The Centurion

Yesterday I went out to fly the Cessna P210N Centurion with my father and his friend Ryan. We arranged to meet Ryan at his home airport near Ottawa, Ontario. We arrived at the airport early to scope out the local flying school and the local birds. The eye candy included a Skywagon on floats, and a Beaver on skis. Ryan arrived and opened the magic hangar doors to unveil sister birds Charlie Golf and Charlie Fox. Charlie Fox is a pressurized Cessna 210 with a brand new 310 hp electronically fuel injected turbo charged engine. The little bird is a Cessna 200. After a quick preflight we started Charlie Fox with a rumble and briskly taxied to lineup with runway 28.

The local frequency was overwhelmed by a student and instructor with a stuck mike. Happy the stuck mic wasn't ours we performed a runup. Charlie Fox informed us her cylinder head temperature and manifold pressure were in the green. With power smoothly applied I called out 80 knots and we took off like a shot. Positive rate, gear up and at 500 feet we lower the nose and settle in at 130 knots at 800 feet a minute. Nice.

We call up Ottawa approach for our IFR clearance for the ILS at Macdonald Cartier. The controller is confused because Charlie Golf just asked for clearance for a couple of 360 turns. The two aircraft share the same callsign save for one letter so Charlie Golf Tango Bravo Sierra and Charlie Fox Tango Bravo Sierra are causing confusion. The controller offers us the backcourse at 25 but we ask again and receive the ILS to 32. Here we go the autopilot takes over the flying duties as we brief the approach and marvel the whiz bang WAAS navigation work its magic.

The controller puts us on the River Star arrival at 3000 feet which is a real kick in the pants. We fly at 160 knots directly over the parliament and downtown Ottawa following the Rideau River towards the field. The controller has us on a wide downwind but turns us inside the final fix to come in below the glide slope. No problem the autopilot does its thing and brings us down to 200 feet. Props full, mixtures rich and throttle to the stops as were not paying the landing fee off to Gatineau. We climb and await our clearance to the RNAV 29 for a GPS approach to lunch. We obtain direct Estev but the GPS builds a new track to line us up inside the fix to avoid a procedure turn. Again the autopilot takes us to 250 feet and we're left in charge of landing. After a firm touchdown my dad asks, "Did we land yet?" Thanks. Lunch and coffee ensues. We get a vfr clearance and squawk code for the return flight and takeoff quickly with a warm and happy engine. Climbing at 130 knots we execute a shallow bank to line up with homebase. Time for me to hand fly this bird. I take control and were set to overfly Camp Fortune and its radio tower by about 500 feet. We get bumped around and then drop into the valley. Soon we're flying a decent at 170 knots and lining up a close in downwind for runway 10. I fly a close in fast base leg and roll out at 500 feet with the runway just ahead. Flaps full, power idle and let her settle on for a drink of 300L 100LL. See you next flight.