Flight Time–Alto NG Checkout

After flying the Alto NG once, I knew that I would need to get checked out in it. Voyager's insurance policy requires five hours of flight time with an instructor before they can rent the plane. With 0.9 hours already in my logbook, I scheduled my first checkout flight for June 23.

Voyager Aviation's Alto NG at Merritt Island Airport

June 23 - Checkout Flight 1

For this flight, we left the traffic pattern and flew to the practice area. Taylor had me demonstrate a power off stall. This is a good way to feel what the plane will do when approaching a stall during an approach to land. With that out of the way, we returned to the traffic pattern. My first landing was a power off 180. This simulates losing power and gliding to a precise spot for landing. Then I did a no-flaps landing, which you may have guessed, simulates a landing when the flaps are not available. I did a few more normal landings before wrapping up for the day.

June 24 - Checkout Flight 2

For this flight, we did a short cross-country flight to Arthur Dunn Airport (X21), where I landed, taxied back, then took off. We then returned to Merritt Island Airport and did some touch-and-goes.

June 26 - Checkout Flight 3

For this flight, we departed the traffic pattern to the west and tested all of the autopilot modes. I also tried changing a few things on the Dynon display, but it was not obvious what to do. For example, the map screen was showing in night mode on my screen, but day mode on Taylor's screen. I tried to change mine to day mode, but I couldn't figure out which menu to select. At this point, I decided that Dynon displays should only be used in "toy" planes built by amateurs, not in manufactured planes. It is more of an engineering tool than a flight instrument. Clearly, I prefer the Garmin G3X. On a side note, the Garmin G3X is very well modeled in Microsoft Flight Simulator, so I can practice using it at home. There is no trainer available for the Dynon.

Back at Merritt Island, I did a short field landing and a few more normal landings before calling it a day.

July 7 - Checkout Flight 4

Today, I flew my final checkout flight. Over a week has passed since my last flight. Susan and I spent last week in Virginia with her family. I considered flying while in Virginia, but the weather was bad the first few days, and the rental prices in Richmond are pretty outrageous.

For this flight, we departed the traffic pattern and flew south before turning back to enter the pattern. The airport was landing on Runway 29, so I wanted to see an approach from this direction. On my first attempt to land, a plane was on the runway, so I did a go around. The next three approaches were off a little at first, and I didn't know why. Then we realized that the wind was a direct crosswind. This was causing the base leg to be faster than normal, which resulted in me being a little too high on final approach. Also, the lack of a headwind caused our ground speed to be faster, which reduced the amount of time available for descent. Once we figured this out, the remaining approaches became much better.

I now have over five hours in the Alto NG, so I can reserve it without an instructor. I have reserved it for Saturday morning. There is an airshow over Cocoa Beach at noon on Saturday, so I may have to deal with a Temporary Flight Restriction or cancel the flight entirely. We'll see.

The flight tracks are shown below. NOTE: I didn’t have Foreflight set up to receive location data from the GPS during the first three flights, so there are only flight tracks from the last two flights. Also, something is missing from the last track. I know we did some circling to avoid traffic, but I don't see it on the track. The track says the flight was only 45 minutes. I'm thinking it stopped recording after one of my touch-and-goes.

Checkout Flight 3

Checkout Flight 4

Flight Time: 4.6 hours
Total Time: 745 hours