Solo 6 - Long solo cross country

Solo 6
Flight time logged:	3.1 hours
Total flight time logged:	41.1 hours
Total takeoffs/landings:	131
Solo time:	3.1 hours
Total time solo:	9.4 hours
Total cost to date:	$6480

What a trip! I followed up my last short solo cross country flight with a long cross country flight. For the long cross country, you are required to fly a minimum of three legs with one leg at least 50 NM long and the total length at least 150 NM. You also must land at three of the points. I flew from LZU to 9A1 (Covington) to HQU (Thomson-McDuffie) to IIY (Washington-Wilkes) then back to LZU.

After some delays and an extensive pre-flight, I took off from LZU towards 9A1. The winds were gusting a little by the time of my takeoff, so I had to use my crosswind takeoff skills. Once I got on course it was not long before I could see the Covington airport. Since this leg of my flight was short, I decided not to get flight following until the next leg. I did open my flight plan once I was outside of the LZU class delta airspace.

As I approached Covington, I radioed my position and my landing intentions. Covington does not have weather reporting, so I had to rely on the latest ATIS from LZU and looking at the windsock on the field at Covington. As I entered the downwind for Runway 28, I noticed another plane at the hold line for Runway 10. I asked the pilot for wind information since he was on the ground and had a better view of the windsock. He stated that the wind was a direct crosswind at a few knots and that either runway could be used. He suggested that landing on Runway 10 was easier. Given that construction crews were working on the threshold of Runway 28 (making the runway 500 feet shorter than normal), I quickly decided to leave the pattern and re-enter the downwind for Runway 10. I announced my intentions and re-entered the downwind for Runway 10. As I came down on final approach, I felt that I was too high and decided to go around. On my second circuit around the pattern, I lengthened the approach to give myself more time to descend. This time I came in too fast and floated along in ground effect. I felt that I would not have enough runway length to stop due to the construction, so I did another go around. Finally, on my third landing attempt, I came in just right and landing without a problem. After a quick taxi back to Runway 10, I took off towards HQU.

The leg to HQU was the longest leg. As I leveled off at 3,500 feet, I called for flight following. Finding my checkpoints on the way was really easy. There were several good landmarks to choose, not to mention I was flying parallel to Interstate 20. About half-way to HQU, I started to smell smoke. I knew it was not from the airplane, but from wood burning outside. I looked over to my right and saw a forest fire. The smoke was somewhat reducing visibility. I began thinking that I would have to descend to maintain visibility with the ground. Before long, though, the smoke cleared. Not too long after, I had HQU in site and flight following was terminated.

I entered the pattern at HQU and made a perfect landing. After taxiing off the runway, I remembered that I needed to close my flight plan and open the flight plan for the return flight. I should have done this before entering the pattern. I tried to call the flight service station from the ground but had no luck. I immediately prepared the cockpit with my chart, nav log, and necessary items for the return legs. I wanted to get back up in the air quickly in order to close my flight plan on time. I took off from HQU and headed for IIY.

As I was climbing, I tried to contact the FSS again. I could not get anyone to respond, so I tried a different FSS frequency. It happened to be the Anderson FSS and not the Macon FSS, but I did get a response. They assisted me by relaying my request to the Macon FSS to close my flight plan to HQU and open my flight plan back to LZU. By this time, I could see the Washington-Wilkes (IIY) airport. I started my descent to get in the pattern. Again I had a good landing. I taxied back to take off again, this time towards home - LZU.

On the leg home, I used flight following again. I flew at 4,500 feet back to LZU. It was pretty uneventful. As soon as I parked the plane, I closed my flight plan. I was excited that I completed my first long flight by myself. It was a real confidence booster.

Solo 5 - Short Cross Country

Solo 5
Flight time logged:	1.9 hours
Total flight time logged:	38.0 hours
Total takeoffs/landings:	127
Solo time:	1.9 hours
Total time solo:	6.3 hours
Total cost to date:	$6040

I did it! My first solo cross country was a success. I flew to Milledgeville. The round trip distance was 120 nautical miles. I was ready for this flight. After rescheduling a couple of times due to weather, today was the day. The clouds were forecast as scattered at 5,500 feet AGL. This should have allowed me to fly at the 5,500 feet MSL cruising altitude that I had planned; however, once I was airborne, the clouds layer was actually lower. I ended up flying at 3,500 all the way to Milledgeville.

The visibility was also not that great. It was ranging from 5 to 7 miles along my route due to haze. I could still see my checkpoints for the most part however. On the way to Milledgeville, I kept flying to the east of my course, correcting back to the course, the flying a little to the east again. There really was no wind, so I was trying to figure out why my calculated course was not working exactly. Once I reached Milledgeville and setup for a landing, I noticed that the direction gyro (heading indicator) had signigicant precession and was not synched with the magnetic compass. It was off by a few degrees. That explained why I kept heading a little to the east and having to keep correcting in order to hit my visual checkpoints. Something to remember in the future: always check the heading indicator against the magnetic compass every 15 minutes or so just in case the heading indicator precesses so you can reset it.

On the way to Milledgeville I also called for flight following. I had VFR flight following for about 10 minutes before the controller stated they were just too busy. So, I was on my own for the remaining 15 to 20 minutes of my flight.

On approaching Milledgeville, I tuned into the CTAF and checked for traffic. Two Airtractor airplanes (used for crop dusting) were using the opposite end of the active runway for landing. I knew I had to be extra vigilant to avoid a runway incursion. I decided to cross over the field to look at the area before descending to the traffic pattern. No one was there, so I entered the pattern and landed with no problem.

After taxiing back to the hold line and preparing my nav log for the return trip, the Airtractors called in stating they were landing. They were just flying straight in on final and not flying the traffic pattern. I watched as they slowly made their way down, landing long on the runway so they could taxi down to the end of the runway where the supply trucks were parked. After the runway was clear, I announced my intentions to take off and taxied out to the runway. Up, up, and away! I headed back home.

The trip back went much smoother since I had corrected the heading indicator. I did not have to adjust my heading very much at all. I was unable to fly at 4,500 feet, however, due to the cloud layer being at that level. At about halfway back, I received flight following all the way back to the airport. My instructor wanted me to get in at least 2 hours for this flight. Glancing at the Hobbs meter, it looked like I had it. As I approached the Class D airspace I contacted the tower and requested to land. I was cleared to land on Runway 7 and happened to be the last to land before they changed the active runway to 25.

After parking and going through my post-flight checklist, I found that I only had 1.9 hours. I was off by 0.1 hours! This means that I will have to fly for at least 3.1 hours on my long cross country. The long solo cross country is my next scheduled flight. I'm primed for it now that I've earned the confidence to fly alone for long distances. My next flight should be around 300 nautical miles or so. I just have to plan it such that I get at least 3.1 hours of flight time.

Lesson 23 - Presidential TFR

Lesson 23
Flight time logged:	0.8 hours
Total flight time logged:	36.1 hours
Total takeoffs/landings:	125
Solo time:	0.0 hours
Total time solo:	4.4 hours
Total cost to date:	$5880

Today I had planned to fly with my instructor and practice stalls and other maneuvers to keep my skills in check. When I arrived at the flight school, I learned that a TFR (Temporarily Flight Restriction) had been issued due to the President's visit to Atlanta. Our airport was within the outer ring of the TFR but outside of the no-fly zone. The sky was clear above the airport this morning, and I was ready to fly. I was afraid that I would not get to fly today due to the TFR. Once my instructor arrived, however, he showed me what was needed in order to fly out of the TFR area.

Even though we were flying over to the practice area, we needed to file two flight plans -- one for exiting the TFR and another for re-entering. Before takeoff, we were issued a squawk code so the ATC could identify us flying out of the TFR. We successfully exited the TFR with no problems. However, weather turned out to be our next obstacle.

As we were heading towards Winder, the clouds started to build with bases around 2,500 feet MSL. I was flying at 2,500 feet. My instructor instructed me to climb over top of the clouds. They were broken so I could still see the land below. As I leveled out above the clouds, I was amazed at the scenery. The clouds below with a vivid blue sky above were amazing.

I did a couple of stalls, but the clouds were building around us. At one point my instructor had to take the controls to get us to a better spot. We descended through a cloud on the way back down to 2,500 feet. This was my first sensation of flying through a cloud. I now understand the "invalid" messages that your brain can send. My body felt like it was turning a different direction. I trusted the instruments though.

As we cleared the clouds I took over the controls. We were at 2,500 feet. The clouds were just above us. We were too low to practice stalls, and the visibility was getting lower by the minute. We decided to call it a day and head back. We called the FSS to open our return flight plan. They gave us a little trouble because of the TFR, but after acquiring a squawk code from Atlanta Approach, we were able to file and get back into the TFR. After that, it was a normal landing as usual.

Back on the ground my instructor told me to prepare for my solo short cross country. That would be my next flight and my first test of being pilot in command for a round trip of 120 nautical miles. It should be interesting.