Can one man's love affair with flying safely lead him from a Skylane to the jet lane? Richard Collins evaluates one pilot's flying.
Don Stephens, 67, is a (retiring), as he puts it, builder/developer. He has been flying out of the Lakeland, Florida, airport since he started 37 years ago and has owned a Cessna 152, two 172s, and currently has a 1998 Cessna 182S Skylane, "which has every conceivable instrument known to man." As this was prepared, he was moving ahead on plans to add a BAC Strikemaster single-engine jet warbird to his fleet, which, he says, "might sound a little crazy at my age, but it's just something I need to do."
A few years ago he built a SeaRey amphibian and flew it for a couple of years. He described that as "one of the most exciting and enjoyable events of my aviation life." There are a lot of lakes around where he lives, "and I think I landed on most all of them! What a trip!" Type "SeaRey" into Google and you'll see that it is a neat looking small amphibian with a Rotax engine.
Stephens has the ideal aviation set-up, too. He bought the defunct Aviation Career Academy, which was in the old Piper corporate and sales building on the Lakeland airport. He liquidated the assets and now has his office overlooking the airport, located just above the hangar for his airplane(s).
In 37 years, Don Stephens has flown over 2,400 hours and is currently flying 125 hours a year. The most he has flown in a year is 150 hours. He has a private certificate with seaplane and instrument ratings. He flies IFR and night IFR when necessary and in the past year has flown four low approaches in actual conditions. All were ILS approaches, and two were at his home base. His average trip length is 175 to 200 miles, and his average passenger load is three. He frequently flies night VFR and he'll fly into the night, depending on the weather. His Skylane has Bendix/King nav/coms, a KLN 94 IFR-approved GPS and a Bendix/King IHAS 2000 system that provides uplinked weather, traffic and terrain mapping. He says, in regard to this recently installed equipment, "I absolutely love it." The airplane also has a WX-500 Stormscope.
Stephens doesn't have any routine maintenance other than oil changes and annual inspections, and in flying his Cessnas he hasn't had an engine failure or engine problems nor has he had vacuum or electrical problems. His Skylane came with dual vacuum pumps.
He did have a control system problem in the SeaRey that he built. The elevator stuck in the down position and he was unable to keep the airplane from descending. By cycling the trim several times he was able to break the control loose and regain control. He sold the SeaRey shortly after that adventure.
He flies practice approaches with a CFI-I on a monthly basis but doesn't do any formal recurrent training nor does his insurance company require any.
The Skylane has a KAP 140 autopilot. Stephens feels like he understands the autopilot, and he uses it about 75 percent of the time, but he hand flies the airplane on low approaches in actual conditions.
