Return to Dalton

After a few more (non-blogged) test flights, I felt like I had a pretty good handle on the new plane and its various systems. I've still got more to learn to optimizer performance, but I thought it was time to come home.

The return flight was funny in a way, because I barely turned the plane from the time I lined up on the runway at Cape Girardeau and the time I landed in Dalton. The Cape runway was on a heading of 100 degrees (ESE). The Dalton runway is on a heading of 140 degrees (SE), and it's almost a straight line from one to the other, mostly on a diagonal across Tennessee.

The Commander is faster than the Skylane I left behind, so the trip was shorter too. I didn't get her up to full cruising speed as I'm still learning how to optimize the balance between throttle, prop, trim, etc., but while the Skylane flight took about two and a half hours, the flight back to Dalton was over in two hours flat! Here I am crossing the ridge at Rocky Face, with I-75 below me (Dalton right in front of me):

I don't think I had actually put my gear down yet, but in replay mode it seemed to leave the gear down (since that's how the plane was configured at the end of the flight). If that is a persistent problem, I'm going to have to pause mid-flight to take pictures rather than rely so much on the replay. Anyway, it was good to see the Dalton airport again:
Landing was a bit left of center, but otherwise pretty smooth:
Back at the fuel pumps to top off for the next flight:
I haven't installed it yet, but I've purchased a 4-dvd set from FSGenesis that's a North American terrain mesh upgrade for FSX. It basically increases the resolution of the terrain or elevation data so the mountains are more detailed and realistic.

Before I install it, I'm going to use the Commander to do some recon in the area, Fort Mountain, back to Rocky Face, etc. and take a bunch of pictures with mountains in the background. Then after the install, I'll go back and try to reproduce those shots to see how much difference you can tell. Look for some upcoming posts on that.