I think you're going to have a lot of fun. The Eclipse is a blast to fly. If I can make one small suggestion that helped me a lot transitioning from a piston twin to the Eclipse, it would be this: the Eclipse *loves* guys to fly an attitude. By that I mean that you should figure out what the attitude is on an approach (maybe 2 degrees nose down on an ILS for instance). Nail *that* and the other stuff will all fall into place.

Now, I realize, you're sitting there telling yourself, "well, yeah, everybody knows that," and if you already do, my apologies. I discovered that I'd slipped into flying by the VSI on my ILS's--and while it worked fine in my twin piston and gave me really nice results, it caused me to overcorrect in the Eclipse. Learning to fly an attitude and an exact heading (276 degrees for instance, not 275 or 277) made all the difference for me in transitioning into the jet.

I think you'll love it. The plane is a joy to fly once you figure out what it wants. Here's a picture I took while my wife was flying an LNAV+V approach right down to the runway, a full 377 feet below minimums while still under the hood (she's a good stick):



Ken

Ken

David,

I don't know which version of Avio was in use at the time, but I have hand flown an Eclipse using the flight director.

shoe

Yes for 1.7. You can't do it in the Avidyne planes. I don't remember if you can do it in 1.3 (I think not), but 1.5, 1.7, and IFMS offer the ability to display the FD with the autopilot uncoupled. Those all have the improved "version 2" autopilot.

Ken

Ken, just wanted to say thank you for joining and posting this information. It will likely never be of use to me, as jet flying likely isn't in my cards, but I love reading it.

Ken, just wanted to say thank you for joining and posting this information. It will likely never be of use to me, as jet flying likely isn't in my cards, but I love reading it.

Yes for 1.7. You can't do it in the Avidyne planes. I don't remember if you can do it in 1.3 (I think not), but 1.5, 1.7, and IFMS offer the ability to display the FD with the autopilot uncoupled. Those all have the improved "version 2" autopilot.

Ken

After 2 entire days of ground school, today was the first training flight. While I had flown this airplane before, that was done mostly on autopilot. Today was my first time doing air work and really hand flying the airplane. Slow flight, stalls, stick pusher demonstration, steep turns etc. Then we went on and did some VFR traffic pattern work. It is very easy to make nice landings if you stick to the speeds.

I found the steep turns challenging. They were passable to ATP standards but barely and it was a lot of work for me to keep it there. In contrast, a while back- the first time I did steep turns in a Baron was in prep for my commercial checkride. The altimeter didn't move. My altitude and airspeed were perfect. The Eclipse requires more a lot more attention. I am sure another half dozen of them and I will be comfortable. (I only did 2 today.)

The airplane handles like a little fighter jet. I find it similar in handling to the L-39, which I do not have a type in, but I do have about .5 in doing a few maneuvers. I did find the Eclipse very heavy in the roll, but you get used to it fairly quickly.

I really do believe that anyone who flies one of these airplanes will fall in love immediately.

While the Avio has some things about it I would change had I been consulted by the designers , it is overall quite user friendly. I feel like I have a really good grasp on this already.

I was also a bit worried since I have about zero glass cockpit experience, but I am picking that up very quickly as well.

I don't have any pictures but I will try to snap a few on the next flight.

So far, so good!!

Thanks for the update Ted. Looks like a great time for sure.

I have said it before and I will say it again. Acquisition cost of an aircraft is like the cover charge at a titty bar. It may get you in the door, but it won't get you any drinks or lap dances.

Fun reading in this thread!

Today went well. Another half day of ground then my friend and I both did flights. It was flight number 1 for him and training flight number 2 for me. I did 5 approaches- ILS and GPS, some holding, missed approaches, etc. This was my biggest worry. With this airplane not having a coupled autopilot, you have to hand fly all approaches- to ATP standards. I am told that is the most difficult thing about this checkride (and flying the airplane in general) and I pretty well nailed it today. I am feeling very good after today.

I rode along on William's (my friend) first flight and took some pics and video.

For those of you who say never do a touch and go in a 'complex' aircraft

This was the first approach and landing on my friend's first flight ...

[youtube]http://youtu.be/hqOMlz8c07w[/youtube]

Theodore,

That was really cool. I love the trees going by on short final and those engines spooling up. Very cool indeed. I was surprised the airplane "floated" as long as it did. I actually got a little nervous but then you guys had a ton of runway left.

Should we really use that term around Theodore; he might be a bit sensitive