SkyChaser
Pattern Altitude
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- Mar 22, 2020
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SkyChaser
Today, I got to fly my first solo cross-country! Exactly 2 hours on the Hobbs. I am absolutely exhausted now and it will probably take several days to fully process everything I learned from it. 
Getting ready to go - got my sectional and my flight plan all ready. I need to add a pen holder to my kneeboard as I lost my pen somewhere under the seat by the time I'd taken off.
I started with a soft-field takeoff (from the grass runway that is really as hard as the concrete, just a little more bumpy...), and then climbed up through the extremely bumpy air, and thankfully found some smooth flying above 3,000'. Somehow, I managed to screw up the GPS which I had intended to set as a back-up nav, so I flew the entire way out solely via sectional chart. Of course, while I was messing with the GPS, I lost track of exactly where I was. I was somewhere over the middle-of-nowhere Iowa, but I knew I hadn't deviated off of my heading, so I just continued flying straight until I could match the landmarks I could see on the ground with the chart. Once I got to my destination, I had to descend back down to the not-so-smooth air. Traffic pattern altitude was not a nice place to fly today! I made it down, though the landing was less than pretty, and parked. I think 444 was very happy to go somewhere besides the home base traffic pattern.
I had to taxi around this beauty to get to parking:
After I got my return trip planned out with the current winds, I quickly got back in the air. I'd been planning on grabbing something to eat, but the wind was picking up and I did not want to be stuck there! The way back was much simpler than the way there - I didn't screw the GPS up this time, and although I barely used it, it was still nice to know I could if I needed to. I trimmed to hands-free flight, and took some pictures on the way back. It was a beautiful day.
It kind of looks like a screenshot of a flight simulator, though, but it isn't. Here's my first in-flight selfie to prove that even though it looked like a flight simulator up there, it wasn't.
And almost home!
The winds had gotten pretty sporty while I was gone, but I made a decent landing. I was unimpressed with it, but my instructor said it looked pretty good so it must not have been too bad.
It was a learning experience for sure - flying to an unfamiliar airport by yourself 65 NM away is a lot different than buzzing around familiar terrain! Plus, the airport I flew to was much, much busier than my home base. I need to fly to some more busy airports so I get used to flying with other planes around... On the way out, the workload felt huge and almost insurmountable, despite the fact that even when flying with my instructor, I handle everything. Despite all my attempts to pretend my instructor is just a passenger during dual flights, obviously I still unconsciously think of her as a safety net. LOL Thankfully, I was more confident on the way back and it wasn't such a big deal. It helped that I didn't screw up the GPS or anything stupid like that.
Now, I need to finish planning my long solo cross country and knock that out, too. The finish line is in sight.
Getting ready to go - got my sectional and my flight plan all ready. I need to add a pen holder to my kneeboard as I lost my pen somewhere under the seat by the time I'd taken off.
I started with a soft-field takeoff (from the grass runway that is really as hard as the concrete, just a little more bumpy...), and then climbed up through the extremely bumpy air, and thankfully found some smooth flying above 3,000'. Somehow, I managed to screw up the GPS which I had intended to set as a back-up nav, so I flew the entire way out solely via sectional chart. Of course, while I was messing with the GPS, I lost track of exactly where I was. I was somewhere over the middle-of-nowhere Iowa, but I knew I hadn't deviated off of my heading, so I just continued flying straight until I could match the landmarks I could see on the ground with the chart. Once I got to my destination, I had to descend back down to the not-so-smooth air. Traffic pattern altitude was not a nice place to fly today! I made it down, though the landing was less than pretty, and parked. I think 444 was very happy to go somewhere besides the home base traffic pattern.
I had to taxi around this beauty to get to parking:
After I got my return trip planned out with the current winds, I quickly got back in the air. I'd been planning on grabbing something to eat, but the wind was picking up and I did not want to be stuck there! The way back was much simpler than the way there - I didn't screw the GPS up this time, and although I barely used it, it was still nice to know I could if I needed to. I trimmed to hands-free flight, and took some pictures on the way back. It was a beautiful day.
It kind of looks like a screenshot of a flight simulator, though, but it isn't. Here's my first in-flight selfie to prove that even though it looked like a flight simulator up there, it wasn't.
And almost home!
The winds had gotten pretty sporty while I was gone, but I made a decent landing. I was unimpressed with it, but my instructor said it looked pretty good so it must not have been too bad.
It was a learning experience for sure - flying to an unfamiliar airport by yourself 65 NM away is a lot different than buzzing around familiar terrain! Plus, the airport I flew to was much, much busier than my home base. I need to fly to some more busy airports so I get used to flying with other planes around... On the way out, the workload felt huge and almost insurmountable, despite the fact that even when flying with my instructor, I handle everything. Despite all my attempts to pretend my instructor is just a passenger during dual flights, obviously I still unconsciously think of her as a safety net. LOL Thankfully, I was more confident on the way back and it wasn't such a big deal. It helped that I didn't screw up the GPS or anything stupid like that.
Now, I need to finish planning my long solo cross country and knock that out, too. The finish line is in sight.
