Hello Group,
I finished my instruction for insurance purposes in my Skycatcher about two months ago and my flight review about a week ago. Here's what I experienced, so I'd like to hear what other pilots and instructors experience. I am a private pilot, instrument rated, flying as a light sport pilot.
My checkout in the Skycatcher for insurance purposes only required one hour. That didn't seem like enough. I took four hours of dual instruction, and that, combined with about three hours of demo rides, left me very comfortable in the plane. The instructor was satisfied with my flying. Here are the main points my instructor checked me out in with regard to flying.
The instructor was very through in taking me through the full stall sequence: Power off stalls, accelerated stalls, power on stalls. The power off stalls are very benign, and accelerated stalls pretty tame with no wing drop. The power on stall leads to a pretty high deck angle, but the break is clean and straight ahead.
We also did short field, soft field and cross wind landings. The Skycatcher handles cross winds quite well with two notches of flaps. I use the cross-control method, touching down on the upwind wheel first and holding it off until the plane has stopped flying. I am told that the kick-out method allows stronger crosswinds, but I am not comfortable with it.
My flight review in my Skycatcher was nearly identical to my last review in my Skyhawk, with the exception that the instructor did not fail the flight instruments when I was under the hood to simulate partial panel -- couldn't figure out how to disable the HSI in the dual display. The Skycatcher is very sensitive in roll and more so in pitch. (My friend who flies with me says it is harder to hold altitude and pitch in the Skycatcher than in his Extra 300. With my limited stick time in his plane, I'd agree.)
I am going to do some more hood work, and will see if I can do some ASR approaches (with recommended altitude callouts) at our nearby airport that supports them. The controllers are usually happy to authorize them because they have to maintain currency. I find ASR approaches to be a real confidence builder, almost as good a PAR approach.
Fly safely and often,
Dennis
Skycatcher Web Page
http://users.foxvalley.net/~dpersyk/skycatcher.htm
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