It's on! Getting our Phoenix, that is...

Our Phoenix has flown, so it's on it's way to being a licensed aircraft, ready to fly across the country. The avionics installation is complete, and after just two flights for a total of 45 minute, it's back in the Merill Island avionics shop to get the position and landing lights installed (the fuselage was trailered from the avionics shop back to the Melbourne airport, where the wings and tail were installed so it could fly back to Merrill Island).

(click any image to enlarge it)

To the left is the instrument panel in the Phoenix, with the "glass panel" LCD screen to the far left; the soaring computer display in the top center, with the radio and intercom below it; and the backup airspeed and altimeter mechanical gauges on the right.

To the right is the "TV set", the LCD screen that displays the aircraft parameters (left side), the "moving map" used for navigation (center), and the engine parameters (right side). The layout can be changed in-flight, allowing any combination of the three elements, and in different sizes, according to the pilot's preferences.

 

I've bought our one-way tickets to Florida; tomorrow I'll reserve a car and find a motel for the first night in Florida. My training in the Phoenix is scheduled to start March 18, but we'll go to Florida a few days early to spend a day at the glider contest at Seminole-Lake gliderport (30 miles west of Orlando), see some sights, and visit some friends.

Above - 25 feet of carbon fiber and epoxy wing shine in the Florida sunset. The other wing is just as long, of course  :^)