Lesson 20 - My First Short Cross-country

Lesson 20
Flight time logged:	1.9 hours
Total flight time logged:	30.3 hours
Total takeoffs/landings:	113
Solo time:	1.5 hours
Total time solo:	3.1 hours
Total cost to date:	$4960

It's been some time since my last blog entry. I had to take a couple weeks off from my lessons to finish up a project at work. It turns out that the weather was not that great anyway, so I did not miss much flying time. I was ready to get back up in the air, though.

Last week we were continuously getting isolated severe thunderstorms that would appear in the middle of the afternoon almost daily. Finally, towards the end of the week, the forecast for Sunday and Monday was looking promising. I signed up for three hours of time on Monday morning hoping for good weather. On Sunday, I started planning my cross-country to Baldwin County airport in Milledgeville.

I arrived at the airport at 9:30 AM this morning to finish by planning by gathering the winds aloft forecast and preparing to file my flight plan. The winds aloft were very light today. My instructor was off helping another instructor pick up an airplane from another airport. He called me at 10:00 AM to tell me that he would be late. I waited patiently until he arrived an hour later. We went over the flight plan; I filed the plan with the flight service station over the phone; then went off to perform the pre-flight on the airplane. I had to take 6CP again because 81J was out for maintenance on the starter.

I had filed my departure time as 11:45 AM (15:45Z), but did not take off until 12:20 PM (16:20Z). Upon leaving the airspace, we radioed Macon FSS to activate the flight plan. I had planned to climb to a cruising altitude of 5500 feet MSL, but the standard briefing had mentioned a few cumulus clouds with bases at 3500 feet AGL. Once I climbed to 4500 feet MSL, the few cumulus clouds just happened to be right in my path. In order to avoid going through one of the clouds, I had to descend back down to 3500 feet AGL. I ended up cruising at 3500 feet AGL the remainder of the flight down to MLJ.

I was amazed by how accurate I was tracking the planned course. I hit the checkpoints almost dead on the time I expected. Typically I would either be a minute ahead or a minute behind. It all balanced out in the end. I was also amazed by how fast we made it to the destination. It was going to be a 35 minute flight, but it went by quickly. After I passed by last checkpoint, I had the airport in site, made my calls, entered the pattern, then landed on Runway 28. Baldwin County airport is a really scenic place because it is on Lake Sinclair. You fly over the lake to land on Runway 28.

After landing, I changed out my nav log for the return trip and prepared for the flight back to LZU. I taxied out to Runway 28, took off, and headed back towards LZU. I had power lines off to the left of my course, so I used them as a ground reference to keep me on track. My return cruising altitude was 4500 feet MSL.

On the way back, I requested flight following. My instructor wanted to show me how to use flight following. Basically, you're asking air traffic control to watch you on their radar and give you traffic updates. It was interesting trying to listen to two different radios at the same time.

Before long, I was within 10 miles of LZU. My flight following was terminated once I had the airport in site. I contacted the tower to request a full stop landing. I was cleared to enter on a five mile right base and then to land.

After tying down the plane, we walked back inside the office and talked about the flight. My instructor complimented me on keeping on the course and on my landings. I was surprised myself since it has been three weeks since I've last flown. I figured I would be rusty.

I decided that I wanted to do another short cross-country to get more practice with the instructor in the airplane with me. My instructor asked by to prepare a short cross-country to the northeast.

I'm scheduled to fly again on Friday morning. I'm going to stay in the practice area this time and practice ground reference maneuvers, stalls, and steep turns since it's been a month or so since my last practice. Hopefully, I will not be rusty. It's nice to be flying again.

Solo 3 - First solo to another airport

Solo 3
Flight time logged:	1.5 hours
Total flight time logged:	28.4 hours
Total takeoffs/landings:	111
Solo time:	1.5 hours
Total time solo:	3.1 hours
Total cost to date:	$4650

My short cross-country flight was canceled yesterday due to thunderstorms. We had a cold front pass through pushing a line of thunderstorms in front of it. Instead of flying on yesterday, we reviewed my nav log to verify everything was correct, and then I signed up for some solo time of which I flew today.

Today the weather was great. The temperature was in the mid-80s, light winds, and scattered clouds. I arrived 15 minutes before 6 PM, the time I had scheduled the airplane, and filled out the form necessary to fly solo as a student pilot. Unfortunately, the airplane I usually fly was undergoing the 50-hour maintenance, so I had to fly another airplane that I had not flown before. It was still a Cessna 172R, but you get used to flying a certain plane.

Another variable was the fact that the winds were coming out of the East, so Runway 7 was the active runway instead of Runway 25. This wasn't really a problem since I've taken off and landed on Runway 7 a few times, but this would be the first time solo. Since I was headed west to Winder, it actually made it a little easier to depart.

Everything looked good from the preflight, so I climbed in the cockpit, started up the engine, and called Ground to taxi to the runway. I taxied out, did my run-up, and then waited at Runway 7 for another plane doing a touch-and-go. I called the tower to request takeoff, was cleared, and then taxied out to the runway. Full throttle and away I went!

I was excited and nervous at the same time since this was my first flight to another airport. I wanted to make sure I did not get lost on the way out. I climbed up to 2,500 feet, leveled off, and began to look around me for landmarks that I was trained to use. Because I was more north than where I had flown before, I could not really see the water towers I had used before. I was flying over them. Because I could not see them, I used bracketing -- this is where you pick out two roads, railroads, power lines, etc. and fly with one to the left and one to the right. I knew Hwy 316 would take me directly to Winder and it was to my right. Another highway and railroad that also go to Winder was to my left. I also happened to be using the GPS to help me keep an eye on my distance from Winder.

Luckily, the air was not bumpy. It wasn't perfectly smooth, but it was within my comfort range. Maybe I'm just getting accustomed to the bumps.

It didn't seem like I was up in the air that long before I saw the lake at Fort Yargo. This lake is about six miles out from the Winder airport. I figured that Runway 5 would be the active since the winds were coming from 50 degrees. This was another variable. I have only had one other lesson where I used Runway 5 at Winder. It is the shorter runway of the two and has a displaced threshold. Coming from the east, I could practically call a long final to land, but that is not the appropriate thing to do. I needed to enter the pattern on downwind. Originally, I had planned on going north of the airport in order to enter the pattern without overflying the airport. I decided not to do this since I was not familiar with the area. Instead I flew next to 316 towards the south of the airport.

As I got closer and after getting the ATIS information, I made a call to Winder Traffic. No one answered. I check the radio to make sure I had the right frequency tuned. I did, so I made another call. Again no one answered. As the airport came into sight, I noticed that no traffic was in the area. Usually, Winder is busy with at least two or three planes in the pattern. I was actually glad no one was there. I could actually practice without dealing with traffic.

I announced to Winder Traffic that I was overflying the field at 2,500. I flew over the field and performed a tear-drop turn to the right to enter the left downwind leg for Runway 5. The first time I turned from base to final, I realized that I was too high. I judged the turn to base too early. I needed to extend my downwind a little more. I suppose I could have performed a forward slip, but I decided to go-around. After coming around the pattern again, a helicopter announced that it was on its way into Winder. I was on downwind and spotted the helicopter in the distance. He graciously waited for me to do my touch-and-go, and then landed at Winder.

I continued doing normal landings and takeoffs, then tried some short-field landings. I was also watching the time because I had to be back at the flight school by 8:00 PM. After seven landings, I decided it was time to go back. I really want to keep practicing, but I did not have time. I took off from Winder and headed back to LZU.

On the way back, I used Hwy 316 again to guide me back to LZU. In no time, I had the airport in site after getting ATIS. I called the tower with my position and requested to land. I was asked to report entering right downwind for Runway 7. I changed my heading to fly towards the mid-field point. After getting on the downwind leg, I reported to the tower my position. The tower gave me immediate clearance to land. No other traffic was around.

As I was taught, I landed long on Runway 7, just past the thousand-foot marker, since the taxiway I needed was close to the middle of the field. As I cleared the runway and began my post-landing checklist, I went to turn the transponder to Standby and noticed something strange. The knob was missing! It must have wiggled loose during the flight back. I sat there for a minute looking for the knob to no avail. Finally, I just taxied back to the ramp so I would not be holding up ground traffic. After parking, I found the knob under the front seat, just in time to turn off the transponder before shutting down the engine.

The transponder knob falling off was pretty much the only strange thing that happened. I was watching the fuel because the left tank gauge was going down, but the right gauge did not move. The fuel selector was on both the whole time, so that was not the reason. I suppose it is possible the needle was stuck. This was not really an issue since I was only flying about 1.5 hours.

I was happy that I made my first solo to another airport with ease. It is definitely confidence building. Unfortunately, I will not be flying for the next week or so because of my work. I have a project deadline coming up in a week and will need to spend uninterrupted time finishing up the project. Once the project is delivered and stable, I'll be signing up for more flying time. My next flight will be the short cross-country. I'm already looking forward to it.