Sled and PIC advice please!

I miss flying the sled, especially empty legs out of Haines.

Don't over control her because that's a big lever back there. If you're loading a lot of cargo try and have someone guard the tail as you climb out of the tail. She bumps easily. A good headset is a must have. I honestly think the F-15 is slightly quieter than the Sled.

Also when she's fresh out of maintenance check the standby static port. If you takeoff with it pulled things on the panel act funny.

Lastly, always check the nose baggage compartment on the last flight and never, ever, put ice cream up there.
 
In response to Killbilly's question, people are taught to put the prop in on downwind because instructors are afraid the student will forget that step on short final. The practice of pushing the prop forward on downwind is akin to the rule to fly final at 15 knots above Vso that some flight schools enforce. People who believe pushing the prop forward on final is an Alaska eccentricity are mistaken.

It doesn't matter when you put the prop forward provided a) you don't wind up the engine, and b) you get the prop forward before you decide to go around.

You'd be surprised how much time you have on final to get the prop forward, even when you're flying a tight pattern.

Shoving the prop in and causing the engine to wind up is fine if you're a GA pilot (think doctor being taught to fly his new Bonanza), but the operators who get the longest life out of their IO-520s don't do it that way. I'm talking about operators who have made a living flying sleds by finding ways to minimize operating costs. They've been doing it for decades and thousands of hours, and they know how to make engines and props last. They stress smooth and easy operation of the engine. Winding up the engine on downwind doesn't fall in the smooth and easy category.
 
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alaskadrifter said:
Was hoping to get @Roger Roger ranting about Cessna :bounce:.
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wonderful way to start my morning, tagged in a thread about an airplane even a Cessna engineer called an abomination....

...no really, the guy that was in charge of Cessnas piston single line in the 70s and 80s said when they finally got the design back from the engineers they farmed out the work to, they collectively groaned at the hideous pinnochio nose that had been produced, but it was too late to change it so away it went.
 
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ASpilot2be said:
You will have fun! One of these nights we will get together and I will go over a lot of what I learned in the 207.
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Did you spend a lot of time in the sled? I thought you were in it for a fraction of a year, between stints in the right seat of the CASA and the right seat of the SAAB.
 
Granted I have a whopping 20 hours of sled time but I've been maintaining and managing maintenance on them for a couple years and these are my pilot observations:
Check and double check all the doors every time.
Don't ever let pax close the doors, even the ones who have been getting in and out of these things longer than you've been alive will invariably find ways to mangle them.
Be nice to the seats both the ones in the back and the one you sit on, they're fairly delicate and probably have 30000+ hours of getting sat on by 400 lb native ladies and tossed onto the ramp in tunganminutsack.
Always make sure all 4 feet get on the rails when you put the seats in. Leave them off and that 400 lber could destroy $800 worth of feet just like that.
Like the fox said always keep your seat stops in the rails.
Don't taxi around with the nose strut locked out and complain that it doesn't steer right or you will forever be branded as an FNG.
When the starter clutch starts slipping don't tell mx you have a bad alternator and weak battery or see above.

Alternatively just let the village agent back right into it with a truck so it can fulfill its true purpose and be made into beercans or caravans.
 
Plata said:
Did you spend a lot of time in the sled? I thought you were in it for a fraction of a year, between stints in the right seat of the CASA and the right seat of the SAAB.
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I have about 400 hours in it. In the end I think it was about 6 months in the Sled. But I sure did learn a lot.
 
Lots of good advice in here already.

Be very aware when you're at low altitude with pax, if your engine quits you will not be going very far.

Also be careful with the aft loading on cg (ie tail on the ground). Yeah, it'll fly, and sometimes you'll think it's necessary to get the job done, but think about what would happen if you lost power.

Always check your load to make sure it's secure, no matter who loads it. Same with all the doors, no matter who closes them.
 
Another thing to keep in mind, especially this time of year when it's not unheard of to pick up a little ice. It's not too uncommon to load the plane with an aft CG, and you'll sometimes see a pilot load the plane until it's on its tail and then blow the tail up to the normal position using a strong blast of wind from the prop.

So that guy is going to need lots of nose down trim throughout the flight, right? On final he's going to be pushing pretty hard to keep the nose down and the airspeed on target, right? What will happen if he's picked up ice on the tail and the tail stalls? Suddenly he has zero nose down force and he's powerless to prevent the stall. And if that happens more than about 10' off the ground the flight is going to end badly.

Out in the villages you'll often be faced with loads that will put you aft of the CG limits. Avoid the temptation to be Mr. Get-er-Done. Bump pax or bags as necessary to keep the CG approximately within the envelope.
 
Plata said:
Another thing to keep in mind, especially this time of year when it's not unheard of to pick up a little ice. It's not too uncommon to load the plane with an aft CG, and you'll sometimes see a pilot load the plane until it's on its tail and then blow the tail up to the normal position using a strong blast of wind from the prop.

So that guy is going to need lots of nose down trim throughout the flight, right? On final he's going to be pushing pretty hard to keep the nose down and the airspeed on target, right? What will happen if he's picked up ice on the tail and the tail stalls? Suddenly he has zero nose down force and he's powerless to prevent the stall. And if that happens more than about 10' off the ground the flight is going to end badly.

Out in the villages you'll often be faced with loads that will put you aft of the CG limits. Avoid the temptation to be Mr. Get-er-Done. Bump pax or bags as necessary to keep the CG approximately within the envelope.
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I loaded it onto the tail exactly once... I didn't like how the airplane was essentially neutrally stable when I did it.
 
Acrofox said:
Oh man...

The rudder has a long arm. You need it, but it's more effective than you'll initially expect.

Always check the latches on the aft half of the aft baggage door.

Put the seat pins back in when you take the seats out. Each seat.

Try to never put yourself in a position where a power failure means death. Corollary to that is that the 207 glides like a brick. Compared to the cherokee 6, it's an aerodynamic brick, but still a brick.

Rudder trim. Elevator trim. Use them early, use them often.

They're great airplanes. I have all the respect in the world for them...

... and yet unlike the caravan, If I never fly one again, that'll be A-OK by me. :>

Oh, bonus tip! GET A GOOD HEADSET.

Also, the most important tip I have for you, and this is related to the PIC side of AK flying:

Just because you can doesn't mean you should; just because the airplane can doesn't mean you should. Just because someone else did doesn't mean you should; just because someone else said doesn't mean you should. Just because someone else made it doesn't mean you will.

-Fox
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Hey, you forgot... just because someone tries to fly one in formation doesn't mean you should, especially on long final. ;)
 
So, it's been nearly 6 years since I've flown a 200 series Cessna, but something else to think about. Get a hand-held GPS or iPad for "survival guidance." Remember that when flying the sled, your ability to see over the nose in the flare will be wildly related to the age of the installed seats, the vintage of the 207, and your height, for me, I basically could never see over the nose except for the ones we had that were 207As. As someone else mentioned, wait to push the prop forward until you're off the governor, another technique that I routinely used when loaded heavily and would be on the governor until short final was to just slowly work the prop to high in quarter turns over the course of a couple minutes, the pax will likely never even notice the change. Gentle power changes are in your best interest - personally, I would work the power out at about 1" or so per minute until around 18 to 20" or so, then be a little more liberal with power changes.

You a hageland guy or a grant guy? I can't remember.
 
ppragman said:
So, it's been nearly 6 years since I've flown a 200 series Cessna, but something else to think about. Get a hand-held GPS or iPad for "survival guidance." Remember that when flying the sled, your ability to see over the nose in the flare will be wildly related to the age of the installed seats, the vintage of the 207, and your height, for me, I basically could never see over the nose except for the ones we had that were 207As. As someone else mentioned, wait to push the prop forward until you're off the governor, another technique that I routinely used when loaded heavily and would be on the governor until short final was to just slowly work the prop to high in quarter turns over the course of a couple minutes, the pax will likely never even notice the change. Gentle power changes are in your best interest - personally, I would work the power out at about 1" or so per minute until around 18 to 20" or so, then be a little more liberal with power changes.

You a hageland guy or a grant guy? I can't remember.
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Team Green and Gold!
 
Plata said:
In response to Killbilly's question, people are taught to put the prop in on downwind because instructors are afraid the student will forget that step on short final. The practice of pushing the prop forward on downwind is akin to the rule to fly final at 15 knots above Vso that some flight schools enforce. People who believe pushing the prop forward on final is an Alaska eccentricity are mistaken.
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Non that I know what a sled is...

My Viking has a io520K, the K red lines at 2,850rpm. Prop full forward on downwind makes a heck of a lot of noise. I save the prop until short final when I do the last gumps check. Not only is it a lot quieter I also find going flat on the three bladed prop crossing the lights gives me a little more drag at just the right time.
 
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