Monday, January 25, 2010

Sebring Day Three: Fog, Sun, Wind, Clouds

The day started at 6 with a drive up to the airport in the fog. I sat with Jim Koepnick and friends, waiting for the fog to lift for our 7 a.m. shoot with the PiperSport.
Never happened.
Jim's the long-time head of EAA's photo department: if you've seen some of the zillions of gorgeous photos filling their publications over the last couple decades or so, you've seen his top-notch work.
Jim and EAA editor Mary Jones were gracious enough to offer me a seat in their Cessna 210 photo ship, and we'll try again tomorrow morning.
The sun finally broke out, bringing the wind and puffy scud clouds.
Piper's long-time unsung hero Bart Jones, with whom I've flown countless photo missions over the years (along with P&P's veteran Senior Ed. Bill Cox), took me up for a demo flight in the lovely new PiperSport.
What a treat!
We're running the story in the next issue but here's a couple highlights:
* a delight to fly
* beautifully appointed inside and out
* lands like a dream.
* Excellent toe-brake pedal plates make castering nosewheel system easily controllable.
* Hops off the ground and lands at very low speeds.

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