Pilot Report:
Well I was kind of anxious to fly a new plane and see what it was made of. Particularly this near stock 840. I picked her up from SPA. There I met the owner and discovered they first had a Shrike. That Shrike happened to be N1BK which is now 535SA and which I recently photographed in Idaho. Small world as always.
We topped the airplane, took the retirement photos and said goodbyes to both the pilot and owner. Although it had been a few months since the plane last flew, preflight was uneventful, fluids, nitrogen and oxygen systems tight. I climbed to FL250 in 18 min where it then returned better than book numbers all around. It was so smooth and quiet I forgot the prop sync for about 30 min! ISA +10 it’s a 270 KTAS plane with 2700 lbs of fuel indicated on 200pph/side so 280 Knots at standard temps. Gotta love it.
With a great radar and XM on my 796, the only things I noticed missing were traffic and GPSS. And I think it lacks an intercom which is a bit silly in a plane of this class. I at least like to hear myself when I talk to myself
Cabin environmental was perfect with the Freon air on the hot ramp and a steady 10,000’ cabin altitude at FL280.
The plane is centrally located in Peoria. With a few hours in the bird and the minor discrepancies noted, I can now feel good about a plan to move it to the next owner along with any upgrades they may wish to add.
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N5955K
