Flying to Santa Ynez in the Skyhawk, (KIZA) Jan. 2011

Flying to Santa Ynez Airport. What a little gem! We approached from the East at 6,500'. Santa Barbara approach released us from flight following at the San Marcos Pass and reported no traffic between us and the airport, we went to the CTAF after that. We flew over Lake Cachuma, then did an over-head mid-field crossing at 2,200' just to observe the area and make a presence instead of doing a straight in. We then teardropped in to the 45 entry to the left downwind at 1,700' for runway 26. There is a nice little picnic area in front of the airport office that overlooks the runway. If you walk to the end of the row of hangers to the northwest corner of the airport, just before hanger "J", there is a pathway down the hill. This serves as a shortcut if you want to walk to the little town of Santa Ynez and will take you to the corner of Edison and Mission Drive. As you can see from the pictures the hill is a little steep, but our 4 year old was able to make it with a little help. Some popular restaurants are Don Carlito's (Mexican), The Red Barn Steakhouse and The Longhorn Coffee Shop (breakfast hours only). We ate at the Burger Barn (which has a patio, and also serves breakfast), we were not disappointed, great food. I picked up some in-house made beef jerky from the Roundup Market right on the same corner mentioned above, for the trip back, I wish I would have gotten more, yummy. A beautiful 75 degree day in the middle of January in SoCal, who could ask for more?

Flight Planning at SkyVector.com

Flying the 182 Skylane

I started some training to get checked out on the clubs Cessna Skylane. This is the 182 "S" model also called the "Millennium Edition".   The 182 Skylane is a slightly larger version of the famous Cessna 172 Skyhawk.   It has more horsepower,  range, and payload, it has a variable pitch prop, and flys faster.   My first impression other than it being a little more roomy inside was flying it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and actually quite similar feel to the 172.  On my first takeoff, I thought the added torque would have me stomping rudder or I would go careening to the left.  Not so, the rudder is large and the feel was very easy, and just like the 172.   Actually the added horsepower is mostly not that noticeable, probably due to the added weight.  The speeds at various stages of flight ARE 5-10 knots higher so things are happening a little faster than on the 172 in the pattern.  You will have to plan ahead, and there are more things on the checklist, and there are lots of things to do to keep the engine running smoothly.  The larger control surfaces of the 182 make the yoke noticeably heavier, this was not a problem during cruise flight, but my arms got a little tired after several times around the pattern.  You'll use more trim on the 182 than the 172 due to the heavier controls.  Some new things to take note of....Run-up: Cowl flaps open, cycle the prop 3 times, each time watch for RPM drop, oil pressure drop, and manifold pressure rise. Takeoffs: rotate at 60 kts, climbout at 90 kts, ease off the prop pitch to get out of red-line after reaching 500 AGL.  Landings: join the downwind at 100kts, 17-18" hg, base: 90 kts, final 80kts, over the fence at 75kts, prop in full, and leave a little power on short final, pull power back to idle slowly, but not until just prior to roundout.  Don't cut the power over the fence as you would on a 172. Add a little trim up on final to ease the flair due to the heavier nose. Cowl flaps are normally closed on landings, and open during takeoff, climbs, and hot weather, and we left them open during pattern work.   We did some air work in the practice area, including stalls and steep turns, it felt very similar to the 172. I had a little trouble maintaining level flight at a fixed speed, I just had to learn to be a little more gentle on the controls and wait for the plane to settle instead of chasing the dials, the 182 doesn't react as fast as a 172, so patience is needed.   The main idea my instructor told me was to avoid shock cooling the engine and pre-plan descents very well, don't suddenly chop throttle to descend.  Plan ahead, and do throttle, pitch, and mixture in slow increments. There is an excellent post about transistioning to the 182 here in Brian's Flying Blog. More flights to come...

Flying to Lancaster

Departing KWJF...