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!