Lawson’s 1979 Cessna 310R, which he purchased in October 2019.
“I love airplanes. Two things have always impressed me since I was a kid: planes and fire trucks. I have always looked to the sky, to planes flying overhead. Now I’m a firefighter and a pilot,” advised Sean Lawson, a Cessna 310R owner commonly known as The Fire Pilot.
Lawson thought he could never fly because he “grew up humbly” and did not have the disposable income to direct towards flight training. But once he began a career of his own, now a lieutenant with a paid fire department and as the owner of an online public safety equipment distributor, Lawson could finally take to the skies.
His first flight lesson, while only an hour long, reassured him that he could fly. He purchased a Cessna 150 shortly after his introductory flight lesson, the first of the three aircraft he has owned. Now, he’s instrument and multi-engine rated, but the Fire Pilot’s early aviation days in the 100-horsepower two-seater piston affirmed his love for flight. And he quickly learned flying was more than just a method of getting around. It is a way that he could foster connections with those that he cares for.
“What is so important to me about flying is that we are only on this earth for a short time. When people say airplanes are time machines, they are right, and it’s amazing. But to me and my family, our airplane allows us to do things and compress time so that I can see them. On social media, the tagline I say is, ‘Aviation is not about the planes, the engine, the speed, the altitude, or any of those performance things. It’s about people and connecting with them,” he said.
Aviation allowed Lawson to connect with loved ones during a critical time.
“My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago. Flying allowed me to see her easily and enjoy our last days with her. Mom died back in March, and had it not been for aviation and owning this aircraft, those precious moments I spent with her would have been impossible. That’s what this is all about. It’s about connecting people with people in a manner that this world otherwise sometimes prevents.”
The connection with others made Lawson transition from the Cessna 150 into something more capable. He explained that his typical mission is leisure-driven, routinely loading the airplane with his family and heading south to the Sunshine State for multi-day stretches.
“I flew my Cessna 150 throughout Kentucky and had a great time flying it. But I wanted a family airplane, so we looked around. I ultimately settled on a Piper Arrow, a PA-28R-201, with a 200-horsepower engine and a retractable landing gear. So, it wasn’t a high-performance airplane, but it was complex. It was a great airplane that I learned a lot in!”
One of Lawson’s key learning moments in the aircraft came during the start of a routine flight back home after a brief vacation. The experience made him wonder whether the Arrow was the best airplane for his mission.
“We took the airplane to Tampa for a weekend to meet a buddy who happened to be down there. Five hours with no autopilot [was not ideal], and we were consistently operating at the maximum performance envelope of that aircraft. The airplane was at max gross [takeoff weight] with my wife, myself, our son, and our luggage with full fuel on board. Leaving Albert Whitted Airport (KSPG) on the hot Florida summer day was probably the most scared I’ve been in my aviation journey to date,” he began.
“I was beyond where I could safely stop. I was probably 75 percent of the way down the runway and was probably, I don’t know, 30 knots from rotate speed. It scared me. Luckily, God was on my side that day, and somehow, those wheels left the ground. That was an eye-opener. If we were to have a family aircraft, I needed one where our normal mission does not regularly put us operating at its maximum performance.”
So, after deciding that the Arrow was not the best aircraft for his mission, he began looking for other options. He chose two well-known twins as top contenders – a Beechcraft and a Cessna.
“My mom and dad lived in Eastern Kentucky, in the Appalachian Mountains, and part of aviation so far to that point for me was flying to see them. I wanted to keep doing that, but I considered making that trip. I didn’t want to look for a place to land if an engine went out without having another engine to give me an added safety factor. I started researching different airplanes and looked at other YouTube channels that were out there about flying twins. The cost of acquisition for a twin was acceptable. I started looking at Barons versus 310s and thought that the Barons have a bit of a premium, just for the name. I was also seeing some performance characteristics of the 310 that superseded those of the Baron 58P. That model was also more expensive, which made no sense to me.”
“My A&P also had a 310, which gave me a good feel for the plane. So, I went further down the rabbit hole of the 310 and found a hidden gem of one up in Wisconsin. After a lot of research, I realized that the ‘R’ model was the best overall performing and the biggest. It was exactly what we were looking for.”
The Fire Pilot purchased his 1979 Cessna 310R (serial number 1667) in October of 2019. His first hour of multi-engine time was in the aircraft from Madison, Wisconsin, where he purchased the plane, to central Kentucky. Shortly into his training, Lawson learned that flying the 310 was quite different from the Arrow he had flown for several years prior. The power and speed were the most the most exciting aspects to learn.
“Right away, I knew that I was hooked. My other two aircraft wouldn’t put you back in the seat [when taking off]. That 310 lets you know there is some power there,” Lawson explained.
“Insurance required that I fly fifteen hours dual in the aircraft. I completed this requirement quickly, in a week or so, but I didn’t simply want to meet the minimum proficiency. I wanted to be good. If you don’t know what to do in a high-performance twin and something goes wrong, it will kill you. Shortly after purchasing this plane, we aspired to fly to The Bahamas. But I wanted to know my airplane [before taking long trips]. I completed an owner-assisted annual and did other things to become acquainted with it, such as reading the POH as thoroughly as possible. Then I just started flying it. That was the ticket; I would fly it with my CFI, skilled friends who are also pilots, and by myself. I wanted to be good in this aircraft, know its systems and intricacies – so that if something did go bad or I needed something to perform as I needed it to, I had the needed proficiency.”
More than half of Lawson’s logged flight time is in the 44-year-old twin, which he flies roughly 100 to 125 hours per year. He’s also learned some lessons along the way – lessons he’s happy to share with others.
“The hardest thing about stepping up to a twin, even from a retractable plane, was how to slow the plane down! You are transitioning roughly from 200 knots to an approach speed of 120-ish. You must do that relatively quickly if you are in a busy terminal environment. The one thing that I missed in my POH is that I could extend the first notch of flaps at about 158 knots. I expected it at my gear speed, which is 139. And getting that thing to slow down that much is a challenging task. You can go back to idle, and it will take you twenty miles to get that slow, and I had done that forever until I realized the flap extension speed.”
Lawson continued, “I was ignorant in my overall assessment of the cost of ownership. I bought the aircraft during Covid when fuel prices were low. I thought filling up for $2.76 a gallon was great. We could fly wherever, whenever, at that fuel price. Now, prices are almost three times that amount, so operating costs were something that I underestimated slightly. At max performance, the fuel burn is about 16 gallons per hour per side. Thirty-two gallons per hour is thirsty, but when flying at 8,000 to 12,000 feet, I’ll get a speed of around 190 knots, true. You can cover some distance at that speed; you will see endurance of four hours and some change, plus your reserves. I can be in Miami without stopping for fuel, and I have done that mission before. The Cessna 310 is an amazing aircraft.”
You can find Lawson’s adventures on the YouTube channel @TheFirePilot.