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Well, for the first time since it became 122LL, my new (to me) LNC2 -
previously owned by Robert Fair and then butchered by Continental and their
lovely FADEC program - flew for the first time on Sunday! Peter Stiles took
her up for a 1.3 hour test hop with the new standard configuration IO-550
under the cowl. It killed me not to be there!
I arrived in Bend early Monday morning and we spent the better part of the
day addressing various squawks you'd expect from a "first" flight. By 3 p.m
we had everything addressed and I jumped in the left seat for my first ever
flight in a Legacy. Yep, I bought it without ever flying one after talking to a
few folks and recognizing that a Garrett IV-P is just a scosh out of my price
range! <sigh>
Anyway, I flew the entire first flight with a grin on my face and after some
pattern work retired her at sundown to the hangar with a few new squawks.
The plane not only met my expectations, but exceeded them! I fly some
relatively high performance civilian warbird and aerobatic stuff - this airplane
is definitely the most responsive plane I have ever had the honor of flying!
Pete and I flew again on Tuesday morning, replaced the squat switch, and I
loaded her up for the flight back to SoCal. I left after lunch, with the
appropriate good bye departure and headed down the road to conduct some
business at Klamath Falls/Kingsley Field with a contractor for the ANG 173d.
I got airborne about 30 mintues before sunset and had the priviledge of
flying behind Mt. Shasta to the setting sun with a picture perfect sunset!
Two and a half hours later I had covered the 550 nm and landed back in
Chino with the obligatory overhead approach....I couldn't get her slowed
down to under 180 kts after a slam dunk approach! LOL! Seeing as how I'm
a SoCal native, it seems only fitting to remark "bitchin' airplane, dude, just
bitchin'!"
Thanks to Mike Custard and his crew at Advanced Aviation for all their
beautiful body work, consulting, and de-squawking, Aaron for his patience
after Continetal butchered the wiring in the plane so bad he had to start from
scratch - WITHOUT a schematic, Tom Conners for the best paint job I've ever
seen, Peter Stiles for the professional yet practical checkout, and Bob Fair for
being a standup guy even when Continental was not!
Tomorrow it's off to Phoenix (DVT) for a weekend of formation and fighting in
the Yaks and CJ-6's...but I'll be comin' and goin' in my new little rocket ship!
Cheers,
Barry
122 LL (5.5 hours!)
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