Page 43 - Volume 15 Number 8

the weight down. Bare metal and an un-upholstered overhead is the order of the day; there’s no speaker, so headsets are the only means of access to the radio. Better keep a second headset handy if yours goes bad. The doors have fore and aft latches to be checked for security, although the single-lever latch system works easily and positively.
The control sticks are proprietary and take a little getting used to. Not only does the pilot have to fly left- handed, the ailerons are controlled with a sideways sliding movement, rather than rocking. Pitch control is normal, done by pulling the stick in and out of the panel. Not being floor mounted, the stick’s grip is inconvenient for resting an arm on one’s knee. In flight, however, it accommodated itself to our needs fairly quickly. The central pedestal contains the flap handle, fuel shutoff, mixture, throttle and carb heat. No glove box is provided, but there’s a catchall bin under the engine controls.
Starting is normal; avionics off, beacon on, pump the throttle twice to get accelerator pump fuel and twist the key. Idle at 800 rpm, verify oil pressure and flip on the avionics master. The Garmin G300 lights up and goes through its self-test; most Skycatchers will have dual screens, rather sharing the standard single one. With the dual system, the primary display has all of the flight instruments, while the central multi- function does a better job of showing engine instruments and navigation information. Frequencies can be called up on the MFD and auto- entered to the SL30 transceiver’s standby position. Natalie expertly obtained the ATIS and negotiated with clearance delivery for our request, then ground control was contacted for taxi instructions.
Taxiing was not difficult, although the brake angle seemed a bit flat for my arthritic foot movements. There’s enough air over the rudder to steer without brakes as long as
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