Lesson 32: Solo Cross Country to Millville, NJ

Today was a big day! I flew solo to NJ! I crossed the Delaware Bay! It was quite the experience! After days of landing work, I prepared my flight. I picked out my landmarks, calculated the wind correction angle, checked the weather many times, and calculated the fuel consumption for each leg. I decided to use flight following during this flight as I new I would have a lot on my plate flying solo and it would keep me calmer knowing someone was watching me on radar.

I called and opened my filed flight plan. After all the planning and preparation, I took off from W29 on runway 11 and began my climb to 5,500' towards the Eastern Shore. Check point after check point, I slowly made my way across the Eastern Shore. As I flew north of Dover AFB, the center controller informed me that I had traffic at my 3 o'clock west bound at 4,500'. I scanned the skies but could not find them. I was happy to have someone watching over me. The Delaware Bay grew larger and larger and my heart started pounding as I could see MIV and WWD (Cape May) and I wasn't sure at first which airport was mine. I remembered my flight instructor telling me to trust my heading, trust my instruments, and to trust my check points. I new that there was a twisting winding river north of MIV and not north of WWD. I checked my sectional chart again. I looked outside, pilotage was working wonders. I was confidant again and told the center controller that I had my destination in site. I asked permission to change frequencies and tuned into the MIV CTAF. As I flew over the bay, I noticed that my oil pressure gauge was teetering towards yellow. My heart was pounding again. I needed to descend anyways and now I was sure that I needed to tip my nose and reduce power. I continued to watch the oil pressure gauge. I had to focus on getting to TPA and begin advising on the CTAF. This was an interesting experience as their was a center controller monitoring the airspace around the airport rather than a tower controller. I gave my traffic advisories and the center controller reminded the aircraft in the pattern the sequencing of landing. I was very proud of myself as I entered the pattern at a new airport and had a solid landing! I taxied to the terminal and closed my flight plan. I called my flight instructor to tell her I had made it to NJ! I then went to relax and enjoy a lunch.

After lunch and a quick potty break, I began my preflight. I opened my flight plan and taxied down to do my engine run up. A low wing was behind me as I throttled up. Immediately, the oil pressure gauge was in the yellow. I shut down the plane. I advised the plan behind me to go around to take off. I got out of the plane and grabbed the spare quart of oil from the baggage compartment. I checked the oil level and topped it off. I cleaned up and hoped back in the plane. Feeling confidant that I certainly wasn't losing oil, I taxied back to the terminal. I called the FSS and informed them that I would be delaying my departure and updated my arrival time at W29. I then called my flight instructor to inform her of the events. She asked me if I had cross checked my engine gauges. I said, uhhh no. I knew the oil pressure was in the yellow and the oil temperature was nearing yellow and the engine temperature was in the green. She asked me if I was flying fast and if it was a long flight and if it was a hot day and if I had flown to a higher altitude than normal. I was surprised that she knew all of these things about my flight, duh she reviewed and signed off my flight planner. She was also very experienced and reminded me that the oil viscosity was lower causing the oil pressure to slightly drop because the oil had warmed up beyond what I was used to. It was the longest flight to date and the more I thought about it, I realized what she was saying. After thanking her, I taxied and took off again for W29. I did a deviation for RJD (Ridgely Airport) and was proud to be able to pilotage my way there.

As I neared the Kent Narrows Bridge, I saw a large plume of black smoke in the sky. There must have been a house fire south of W29 near 3W3 (Kentmorr). I landed quickly and called my wife to let her know I had made it! I closed my flight plan and called my flight instructor to tell her the good news! It was an amazing accomplishment and a real confidence booster as I am nearing my stage 2 check!

Lesson 30-31: Landing practice at W29

Today and yesterday, I practiced landings to keep me current and ever prepared for my first solo cross country. I plan to fly my solo cross country in about a week so now is the time to get in as much landing practice as I can to give me the confidence to land at Millville Municipal Airport in New Jersey. There will be plenty on my plate that day and knowing my landing abilities will certainly help me with a successful first solo cross country!

Lesson 29: Crosswind take-off and landing practice

I spent an afternoon at Bay Bridge Airport working on my crosswind landings and take-offs. After nine successful landings, I was worn out! Obviously, during a crosswind take-off, one should be prepared to use the rudder more than usual, but boy my feet were working the rudder pedals today. It is important to remember to keep the stick into the wind while taxiing and NEVER let the aircraft fly itself. Upon rotation and climb out, I immediately crabbed into the wind to stay above the center line of the runway. My previous work of turns around a point and s turns really paid off during my practice today. I will say that coming in on final, low power, low airspeed, a side slip to stay on center and immediate rudder and control upon landing is tiresome yet invigorating at the same time. You really know you are flying on days like these!

Lesson 28: 1st cross country flight

There is a lot of planning that goes into a cross country flight. Even though my flight instructor would be going along for the ride, I needed to prove to her that I would be able to do this on my own. The sheet below is the flight planning form to Salisbury Airport. I had to calculate the heading for my flight based on the forecasted winds as well as the magnetic deviation. The ground speed can then be calculated and used to determine the estimated time en route (ETE) as well as the estimated time of arrival (ETA) and the amount of gallons that will be used. 

The image below shows the Salisbury Airport diagram. I use this to diagram to determine the location of the runways as well as the taxiways once the control tower gives me my clearances.

The image below is my sectional chart for navigating to other airports.

A pilot must be able to fly direct to an airport during the practical exam check ride. On this chart I chose landmarks like cities and airports and large divided highways that intersect rivers to help me know where I am on en route to my destination. On my first flight I also used flight following and filed a flight plan. The flight plan is opened with flight service station (FSS) so they know my plan and where I am headed. If I don’t close my flight plan when I arrive at the airport FSS assumes I did not make it and will call my points of contacts and begin to search for me in case there was an emergency. Flight following uses radar to follow me in flight and informs the pilot of other traffic in the area. All of these things require a pilot to be able to multitask. Follow the dead reckoning on the flight planning form, pilotage,  maintain altitude and airspeed, communicate with flight following, and maintain the correct heading are just a few of the tasks during a cross country. I controlled all of these tasks well except for maintaining altitude. I varied about plus or minus 500 feet. Not bad for a first time cross country. We made it to Salisbury and I was happy. My flight instructor was more thrilled because she was confidant to sign me off to do my solo cross country. On our return trip, I was told to deviate off course to Ridgely airport. I had to do some flight planning by the seat of my pants. Based on my planned flight I could estimate how long it would take to get to Ridgely as well as the heading. We made it! A quick touch and go and I was on my way back to Bay Bridge. I landed and was thrilled to be home. Three hours in the sky was tough. This was a major accomplishment. I had flown 60nm to another airport, deviated to Ridgely on my return trip and finally landed at W29. I was now ready to do my solo cross country!