My first solo cross country is completed in style!
Yesterday I made a flight down to Monks Corner and
up to Florence. It might sound easy to simply climb
to an altitude and just cruise to my destination,
but there's alot more to it than that. First of
all there's about 3 hours of planning involved (this
takes time when you really haven't done it that
many times before). This is where courses is plotted
and times and fuelconsumption is calculated based
on the forecasted weather and winds. Then there's
the biggest challenge for alot of people, including
me, talking to Air Traffic Control (ATC). Up til
now I've been talking on the frequencies around
Conway which is relatively unformal, so it was something
completely different to go on the cross country
talking to all these different persons. I figured
I'd might as well just throw myself out to the sharks
and hope for the best and identify myself as a student
pilot if thigs got too bad. I changed my frequency
11 times during my flight, and talked to alot of
different persons. It went surprisingly well actually.
Most controllers are really nice and helpful, though
there are some grouchy ones out there.
The flight went to Monks Corner as mentioned which
is situated near Charleston, where I stopped to
refuel. Then I continued up to Florence which is
in Class D airspace and therefor is controlled.
This makes the landing procedures a bit different
from what I'm used to, but things work out pretty
good as long as you follow whatever the controllers
tell you. You need a clearence to land here so I
go to say my first solo "cleared to land, runway
27". This is of course a incredibly uninteresting
sentence to normal people, but I meant something
to me. I did two stop and go landings here to meet
some of the requirements to the PPL before I flew
back home to Conway. There was no orchestra waiting
for me on the ramp when I got back, but I felt quite
satisfied nonetheless.
Today I made my second solo cross country. The
flight went to Laurinburg Maxtion, to Florence (again)
and then back to Conway. Laurinburg Maxton is a
cemetary for old 727, 747 and DC10's. Incredible
interesting if you are interested in planes, but
not any more interesting than any other piece of
garbage if you're not. I landed behind a Learjet
business jet which you can see on the picture on
the right. I did only a touch and go here so I have
to get back here for a full stop landing pretty
soon.
I had my first dual night cross country with Anna
yesterday, by the way. Totally different to fly
at night. The air is so much smoother. Absolutely
fantastic to look down at all the lights on the
ground and even more fantastic to land on a lighted
runway. Beautiful!! Didn't get to take any pictures
on this trip, but I'll try to shoot a couple of
good ones next time!
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Cockpit management.... well, as long as I have everything
I need.
Prior to landing at Florence.
Laurinburg Maxton is a cemetary for a bunch of old
panes. 727, DC10 og 747's is ligned up. I didn't do
a full stop landing her, so I have to get back here
as soon as possible.
It's nice to fly around the clouds. I'm not allowed
to fly into them just yet!
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