It has become a rare occasion that I feel a high level of excitement when getting into the cockpit. Past occasions include my first solo flight, now some twenty six years ago or my first flight in my own sailplane.
Yesterday was again such a day.
I had my first flight in our new airplane, a four seat Grumman Tiger AA-5B.
I had dreamed about owning this type of aircraft the first time more than a decade ago, when I came to the states. It finally became a reality, when a share in a local partnership became available. The aircraft is hangared at Austin/Bergstrom, the local international airport. This makes it the perfect home base for trips with the family. The airport is open 24/7.
Yesterday I flew with one of the four other group members, to get familiar with the quirks of the plane. We extensively went over ground checking the plane before firing up the kitty (Tiger).
I could feel my heart beating, when the engine came to live. Finally in the left seat of “my plane”. It was a liberating feeling. With these wings I could go anywhere. My imagination for adventures is the only limit. With my thoughts back in the cockpit, we went over the checklists, did some ground taxi practice, before we called up clearance delivery to get our departure clearance.
After a quick run-up we departed on 17L towards Lockart. The acceleration was brisk and soon after we were in the air gaining airspeed before settling into a climb.
The smoothness of the engine/prop combination was immediately apparent to me. The responsive control authority of the ailerons was a welcome discovery – this plane is a hoot to fly! The control harmony rivals that of a Beech Bonanza A-36. It’s lighter in the elevator though.
After leaving Austin’s airspace C we proceeded to do some maneuvering east of Lockhart. There, the same thing: The controls are just so smooth! After a couple of 180s at various speeds we proceeded to do some touch-n-goes at Lockhart. Slowing the airplane was the first new experience for me, as Cessnas basically fly at approach speeds all day long 😉 This was different – you had to plan to loose some energy, before entering the pattern. The first approach was a little too slow. I managed to touch down smoothly on the numbers, but the speeds were 5 mph too slow. The next approach I managed to keep the speeds up and delivered a nice deep flare greaser landing.  Going around we saw birds circling at the end of the runway and we had to maneuver to avoid them. The third landing was for a full stop to top off the tanks, before returning to AUS. I did a high approach with the engine fully throttled, keeping the speeds up until over the runway. I surprised myself by also making an extraordinarily smooth landing – again. Three out of three for a plane I had not flown before made me smile. The absence of gusts was a great help though. Next we shut down the engine and got some gas.
Then we took off again to return to Bergstrom. Enroute I played with the autopilot (heading and altitude hold) and flew with a high power setting. It was awesome to see ground speeds of 137kts. This plane is fast!
Austin approach must have forgotten about us for a while as they were vectoring us off into the boonies. We finally got a vector for left base 17L and did a high speed approach, as two commercial airliners were awaiting their departures and watching us land. Another very smooth landing on the numbers made me completely fall in love with this machine! This plane is so easy to fly, agile and responsive and does exactly what you think it’s going to do.
It’s the beginning of a love affair!
