Flying the Cessna jet

As we climbed out from the Idaho Falls Regional Airport and turned to a heading of 131 degrees, Jason asked me if I wanted to take the controls as we climbed toward our planned altitude of 37,000 feet. I said yes and took the controls of the Cessna C510 Mustang. We could have been on autopilot but Jason knew that I'd like to get the feel of the jet as we climbed into thinner and thinner air.

We were fairly light. We had full fuel but little baggage and no passengers in the back. The sun was setting and could not be seen behind cloud layer off to the southwest. It was a beautiful evening with smooth air and light, thin widely scattered cloud wisps. A perfect evening for flying.

Watching the sunset upon takeoff from Idaho Falls, Idaho.
(Click any photo to enlarge it.)

The Mustang was a mechanical and electronic marvel. (Ask Google to show you photos of Cessna Mustangs.) It had very few switches on the panel and it had three large Garmin G1000 screens--a Primary Flight Display (PFD) on each side and a slightly larger Multifunction Display (MFD) in the center. Other than during takeoff and landing, the autopilot flew the plane based on instructions given to it by the pilot; an amazing amount of high tech automation.

The Cessna Mustang has a three-screen Garmin G1000 navigation
system (PFD screen on the left, MFD at center and PFD on the right) and
a fairly small number of fairly simple switches.

Our flight began in Dalhart, Texas at 5:13 PM CT Tuesday October 1, 2013. Jason had asked me at 1:00 PM if I wanted to fly co-pilot with him for a flight from Dalhart, Texas to Idaho Falls, Idaho and back to Dalhart, both flights that same evening. I cleared my calendar, drove to Dalhart and was ready to take off at 4 PM. The plane was ready to go and Jason was just waiting for his four passengers to arrive at the Dalhart airport. The line attendant had just sucked 30 gallons of fuel (about 200 pounds) from the tanks to account for my presence. (Full fuel, full seats and a full baggage compartment can overload the plane. The pilot must calculate and make adjustments for all weights before takeoff.)

More than you may want to know - The Cessna Mustang Specification and Description sheet states that the aircraft holds 2580 pounds of fuel and that fuel weighs 6.7 pounds per gallon. The spec sheet, however, never states the Mustang's fuel capacity in gallons. We can calculate the fuel capacity in gallons as follows: 2580 pounds divided by 6.7 lbs/gal equals 385 gallons. The pilot can use the spec sheet numbers to make precise calculation, but, can use the following numbers to make quick fuel calculations: "full fuel equals 400 gallons of fuel, and, 15 gallons of fuel weighs 100 pounds." When Jason confirmed that I would be his copilot, he assumed that I weighed 200 pounds and, therefore, asked the airport's fuel service attendant, to remove 30 gallons of fuel from the tanks.

Cessna Mustang parked on the tarmac in Dalhart

waiting for the four passengers to arrive.

When the four passengers arrived, they boarded the plane and sat in the cabin. I got into the right front seat, Jason removed the engine covers and walked around the plane and then Jason came aboard and closed the cabin door. In a very few minutes, he started the engines, taxied out to runway 35, informed anyone listening to unicom that were about to take flight and then he taxied onto the runway.

Lined up on runway 35, Jason held the brakes and added full power. After about seven seconds, he released the brake and off we went--V1, rotate and climb out at about 170 knots. Quite a thrill to watch all the instruments and gauges move as the ground fell away and we altered course to about 325 degrees--a direct line to Idaho Falls. Jason told unicom that we were out of there to the northwest and then he called Albuquerque Center and told them that we were off.

In the the cabin section of the Cessna Mustang,

four passengers check the view of Dalhart

disappearing to the right rear.

At about 200 feet above the ground, Jason flipped on the autopilot and set the destination altitude to 18,000 feet. After reaching 18,000 and getting cleared to 28,000 he set the new altitude and we continued higher until step by step ATC clearances got us to 36,000 feet where we leveled off and prepared for more than an hour of straight, level, scenic flight.

For an hour, Jason and I discussed the G1000, pressurization, power settings, deicing, TCAS, radar, flap settings and more. We also watched the world slide by below us--Texas farms, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak, Denver, Cripple Creek, Interstate Highway 70, Aspen, Wyoming, Idaho and more. We also watched aircraft fly above, below and beside us. Never a dull moment.

Don't waste too much time looking for this Southwest Airlines Boeing 737

that passed us on its way to Chicago or some other point north and east of us.

At a point called top of descent, ATC told us that we could begin our decent toward the Idaho Falls airport. (Jason had told the autopilot to establish a 3 degree descent that would define a straight line from our 36,000 feet MSL cruise altitude to a point 1,000 feet above the surface of the Idaho Falls airport.) We descended on our imaginary line to pattern altitude, entered a left downwind for runway 24, dropped some flaps, dropped the gear and, after one more left turn, lined up on final for runway 24.

On final approach to runway 24 at Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Jason landed (a textbook landing), taxied to the FBO and dropped off our passengers after their two hour, quiet, smooth, uneventful flight from Dalhart. It took about 15 minutes for the line attendants to add fuel, and, after pit stops and trips to the Coke machine, we were ready to say goodbye to Idaho Falls.

Taking on fuel at sunset in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

After refueling and buttoning up the plane, I taxied out to runway 24 and Jason took off. Before we reached 37,000 feet MSL, all was dark except for the cities and towns twinkling near and far below us, periodic white and red strobe lights passing us in the distance left and right, high and low and the glow of the G1000 brightly showing us what was going on inside the brain of this sleek, beautiful Cessna Mustang. What a ride!

ed RW