I had my first checkout flight in a club plane this evening. We flew the 172R. Now, those who know me know that I don't care for Cessnas too much, but this plane is absolutely the best plane I've ever flown. It's smooth, comfortable, and quiet (for a GA plane). I was absolutely amazed. I think it may just end up being my standard local flying aircraft. It has an autopilot that is coupled to the GPS or number one VOR. It can also just follow the bug on the DG or be a simple wing leveler (its default mode). It's simple to use and actually works (unlike the autopilots on the Archer and Cherokee Six the Meteor's had).
I didn't get a chance to play with GPS. It's an older Bendix/King model, but it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out. The dual Nav/Coms are Bendix/King KX155As, which I had never used before (we had KX155s in the Meteor's planes; I hadn't known that there was much of a difference), give you bearing to/from the tuned in VOR, as well as the standard flip-flop tuning that you get with the KX155. I haven't learned everything it does yet, but it's pretty cool.
The thing that amazed me most about it was how solid it felt compared to all the other Cessnas I've flown. I'm completely amazed at how much I like this plane.
