Kate's Aviation Journal

Over the weekend I learned to fly a 2005 Cessna T182T with the Garmin G1000 avionics suite. Insurance required at least a three-hour checkout with an instructor, which I accomplished over two flights. The first was in the daytime but low clouds limited our altitude, so I did lots of takeoffs and landings of all different kinds, and lost count after 15 (yowzers!). The second flight was at night and included several types of instrument approaches and practice with the autopilot.

I'll be flying this airplane for a local company and am very excited to have a new job to supplement flight instructing. I always like doing something new and different when it comes to flying. The plane arrived here a few days ago accompanied by a ferry pilot who is a specialist in glass cockpit aircraft training. It's been a while since I've received major instruction in anything, so I was a student all over again! I'm glad to finally be on the glass panel bandwagon. The G1000 system is amazing and the Turbo 182 is a great airplane. I found it to be an easy transition and am looking forward to flying the plane more.

This week's forecast is full of doom and gloom, with a major snowstorm predicted. As of yesterday, this area still had not seen any snow. I had four flight lessons to teach over the weekend. We all took advantage of the nice flying weather knowing we might not get to fly again for at least a week. Last night (Sunday into Monday), we got our first snow, about an inch or two. Then there was calm before the big storm. When I saw clear sky this afternoon, I took the Ercoupe up for a quick flight to check out the snow.

It wasn't until very recently that the lakes started freezing over around here. One day I saw them wide open, and suddenly they were frozen a few days later.


The town of Winneconne is blanketed with snow, but it looks like it will be awhile before the ice is safe.


Taxiing back after the flight, I could see my tracks from landing and also where my takeoff tracks ended. This was my first time flying the Ercoupe off of snow. I was happy with how well it steered. It was also the first time I have seen an oil temperature barely register after a 20-minute flight. Brr! It is supposed to get very cold by the end of this week, but first, we're supposed to get over a foot of snow. That's why I was glad I could get out today.

Labels: Ercoupe