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Hello,

I have 250hrs flying a Challenger II advanced ultralight in Canada. I am finishing my PPL here in the US and I find myself flying the Icon much like I flew the Challenger (minus the rudder!). I am very light on the stick (small slow movements) and that works well for me. My Canadian Instructor was a glider pilot and he hated pilots who "Churned the Butter" in his words...

My issue with the Icon is it seems to "float" up and down +/- 200ft vertical in a wink of an eye. I don't know if it's a combination of thermals and the large wing area but I could be keeping a stead sight picture at 4700rpm (at near max gross weight) and all of a sudden I start to climb a bunch (enough that I fear my DPE will flunk me) and I need to fill my window with green to get it to start descending... Is this just an Icon thing? Is my altimeter playing tricks? Any experience would be appreciated.

Thanks!

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I don't notice it that much when hand flying (probably don't pay attention to the altimeter that much) but when on autopilot the plane will aggressively pitch down and up to hold altitude when it encounters thermals or gusts. It is kind of unnerving at first. I don't see that behavior on calm days.

So if you need to hold altitude perfectly, don't fly on gusty or hot days...

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I think I need to brief my DPE based on this so he can be a bit more lenient on altitude. I will still pick a dead-calm day for my check-ride.

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Michel, here is an exercise for you to help you build muscle memory to better hold altitude. Find a very large body of water, and drop down to somewhere between 10 and 50 feet above the water (the closer the better for the exercise, but only where you feel 100% comfortable.) Carry extra speed, 75 - 80 knots to have excess energy to deal with any burbles of wind. Fly "on the deck" for as long as you can, no plans to land, no flaps out. You will not look at the altimeter once, your focus and eyes are out front. Out of necessity for survival, you will do a terrific job holding altitude. You will begin to sense the pitch of the aircraft and make micro-adjustments without even thinking about it. It's fairly easy on the deck, because you have the water right there helping you gage your altitude. Once you dial this in, move up in 50 foot increments (again, over a large body of water.) After a while, you will be at 300+ feet holding perfect altitude by reference solely to the pitch feel of the aircraft. This is where you want the muscle memory built to. Good luck! -Brett West

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Brett, this is fantastic info - nothing trains the brain faster than the risk of piling it in - great way to leverage it - thank you!