| 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.
