Back in the Saddle (I mean cockpit) Again

With the holiday and some bad weather, today was my first flight since the solo (about 10 days). It was warm, calm and perfect for flying.

We spent about 25 minutes in ground work covering VOR information. VOR, short for VHF omnidirectional radio range, is a type of radio navigation system for aircrafts. I’m still very confused by it, so I will have to do more research before I’m comfortable blogging about it.

Once in the air, we used the VOR to fly to the Shelbyville, TN Airport. Once there, we noticed a glider plane at about 1,800 feet. Shelbyville is an uncontrolled airport and we tried to contact the glider with no response. Uncontrolled airports don’t require a radio in your aircraft to be in the airspace. We completed one touch and go landing and noticed that glider was still circling the airport. We gave it plenty of room to fly since he/she has the right away. Less maneuverable aircrafts (balloons, blimps, gliders, etc) have the right away over more maneuverable aircrafts.

Yet since circling an airport is not usual, we thought it was safest to leave that airspace, as it was possible he was in some type of distress. With a clear runway below, the glider had a safe place to land, but we didn’t want to get in the way if it became urgent.

As we were leaving, and at about 2,500 feet, the glider plane was at about the same altitude as us, so it is reasonable to assume the plane was just taking advantage of some thermals near the airport.

I spent just under 30 minutes with the IFR hood on and we did a couple more landings at the Smyrna Airport. It was good to be back in the cockpit.

Flight time: 1.30 hours
Cost: Plane rental - $149.00, Instructor Fee - $68.00