kimberlyanne546
Final Approach
Okay, now for the real story . . . I am sorry this is long but I have been told that sometimes my training stories help other students who are just learning to fly . . . If this helps even one student out there I will be very happy. Here is what happened:
So I knew, in advance, that I was going to fly my first solo cross country on Saturday if the weather was good. Once I flew my solos two weekends ago, including one to the practice area, I had a flight lesson mid-week (shorts and softs) and felt "better" about my landings. They were definitely safe and I think my CFI was happy with them too. So after that "good" lesson he was very comfortable telling me to come in and present my flight plan to him on Saturday morning for a quick 15-minute meeting / sign off before he had to leave and fly with another student.
I did everything: made copies (enlarged) of the Ukiah page in the AFD, drew out approaches entering the 45, as I'd been taught, from my direction of flight depending on which runway / winds (so two options there), filed two flight plans with FSS (one there, one back), found out where to park (though I got it wrong) in case I wanted to walk around, picked several way points about every 5-10 minutes so I'd always have something to calculate / write down, wrote out everything I was going to say to both Oakland Radio (open flight plan) and Oakland Center (flight following), made special notes of high terrain, air space ceilings to avoid (there was a class D on the way up), made special notes of runways at Ukiah (no straight in approaches, different elevation so different TPA and right or left pattern or whatever).......
I could go on but I think you get the idea. Definitely prepared for this flight. Plus, I had been there before and it was "easy" to get to - just follow the 101 freeway which literally leads you to the runway - no joke.
I got to the flight school and knew there might be delays (early morning fog / marine layer burning off). I waited until everything cleared up and then finally departed. I spent my time there talking to people about flying and of course finishing up my "coming back" flight plan, something I haven't really used much before but wanted to go the extra mile this time.
I got gas, took off, and the only mistake I made was I said "Petaluma Traffic, Cessna 24498, departing two niner, crosswind departure, Petaluma". My instructor heard me later and questioned this. I realized that it was more of a straight out departure but had planned my climbs etc from the 800 feet I'd be at when turning crosswind. Oh well, small radio boo boo. Not too bad.
I turned to my heading (no VORs this trip, my instructor recommended practicing pillotage). I tuned in to the Oakland Radio and opened my flight plan. So far so good. I tuned in to Oakland Center and got my sqwak (sp?) code and got flight following. What was awesome was that the woman who was talking kept making mistakes (got my call sign wrong three times, kept apologizing to other pilots when they'd correct her with something like 'do you mean east not west'?) The reason this was awesome? Because it reminded me they are human too and they are not "God" or perfect.
So I'm flying (roughly) on my heading, trying to keep the altitude at whatever altitude it was, trying to keep my heading at whatever it was and reset the heading indicator every so often due to precess, etc. I'm timing myself between waypoints and writing down the times on my stopwatch, seeing which side of my plane the airports and freeways are on (right vs left so I know I'm not too far off my line of direct flight).....
When the woman on the radio calls my call sign and says something like "I'm going to lose you, sqwak 1200 radar service terminated" or something. I didn't think much of it but didn't have the airport in sight. Not to worry, I thought, I did what she said.
So I get to the airport, which I had planned to overfly if needed. Great news! I did not overfly. I saw it in time to get down to TPA, fly the 45, do an "OK" pattern, check the AWOS and CTAF, announce my turns, do a radio check, and land. No one around. I found out later I totally parked on the wrong side but the tie down said "Guest" so I didn't know any better. Since my instructor didn't make me "prove" I was there, I decided to step out of the plane, take pictures of the plane and the surrounding buildings, so later I could say "see? I was there!" He joked with me later after I showed him the photos "Are you sure that isn't Cloverdale? Are you sure you went to Ukiah?"
So nothing too eventful, winds are OK, weather is "perfect" (some haze but that is normal for summer), air is warm but not too hot at all (less than 80 maybe), and I decide to go back. I didn't really go more than a few steps from my plane, but I'm OK with that. For fun and giggles I thought I will never be back here, I should do at least one closed traffic pattern and landing, and then depart, so I did.
I radio'd Oakland Radio to open my flight plan on the way back. No problem there. The problem came when I made contact with Oakland Center. You see, I had flown back at about 1,000 feet lower than I had flown out and I was in between high hills / mountains. The controller said "Cessna 24498, I lost your transponder" or something like that. Though my instructor somewhat scolded me later since they didn't ASK ME TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, I said to them "Oakland Center, Cessna 24498, Will Recycle My Transponder". Though I didn't really know what that meant, I turned it off and then on again, to test and then back to alt and (yes stupid I know) pushed "ident". They said nothing and after a few minutes I went on and asked if I was visible to them again. They said yes. However, shortly thereafter, they told me they lost me yet again and that I should sqwak 1200.
Now I was worried! Also, I was having issues with my number one radio (couldn't dial in frequencies, couldn't switch frequencies from standby to active which I later found out was because I'd switched to VOR tuning but at the time I was nervous and thought it was broken so I used my number two radio).
I grabbed my sectional and thought, OK great, I may or may not have a working transponder / encoding altimeter. My number one radio is not doing what I want and all I have now is my number two radio. Don't panic. I looked at the map, at all the airports on my way back: Cloverdale, Healdsburg, and Santa Rosa. First I dialed in Cloverdale and did a radio check. Then people said they could hear me loud and clear, I felt better in case I needed to hear anyone or in case I needed to talk to anyone. Cloverdale in sight, off to Healdsburg. Got out sectional, Healdsburg was on same frequency. No one there. Passed Healdsburg and then, though I was about 1,000 feet above the ceiling of their airspace, I tuned in to Santa Rosa Tower (class D) but did not speak. Sure enough, it was a busy day and I was concerned so I went far off to the left so as to stay out of the way of the "bigger planes" which were descending and landing at Santa Rosa just in case I didn't see them. I was a factor because several times the tower announced what I thought was "me" to other planes. They would say something like "Bonanza I show a plane we are not talking to, about 3 miles east, altitude showing xxxx" and that was my altitude. I was elated because this meant my transponder was NOT broken at all and they were looking out for me!
So nervously I looked for planes with my head on a swivel. When more than 5 miles away and out of their circle, I switched from Santa Rosa Tower to my home airport's AWOS and then CTAF. There were planes in the pattern but I got in and landed.
I will type my "long cross country" story another day..... all in all not a bad first solo cross country! I told my instructor about the possible transponder issue and he told me I'd have to make a go / no go decision when on my long cross country if ATC said it wasn't working (but he would still allow me to go). I told him "no" I would not and if they said they lost my transponder again (early on) I would just come home and have the maintenance guys look at it. Luckily that was not a factor and my long XC went on without too many issues.
EDIT: I forgot to add I may or may not have landed on the wrong runway when arriving at Ukiah. The reason I say this is because when I saw everyone else go to the other runway to depart, while I was resting and taking a break, and I checked the awos, the winds were favoring the OTHER runway. However, for whatever reason, when I came in to land, I announced several times the actual runway number that I did land on and I said my 45, my downwind, my base, my final, and my clear of whatever runway number it was..... though probably the wrong one!
So I knew, in advance, that I was going to fly my first solo cross country on Saturday if the weather was good. Once I flew my solos two weekends ago, including one to the practice area, I had a flight lesson mid-week (shorts and softs) and felt "better" about my landings. They were definitely safe and I think my CFI was happy with them too. So after that "good" lesson he was very comfortable telling me to come in and present my flight plan to him on Saturday morning for a quick 15-minute meeting / sign off before he had to leave and fly with another student.
I did everything: made copies (enlarged) of the Ukiah page in the AFD, drew out approaches entering the 45, as I'd been taught, from my direction of flight depending on which runway / winds (so two options there), filed two flight plans with FSS (one there, one back), found out where to park (though I got it wrong) in case I wanted to walk around, picked several way points about every 5-10 minutes so I'd always have something to calculate / write down, wrote out everything I was going to say to both Oakland Radio (open flight plan) and Oakland Center (flight following), made special notes of high terrain, air space ceilings to avoid (there was a class D on the way up), made special notes of runways at Ukiah (no straight in approaches, different elevation so different TPA and right or left pattern or whatever).......
I could go on but I think you get the idea. Definitely prepared for this flight. Plus, I had been there before and it was "easy" to get to - just follow the 101 freeway which literally leads you to the runway - no joke.
I got to the flight school and knew there might be delays (early morning fog / marine layer burning off). I waited until everything cleared up and then finally departed. I spent my time there talking to people about flying and of course finishing up my "coming back" flight plan, something I haven't really used much before but wanted to go the extra mile this time.
I got gas, took off, and the only mistake I made was I said "Petaluma Traffic, Cessna 24498, departing two niner, crosswind departure, Petaluma". My instructor heard me later and questioned this. I realized that it was more of a straight out departure but had planned my climbs etc from the 800 feet I'd be at when turning crosswind. Oh well, small radio boo boo. Not too bad.
I turned to my heading (no VORs this trip, my instructor recommended practicing pillotage). I tuned in to the Oakland Radio and opened my flight plan. So far so good. I tuned in to Oakland Center and got my sqwak (sp?) code and got flight following. What was awesome was that the woman who was talking kept making mistakes (got my call sign wrong three times, kept apologizing to other pilots when they'd correct her with something like 'do you mean east not west'?) The reason this was awesome? Because it reminded me they are human too and they are not "God" or perfect.
So I'm flying (roughly) on my heading, trying to keep the altitude at whatever altitude it was, trying to keep my heading at whatever it was and reset the heading indicator every so often due to precess, etc. I'm timing myself between waypoints and writing down the times on my stopwatch, seeing which side of my plane the airports and freeways are on (right vs left so I know I'm not too far off my line of direct flight).....
When the woman on the radio calls my call sign and says something like "I'm going to lose you, sqwak 1200 radar service terminated" or something. I didn't think much of it but didn't have the airport in sight. Not to worry, I thought, I did what she said.
So I get to the airport, which I had planned to overfly if needed. Great news! I did not overfly. I saw it in time to get down to TPA, fly the 45, do an "OK" pattern, check the AWOS and CTAF, announce my turns, do a radio check, and land. No one around. I found out later I totally parked on the wrong side but the tie down said "Guest" so I didn't know any better. Since my instructor didn't make me "prove" I was there, I decided to step out of the plane, take pictures of the plane and the surrounding buildings, so later I could say "see? I was there!" He joked with me later after I showed him the photos "Are you sure that isn't Cloverdale? Are you sure you went to Ukiah?"
So nothing too eventful, winds are OK, weather is "perfect" (some haze but that is normal for summer), air is warm but not too hot at all (less than 80 maybe), and I decide to go back. I didn't really go more than a few steps from my plane, but I'm OK with that. For fun and giggles I thought I will never be back here, I should do at least one closed traffic pattern and landing, and then depart, so I did.
I radio'd Oakland Radio to open my flight plan on the way back. No problem there. The problem came when I made contact with Oakland Center. You see, I had flown back at about 1,000 feet lower than I had flown out and I was in between high hills / mountains. The controller said "Cessna 24498, I lost your transponder" or something like that. Though my instructor somewhat scolded me later since they didn't ASK ME TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, I said to them "Oakland Center, Cessna 24498, Will Recycle My Transponder". Though I didn't really know what that meant, I turned it off and then on again, to test and then back to alt and (yes stupid I know) pushed "ident". They said nothing and after a few minutes I went on and asked if I was visible to them again. They said yes. However, shortly thereafter, they told me they lost me yet again and that I should sqwak 1200.
Now I was worried! Also, I was having issues with my number one radio (couldn't dial in frequencies, couldn't switch frequencies from standby to active which I later found out was because I'd switched to VOR tuning but at the time I was nervous and thought it was broken so I used my number two radio).
I grabbed my sectional and thought, OK great, I may or may not have a working transponder / encoding altimeter. My number one radio is not doing what I want and all I have now is my number two radio. Don't panic. I looked at the map, at all the airports on my way back: Cloverdale, Healdsburg, and Santa Rosa. First I dialed in Cloverdale and did a radio check. Then people said they could hear me loud and clear, I felt better in case I needed to hear anyone or in case I needed to talk to anyone. Cloverdale in sight, off to Healdsburg. Got out sectional, Healdsburg was on same frequency. No one there. Passed Healdsburg and then, though I was about 1,000 feet above the ceiling of their airspace, I tuned in to Santa Rosa Tower (class D) but did not speak. Sure enough, it was a busy day and I was concerned so I went far off to the left so as to stay out of the way of the "bigger planes" which were descending and landing at Santa Rosa just in case I didn't see them. I was a factor because several times the tower announced what I thought was "me" to other planes. They would say something like "Bonanza I show a plane we are not talking to, about 3 miles east, altitude showing xxxx" and that was my altitude. I was elated because this meant my transponder was NOT broken at all and they were looking out for me!
So nervously I looked for planes with my head on a swivel. When more than 5 miles away and out of their circle, I switched from Santa Rosa Tower to my home airport's AWOS and then CTAF. There were planes in the pattern but I got in and landed.
I will type my "long cross country" story another day..... all in all not a bad first solo cross country! I told my instructor about the possible transponder issue and he told me I'd have to make a go / no go decision when on my long cross country if ATC said it wasn't working (but he would still allow me to go). I told him "no" I would not and if they said they lost my transponder again (early on) I would just come home and have the maintenance guys look at it. Luckily that was not a factor and my long XC went on without too many issues.
EDIT: I forgot to add I may or may not have landed on the wrong runway when arriving at Ukiah. The reason I say this is because when I saw everyone else go to the other runway to depart, while I was resting and taking a break, and I checked the awos, the winds were favoring the OTHER runway. However, for whatever reason, when I came in to land, I announced several times the actual runway number that I did land on and I said my 45, my downwind, my base, my final, and my clear of whatever runway number it was..... though probably the wrong one!
