Ever been so close to achieving something that you can smell it. I don't know if it is the AV-Gas getting to my brain, but I feel so close to getting my license. The last few weeks have been very exciting. I went on my first cross-country solo on January 31, 2009. It was an absolutely beautiful day for flying. The air was smooth, clear skies, no clouds, just me and my plane. I took off from Henderson early in the morning and flew a familiar route to Lake Havasu, AZ. Even though I hadn't landed at that airport before, we had flown by it twice during the engine break-in and we had gone to Needles, CA a couple of times, which is close by. I flew over the airport to see the traffic flow and easily navigated into a normal traffic pattern for a nice landing. The airport is relatively new and the runway was very nice and long. There were a couple of golf-carts waiting off the taxi-way to guide me to one of the FBO's there. Actually, the carts were competing for my business, and I following the red one, since that is my favorite color. It was a good choice because the fuel was really cheap.
After stretching my legs, refuelling and calling for a weather update, I took off again towards Daggett-Barstow, CA. This leg of the flight was more adventerous because I had not flown that path before. It was pretty easy to navigate because I was able to generally follow I-40 below and followed the VOR navigation that I setup beforehand. It was a really nice leg because of the mountain ranges that I passed by on both sides. That leg was also really smooth and enjoyed every minute of it. I landed in Daggett and again refueled and stretched my legs. After being on the ground for about 20 minutes, I decided to head back. I called for an updated weather breifing and headed out. Again, the last leg was familiar because I had flown this before with my instructor.
I landed safely in Henderson just around lunch time, after about 5 hours flying. It had been one of the most memorable experiences to date that I have had flying. I really enjoyed the trip and loved the experience.
After this solo, we moved on to some more advanced maneuvers in preparation for the practical exam, including short-field landings and takeoffs, turns about a point and departure and landing stalls. We also have done some more intrument training time, but have been prevented by weather to get much more of that in.
We also took our night cross-country trip. We planned this one to Daggett airport again (outside Barstow, CA). Originally we were going to make this trip to Needles, but that airport has alot of issues with the terrain and I honestly didn't feel comfortable with it at night. We made the trip on Tuesday, February 10, taking off about 7pm. We planned it that night because there was a full moon. Unfortunately, the moon wasn't up when we took off, so it was a little hairy getting beyond the ridge to sloan. It was a good experience because I had to trust the charts, planning and instruments to guide us, not being able to see the mountains on each side of us very well. Once we got towars Jean, NV, the moon came up and we could easily make out the landscape. The rest of the trip was uneventful and enjoyable to be able to see the landscape at night.
The final experience of the last few weeks was my second cross-country flight on Valentines Day. The plan was for me to leave early again and fly to Hurricane, UT. The weather didn't exactly cooperate, as a storm moved through the area overnight. First of all, I had to get up at 4:30am to take care of a problem at the office. I was hoping that the weather would cooperate, as it was very clear in Las Vegas; the stormed at moved out. Unfortunately, clouds and mountain obscurations still dominated southern Utah. They were supposed to burn off, but I had to wait to get an update at around 8am. The weather had cleared by that time, so I was able to make the flight.This one was a little more straining on me because I was going somewhere that I had not been before. I had to fly over Lake Mead, head north toward Mesquite, NV and then over the
mountain range to Hurricane. I had driven this route many times, but everything is different by air. More importantly, there was alot of helicopter traffic flying around Boulder City and Hoover Dam, so I had to be very vigilent in that area. Also, I passed over terrain that would have made it difficult to make and emergency landing. Finally, after passing over the mountain range toward St. George, UT, I had to quickly descend to avoid clouds still over the valley. Also, there was alot of airplane traffic around the St. George airport and was didn't know where the Hurricane airport was. After searching for it for a few minutes, I located it. There was another plane inbound for landing, which I let go in first. The airport didn't have a taxiway, so on my first turn around the traffic pattern, I had to abort the approach because he was still on the runway. My second approach was very good, so I went around again. I was able to finally get the plane safely on the ground on a runway half as wide and half as long as the runways I was used to. I called up my friends in Hurricane and went and had lunch with them.
The return trip was relatively uneventful, other than some mild turbulance through the more mountainous areas. I safely landed around 2pm and then enjoyed a nice date out with my wife later that night. It was a long day, but very enjoyable.My instructor has already spoken with the FAA examiner and I am looking forward to the final preparations for the flight test!
