Granted, I've never been good at focusing on such a mundane task as grilling, but I was especially taxed when up rolled a new Cessna Corvalis 400. Wow! Even my partner, who's not much of an aviation enthusiast, leaned over and whispered "What is that?" "The Hot new Cessna", I replied. "What's it cost?" he asked. I shrugged, "Don't know, but I bet it's more than our mortgage."
Flame-broiling the last well-done burger to death, I finally escaped my spatula and sauntered over to the 400. Named after a town in Oregon close to where it's built, the Corvalis reminds me of the similar sounding Corvette muscle car- smart, well designed and FAST! It looks like it's moving even with the engine off and wheels chocked.
My friend asked me if I'd be available to fly it back to it's home base in Southern Maine with him once the day was over. "Uhhhh, OK!", I stuttered. Now granted, I've flown a lot of airplanes, but this one was a bit out of my league. I'd humbly ask for LOTS of help and plead the fifth should things get away from me. Sitting in it for a few minutes I felt like I was in the starship enterprise and god forbid Kirk ask me details. The only thing familiar was the throttle, prop and mixture levers.
As the day wound down, my heartbeat began to increase as I looked forward to our short flight to Portland. My friend walked me through the preflight, and then he chucked me the keys, "She's all yours!". "Thanks Dad!" I joked. If only that were true! Continuing the fantasy that in fact the magnificent machine was mine, I carefully lowered myself into the amazingly comfortable seats. You could sit comfortably for HOURS (perhaps DAYS!) in these plush seats and very quickly I realized why folks would be willing to part with a lot of cash for such a beast. This epitomized ergonomic comfort, period.
Going by the checklist, we started up the engine and avionics (Garmin 430 and 530 folks will have little trouble transitioning to the G1000) and soon we were taxiing our way to the active runway using differential braking and a castering nosewheel.
The runup was easy, and I was introduced to the "Rudder Hold" button which saves your right hamstrings on climbout once you've rotated to counteract all that P-factor and torque from the TSIO-550 up front. Once positioned we slowly advanced the throttle and AWAY we went. Liftoff was easy with the comfortable sidestick and with the flight director on and pointed to PWM it was as easy as flying a videogame (in fact my 7 year old son probably would have been much smoother than I was!) Visibility outside is amazing as well, and in 20 short minutes we were on final approach for Portland, over the numbers at 90 knots and landing was a non-event. Speed brakes were a welcome addition to this fast wing and needed to get to the first notch of flaps.
Taxiing the plane to the tiedowns, I can see why Cessna bought out Columbia who originally designed the 400 TT. Not only was it a quick way to eat the competition, but this airplane is going to make a LOT of future customers happy. I suspect Cessna's also banking on it being a stepping stone to another product of theirs that also shares a name with a popular car model. You guessed it, the venerable MUSTANG! Now I don't have a friend who owns one of those, but who knows? There are always more BBQ's and someone's got to fly it to talk it up to the folks whose mortgages and wallets are bigger than mine! I guess being an extrovert, even with a spatula, has it's perks.
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