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It’s a girl!

staski63
Picture of a TB10 with registration D-ETES

After one year flying without D-EEBU, I finally made the decision to buy my own plane and here she is: D-ETES, a good looking 1994 Socata TB10. Her engine still has couple of (hundreds of) hours to go until the next overhaul and with a Garmin GNS430 and the S-TEC System Fifty autopilot she is fairly well equipped for trips throughout Europe.

After flying for nearly 10 years out of Mannheim (EDFM), I decided to change homebase and move to Speyer (EDRY) beginning 2023. As I live in Speyer (approximately right downwind 16), instead of a 30 minute drive by car for Mannheim, I can reach the airfield in Speyer in just 5 minutes by bicycle. I joined the local flying club (MFG) to rent one of their C172s frequently and also rented a brand-new DA40 from a commercial plane rental (FE Aircharter) for IFR flights. However, all of that could not substitute the freedom I experienced with D-EEBU which I used to fly out of Mannheim in the past years. Hence the decision for ownership.

I’m still in the process of getting acquainted to the TB10, however I can already say that this type of airplane is straightforward to fly and it seems to be quite forgiving. D-ETES can be operated under IFR, as she has all the required equipment that is mentioned in the POH for IFR operation. Actually, even the avionics would be sufficient for IFR operation according to EASA Part NCO.IDE.A.125. As COM2 is 25 kHz only, it would be difficult to listen to ATIS reports without leaving ATC frequency here in Germany, as most ATIS stations are already in the 8,33 kHz band. Hence, the next „big“ project will be an avionics enhancements to be fully IFR capable.

As always, if you have questions and comments, please drop me a mail at staski@venus-flytrap.de.

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