1.2hrs Mini cross country to a class D airport.
I had a great trip down to SLE (Salem) today. It was warm (for Feb anyway), the sky was mostly clear, and smooth. Also, as a bonus, my mom was able to come along for a backseat ride.
We departed Twin Oaks, and headed south. Right away I felt much more comfortable with getting all the frequencies dialed in that I would need, opening a flight plan, and tracking the Newburg VOR.
My checkpoints all came as expected, and soon it was time to communicate with the tower at Salem. Communication with the tower felt much smoother, but I still botched at least one call.
After an okay right pattern, we landed smoothly, and taxied off the runway. Now it was time to talk to ground, which also went pretty smooth, and received taxi instructions to the GA ramp.
We shut down, and got out to walk around a bit, get some coffee, and talk to another pilot. A nice little stop really.
Soon we were starting up again and receiving taxi instructions to the run up area. A quick call to the tower, and we were off.
I was able to track the Newburg VOR back, and was shortly over it and descending to enter the pattern at Twin Oaks.
A pattern without any altitude or airspeed reminders end with a decent landing, wrapping up the trip on a nice note.
So barring anything unexpected with the weather, or anything else, I'm all set to embark on my short solo cross country! I definitely feel more confident after today's lesson.
I also have a half hour of ground with my instructor earlier in the day to clear up some lingering unknowns with the NAV/COM and GPS.
I had a great trip down to SLE (Salem) today. It was warm (for Feb anyway), the sky was mostly clear, and smooth. Also, as a bonus, my mom was able to come along for a backseat ride.
We departed Twin Oaks, and headed south. Right away I felt much more comfortable with getting all the frequencies dialed in that I would need, opening a flight plan, and tracking the Newburg VOR.
My checkpoints all came as expected, and soon it was time to communicate with the tower at Salem. Communication with the tower felt much smoother, but I still botched at least one call.
After an okay right pattern, we landed smoothly, and taxied off the runway. Now it was time to talk to ground, which also went pretty smooth, and received taxi instructions to the GA ramp.
We shut down, and got out to walk around a bit, get some coffee, and talk to another pilot. A nice little stop really.
Soon we were starting up again and receiving taxi instructions to the run up area. A quick call to the tower, and we were off.
I was able to track the Newburg VOR back, and was shortly over it and descending to enter the pattern at Twin Oaks.
A pattern without any altitude or airspeed reminders end with a decent landing, wrapping up the trip on a nice note.
So barring anything unexpected with the weather, or anything else, I'm all set to embark on my short solo cross country! I definitely feel more confident after today's lesson.
I also have a half hour of ground with my instructor earlier in the day to clear up some lingering unknowns with the NAV/COM and GPS.
No comments:
Post a Comment