Entries with tag "cross_country"

Today N5356F was back from its 100-hour inspection, and the weather was decent, so I finally managed to go on my long cross-country flight. I flew to Baton Rouge, then on to Lafayette, and then direct back to Hammond. The whole flight was actually quite unremarkable. No airliners chased me down, I didn't get lost — nothing worth recounting happened at all, really. Which I guess is a good thing.

Just about the only mistake I did make was due to the fact that I seldom fly N5356F. Most of my training has been in the other Warrior, N1288H. And so, out of force of habit, when I filed my flight plan and made my initial call to Baton Rouge Approach, I reported that I was flying N1288H. It was only about 20 minutes into the flight, when I requested Flight Following from Baton Rouge Approach, that I realized I had given them the wrong callsign, and had to correct it. But it was no big deal, and after that everything went smashingly. Now I'm up to about 32 hours. That 40-hour mark is getting pretty close.

Today the weather between here and Gulfport, MS was finally clear enough for me to go on my first solo cross-country flight, from Hammond to Gulfport and back, a round-trip distance of 142 nautical miles. And look at that! I managed to stay alive. That was my primary objective for the day, and I'm glad I managed to achieve it.

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Today we flew back out to Baton Rouge to give me some more practice interacting with ATC during the day, when things are more busy. Mike told me to act like he wasn't there — a few times when I forgot what ATC had told me, I asked him what they had said, and he shrugged and made me deal with it as if I was alone in the plane. Which meant I had to get back on the radio and ask ATC to tell me again because I'd forgotten it, in front of everyone (metaphorically speaking). Hehe, that's pretty good incentive to help remember to write it down next time.

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Today I set off with Mike on my first cross-country flight. We flew from Hammond to Gulfport, Mississippi, and then back again. Of course, it didn't start there. There's actually a lot more involved in planning a flight than I would have thought.

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