Columbia 400 Flying...

[Mtts422]

Had the chance to pick up a Columbia 400 at the factory in Bend, OR and fly if back to Los Angeles today. I fly around in the Columbia 350 everyday, but this was my first experience with the twin turbo'd 400. We blasted off from Bend and headed towards South Lake Tahoe (TVL) where we stopped for lunch and a little gas. From there it was up to FL230 and off to John Wayne (SNA). It's a pretty cool experience to be blowing through FL200 at 1300 fpm in a single engine piston!

As conceded as it sounds I'm going to have a tough time getting back into the 350 tomorrow!


Disclaimer: These were all taken with a little point and shoot Olympus digital, certainly no CitationKidesque photos in this thread.

Enjoy!



Our ride for the day


Factory flight line


One of the "three sisters" with Mt. Hood in the background (I think?)


Coming in over Lake Tahoe


Me and the bird at TVL


Climbing out of TVL w/ some thunder heads off to the east


Level at 230


Blurry view of the MFD

[bLizZuE]

damn.

[USMC-SGT]

you have to love a piston single with a TAS that is 40 knots more than most light piston twins

[killbilly]

they don't cost a hell of a lot more than most Cirruses (cirri?) either. But I never hear people talking about them too much. I think this is the first reference to a Columbia I've seen in a year.

The thing I like is that they are so FAST and fixed-gear. Insurance companies like fixed gear, apparently.

[roundout]

you only go 219@FL230? :-P

[jonnyb]

You have to wear O2 in that thing the whole time at altitude or is it pressurized?

[E6BAV8R]

Awesome plane there. I've been wanting to fly one for ages. What allows you to do the ferry flights, or do you just know the owner?

[BuickCFI]

Originally Posted by jonnyb

You have to wear O2 in that thing the whole time at altitude or is it pressurized?

i think they are pressurized. at least the door seals are i heard from a friend who has flown in one.

i love the fact that it is at 149 indicated and 219 true :smokin:

[WindyCityPilot]

From what I've read they are not pressurized so that means suckin' on the O2 mask the entire time.

[Okie_Pilot]

I guess this is just one heck of an aircraft. I don't think this has been posted yet.....

Eric Tucker (Sean D. Tucker's son) in a Columbia 400.....doing aerobatics..







--Okie_Pilot

[taseal]

the doors seal, but its not to pressurize the plane

[jonnyb]

Originally Posted by WindyCityPilot

From what I've read they are not pressurized so that means suckin' on the O2 mask the entire time.

That sucks, especially for an airplane that's designed to fly in the flight levels. Whatever, it's still a killer little airplane.

[MFT1Air]

Must've been the non A/C 400 too!

[Mtts422]

You have to wear O2 in that thing the whole time at altitude or is it pressurized?

Had 02 on when we were up at altitude. It's not ideal but you can buy some pretty sweet setups that make it a lot more comfortable to have on. There are three tanks installed under the pilot's seat with a refill port in the aft baggage. The G1000 monitors and meters everything for you. Just punch the Oxygen softkey and your on 02.

When Lance designed the a/c he did it with the intention of the 400 eventually being pressurized, my guess is we'll see it, no clue when though.

Awesome plane there. I've been wanting to fly one for ages. What allows you to do the ferry flights, or do you just know the owner?

Good friend sells them for a dealer in Texas and this is his new demo airplane. He asked if I wanted to come along and hop off in LA before he took it back Houston, I said hell yes! Like I said I fly the Columbia 350 pretty much daily for my job, but having the opportunity to take the 400 on a real cross country was a blast. If you ever get the chance to get up in one drop everything and go!

i think they are pressurized. at least the door seals are i heard from a friend who has flown in one.

We do have door seals, but their only function is to keep down noise and vibration.

Must've been the non A/C 400 too!

Nope! We had a/c, best feature in the airplane!

[aloft]

Don't you have to have a pressure-feed O2 system above FL180?

Also the URL for Tucker's training school mentioned in the clip is:

http://www.tutimaacademy.com/

[secretapproach]

Originally Posted by Okie_Pilot

I guess this is just one heck of an aircraft. I don't think this has been posted yet.....

Eric Tucker (Sean D. Tucker's son) in a Columbia 400.....doing aerobatics..




--Okie_Pilot

Um...so the announcer went on and on about how the airplane is not certified for aerobatics but they did them anyway. Did anyone else find that odd? Did that plane have to go in for structural inspection after the unauthorized aerobatics?

[jonnyb]

Did anyone else find that odd? Did that plane have to go in for structural inspection after the unauthorized aerobatics?

Um, no and no.

[Mtts422]

Um...so the announcer went on and on about how the airplane is not certified for aerobatics but they did them anyway. Did anyone else find that odd? Did that plane have to go in for structural inspection after the unauthorized aerobatics?

Just slap a big experimental sticker on it and your good to go.

The airplane is more than capable of handling the loads, it's certified in the utility class. When they did the G-load testing during the certification process the wing broke the testing jig.