Our new SR22.

It’s heeeeere!

Nearly three long months after signing the deal, my partners and I have finally picked up our shiny new(-ish) Cirrus SR22 in Duluth. Yippee! Taking delivery of an airplane was a new experience for me, and VERY exciting.

The first look at our airplane in its pristine hangar at Cirrus was almost shocking — it looked SO good, with its gleaming new paint and fresh graphics! In fact, I may have actually jumped up and down and clapped my hands. (OK, I admit it, that’s exactly what I did.)

In the end, we spent a bit more time in Duluth than we had planned, as there was a checklist of items we requested be changed or fixed. We were willing to wait for the fixes… in fact, none of us was actually willing to leave Duluth without the airplane. After a night on the town and the next day spent waiting in the customer lounge… our plane was finally ready to go home to Chicago.

Did I mention… Yippee!

The weather in Tampa last week was beautiful, not that I had much time to experience it. I was busy manning my booth at the AOPA Aviation Summit. Here are the show highlights from my perspective:

AOPA Live: I was interviewed by Rod Rakic, founder of MyTransponder.com, on the subject of social media in business, which was streamed live over the internet. I was nervous (after all, there could have been tens of people watching!), but I think I managed to conduct myself somewhat respectably. Special thanks to Rob Mark for watching my booth while I was on the couch.

Our booth at the AOPA Aviation Summit.

Traffic: Other exhibitors reported that traffic was down from past years. It was my first year so I had nothing to compare it with, but I thought the traffic was great on Days 1 and 2 — I collected many names for my newsletter. Day 3 was quiet and very slow… you could have taxied a Cessna down our aisle and not hit a soul.

The happy couple (photo from AOPA.org).

Marriage: I didn’t see the nuptials myself, but Twitterland was all abuzz when Glenn Plymate and Irene Bolam decided to get hitched at Airport fest.

Herb Sloane of the Flying Octogenarians.

The Flying Octogenarians: Are you 95 and still flying, like Herb Sloane, above? Well then God bless ya!

I recently joined the 99s – an international organization of women pilots that was started back in 1929 — and last weekend I found myself at my first get-together with the group: the Chicago Area Chapter 61st Annual Air Meet. (Yes, you read that right: they’ve been doing this air meet for SIXTY-ONE years. Some of the ladies in the chapter are celebrating 50 years in the organization!)

It’s kind of pathetic to DRIVE to a fly-in (I couldn’t get a plane), but at least the roads were smooth sailing from Chicago to Dekalb.  When I got to the airport, several pilots were busy planning their flights for the air derby, a three-leg cross country trek that has nothing to do with speed and everything to do with accuracy… to win, the pilot must accurately plan and predict fuel usage and time en route. Congrats to Joan Kerwin and her son for their first place finish (”They always win,” I was told).

(Almost) on the line.

I volunteered to judge the Spot Landing contest, which, ahem, is evidently harder than it looks. No one actually hit the line, but the winner, Maggie Donovan, was within 66 feet — and it was a pretty landing at that. Congrats!

Even though I was “grounded,”  a day spent at a beautiful airport on a beautiful day is always a good time, and I had a great day with some very, very nice people.  To learn more about this organization –which sponsors scholarships and provides a network for woman in aviation —  check out their website at www.ninety-nines.org.

Today I am celebrating, because yesterday I signed an order for a 2006 Cirrus SR22 (yippee!). It’s my first aircraft purchase, although I started looking for a Cirrus back in 2007 (before the bottom dropped out of the market… I’m sure glad I waited!).

Now is an excellent time to buy (if you happen to still have a job and some financial stability, that is). There is a good supply of used aircraft, including repossessed high-end planes, like the one I got from Cirrus.

This isn’t a full checklist for aircraft ownership (check out AOPA for that), but just a few tips and observations from my own experience. I am sure I will have more to share on this topic later, when we actually GET the airplane (October 21).

1. Partner wisely and communicate: Partnerships allow you to get into an airplane you couldn’t otherwise afford. And if one pilot plans to be a weekend flyer and the other flies for business, it’s really an ideal situation… but what if all partners want the plane for weekend trips? Be sure to talk about things like scheduling and maintenance philosophies in advance.

2. Leave no stone unturned: Don’t just browse Controller.com in your search. Be proactive in talking to dealers, so that you can be the first to learn of new planes on the market. Also check out the repossessed airplanes on the market at sites like www.irggroup.com. Many of those planes have spotty logbooks which scared me away, but someone with a more mechanical mindset might find the perfect project airplane there.

3. Be flexible: I have two partners in my plane. In any partnership, each member is likely to have different priorities. Choose what’s important to you, and be flexible in the areas that are less important. It also helps if your partners share that same attitude (mine do, which is why the deal finally got done).

4. Be persistent: Buying an airplane is really hard, especially when one of your criteria is to get a ridiculously good deal. Good deals take work. You may lose a couple of planes in the process, but don’t get hung up on one particular airplane. There are many fish in the sea — be willing to keep looking for the best one at your price point.

This is where I would like to insert a photo of my new airplane, but truth be told, I don’t have one. I haven’t even seen the airplane yet. I do know it was an air taxi and needs a little TLC before it’s ready for its happy new owners. It’s going to get new paint and graphics, new Avidyne screens, a WAAS upgrade, and a whole new engine. It will be ready in October. That leads to my last tip… be patient.

After two days at my very first Oshkosh Airventure I am blown away. It’s the world’s happiest trade show. Everyone is thrilled to be there! Including me.

I arrived on Sunday to set up my booth in Hangar D and found a festive mood amongst the exhibitors. I was finished in a couple hours and wandered the grounds, of course gravitating to the gorgeous Cirrus display. (I looked for a “win a CIrrus” drawing, but no luck.)

I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting alongside Runway 27, judging landings and marveling at the calm, cool, and collected ATC. The show is staffed by 78 volunteer controllers, and they are the very best. They have to be! Planes were landing every 3 to 5 minutes, sometimes two at a time on the same runway! It was a spectacle and I was mesmerized.

When Anne Marie and I arrived at the booth Monday morning, there was a line of people waiting to get into the Hangar. Over the course of the day there was a steady stream  of folks who stopped by our booth to see what we were hawking and pick up information. Some just wanted to talk about flying. Of course I was happy to oblige.