of RNAV ever since.
The rest of the journey was completely uneventful, stopping in Sante Fe, and Salt Lake City, and finally Seattle (KBFI). To make it a proper coast to coast trip, I ran out to Astoria, Oregon. In the intervening time I have flown to KBOI and KOAK various other places around the PNW, and have done an Angel Flight. I’m excited to have this plane in my hangar, and absolutely love showing it off when I land at airports. I’m always very explicit when I fuel it that it takes Jet-A, and like to see the fuel truck show up.
Here’s items that I have bought for the plane for convenience:
- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MEPIU4M/re ... M768WJ997 Right angle funnel to add oil
Latex gloves to check the oil.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DLZXZV1/re ... UTF8&psc=1 Two of these one for the cockpit and one for the frunk to look inside the engine cowling:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018JR62P2/re ... UTF8&psc=1 I have Tanis heaters installed as such it's nearly impossible to see the gearbox oil level, so I have one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QNYVWD5/re ... B9N3CQTYB2 Two of these one 9” and one 15”
https://jet-shades.com/shop/propeller/j ... mond-da62/ Jet Shades, even in the grey PNW it’s nice to have these to cut the glare of that harsh orange orb.
https://www.besttugs.com/pages/romeo-line Best Tug, jury is still out on this, i like the simplicity of it, I have a 53’ wide hangar door, anything less then I don’t think i’d like it and would be too nervous using it.