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Long Distance Solo Cross Country
Today was a huge achievement. After much preparation I finally flew my long distance cross country flight.
Requirement: 1 solo cross country flight of at least 150nm total distance with full stop landings at 3 points and one segment of at least 50nm between T/O and landings.
I spent a chunk of my evening the day before the flight mapping it out and getting all my navigation points in check. This made the flight itself so much easier the day of!
What a beautiful flight it was (look at the pictures below)!
The flight was to the gorgeous Oregon coast towards Tillamook, then north up to my fist stop: Astoria Regional Airport. This section alone of the flight made the entire trip worthwhile. It was such a lovely day that the water and the ground with the reflection of the sun just lit up.
After playing around the area of Astoria, I made my way over to another new airport for me: Kelso Airport (Southwest Regional Airport). I followed this up by making a direct through the Battleground VOR (BTG) back home to Troutdale.
The flight was busy with new airports and procedures happening, however I was able to relax a bit to and take some great shots.
I feel navigating with VORs is much easier now than it was when I first started figuring them out.
Along with flying to some new airports, I also learned a new procedure: logging a flight plan in the air.
Using the McMinnville RCOs around the area, on my journey up from Tillamook over to Astoria, I logged a flight plan from Astoria to Kelso to Troutdale. This was surprisingly easier than I was expecting. I gave them all the information I already had written down and when I was taking off from Astoria I activated the flight plan.
My time was pretty much spot on when I landed into Troutdale, and though I forgot to close my flight plan before shutting the plane down, I did get the radios back on and closed my plan to avoid any rescue teams being called out.
The majority of my flight was navigating using VORs with the legs from Tillamook up to Astoria over to Kelso all being pilotage without using any aids. Just comparing my navigational chart (map) to the ground.
This was by far one of my best flights I’ve ever had and though it wasn’t cheap, it was something I’ll remember for quite a while. I realize even more that I can’t wait to wrap this license up so I can share it with my friends and family!
Until then – keep looking to the sky!
Logs
Flight Time: 2.5 Hours
Landings: 3
May 1, 2013 / Jason / Comments Off on Long Distance Solo Cross Country
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