Questions from the Readers

Now that you have driven the Cessna more than once, is there a liking for this type of plane over the "stick" type? I would think that the size difference would lean liking toward the Cessna.


I think would better to compare it to the Diamond DA40, since they both have 4 seats. The design of the Cessna does make it easier to get in and out of. Also, the Cessna 172 seems to land smoother, yet it does more pressure to during the flare up phase of t he landing, which I assume is because it is so heavy in the front. Speaking of being heavier, some of the Diamond aircraft, since they were originally designed to be gliders, get impacted by the wind more than the Cessna.

One item I like about the Diamond aircraft is the placement of the throttle. It is located in center console and you can comfortably keep your hand on it all of the time, just like a gear shifter in the in a car. This allows for gentle tweeting of the power without having to reach for the throttle, which is required in the Cessna.

Also, the turning ratio appears to be longer in the Cessna than in the Diamond.

It is hard to judge a favorite, especially since the Diamonds I have been flying are so much newer that the Cessnas. I think if I fly by myself, I’ll use the Diamond. If I fly with passengers, I’ll use the Cessna since it is more comfortable. I reserve the right to change my mind at a later date.

What does cross-country trip planning entail?

The FAA defines a cross country trip as anything greater than 50 miles. The distance you can fly without stopping has everything to do with the fuel on board. The first thing a pilot does call for a weather brief (and maybe file a flight plan). Next, the pilot plots the course on the sectional chart and indentifies any visual checkpoints along the route. Next the need to calculate the heading with wind direction correction and compass deviation. Finally, the pilot will calculate fuel consumption based upon the weather conditions and how long it will take to get from one checkpoint to the next.

There is a lot of math involved. I’m sure there are programs to assist in this process, but the FAA wants to see that the pilot is able to do it the old fashion was.

What do we know about propellers? I think most are made of wood, maybe Ashe like baseball bats, or maybe aluminum too. How is size and pitch determined? I've seen "props" with various numbers of blades, two, three and even four. What is the determining factor? Why are some mounted on the nose and some on the wings?

Correct, the propellers are usual made of wood or aluminum. Which they use depends on the intended use and care. Wood can be compromised by wet weather, where as aluminum can be impacted by extreme heat.

The number of propellers is selected by the size of the engine. More propellers can “bite” more air, creating more thrust, yet it can also cause more drag. The engineers can also make the propellers fatter, but there is a point of diminishing return. A bigger engine will allow for more propellers. Eventually, more propellers and bigger engine still doesn’t increase performance, so that is why the jet engine was developed.

Most single props will be mounted on the nose of the aircraft. It is not until the engineers add a second engine that they mount them on the wings. The goal is to get air moving equally across the wings.

Do you feel safe in these small aircraft?

Well there is an inherent danger in flying of which I’m keenly aware of, yet with the knowledge I have gained over the past few months, I have learned that a lot has to happen before something can go wrong. Planes don’t just fall out of the sky. In addition, the bumps from wind and turbulence are more anticipated. In the beginning, when there was a sudden unexpected movement in the aircraft, I would feel a momentary panic. Now, I hardly notice them. Once example: once I have completed my take off, and reach a safe altitude, I elevate the flaps to natural. This affects the aerodynamics of the aircraft and you can feel the change. Now after about 140 takeoffs, my body recognizes it as normal, and I hardly notice it.

I feel safe, but I hope I will always be Über-vigilant on safety and not be too complacent.

Update - Almost There

Now that I have the second page in my log book complete, this is a great time to provide an update on my progress. As I had suspected, I am near the required 40 hours of flight time by October. In addition to the required hours, I have to meet specific criteria, some of which I’m still short. Learning the additional aircrafts (Cessna 172 & DA40) will extend my training time some, but I should still be far below the national average of 70 hours for private pilot.

As in the past, I have disclosed the true costs of flying, so below is a summary. I still have a few expenses I’ll incur, especially since the DA40 is a more expensive. As for supplies, the only items on my list are a new headset and possibly a flight bag. Also, there may be some additional test fees when I apply for my license.

Now is the time I need to really look at preparing for the written exam. When I’m ready for my oral and practical test, I don’t want them to be delayed because I haven’t completed/passed the written exam.

DA40 with a Glass Cockpit

After flying the 2 seater DA20s for a while, the natural progression is transition to the Diamond Star DA40. At first glance, one will notice that the power plant is bigger and this aircraft has four seats (although the useful load is about 900 lbs, which can make it difficult to carry four adults with all of their luggage).



Then a closer inspection will reveal that there are two separate fuel tanks located in the wings. Then looking in the cockpit once will notice a blue level between the throttle and the fuel mixture valve. This blue knob controls the variable pitch propeller which is a type of propeller with blades that can be rotated around their long axis to change their pitch to take better advantage of the power supplied by an engine in much the same way that a transmission in a car takes better advantage of its power source. The mechanism varies depending on the aircraft, but the effect is to change the angle of attack of the propeller blades to take a smaller or larger "bite" of air as it rotates.  As a general rule, the pilot should avoid high manifold pressure with low r.p.m. setting.  This offers a huge advantage over the traditional fixed-pitched propeller, but it is one more item in the cockpit the pilot needs to monitor.

While most of the DA40s will have these features, I opted to learn on the 2009 Diamond Star DA-40 XLS (N385DS). The most obvious difference is the Garmin G1000. All of the traditional instruments (almost all) have been replaced by two computer screens.



This technology is fantastic. Not only will it show the best route, but it will give you tons of information like when you are flying to close to terrain, when other aircraft are nearby, or even weather reports. This plane can even fly itself as it is equipped with an autopilot (note the red button on the stick is the autopilot cancel button). With a setup like this, they call it a “glass cockpit”, since the pilot is looking at a glass screen rather than traditional steam gauges.


In addition to the items I mentioned above, there are dozens of additional features that this aircraft has. While these can all be very helpful to the pilot, it was extremely overwhelming getting in the cockpit for the first time. The pilot needs to make multiple quick decisions based upon the information available. This is not a lot of time to flip through screens to find the altitude or what radio frequency I’m not.


The actually operation of the aircraft is very similar to the DA20, just land 10 kts faster, that’s about it (maybe a few other things). The focus of the transition is the operations of the instruments. I am told it expect 5 additional hours of training specific to this aircraft prior to being allowed to solo.


Today was a beautiful sunny day, and CFI Bruce Cherven was kind enough to fly with me and show me how everything worked. We took off of runway 19 and headed towards Shelbyville Municipal Airport (SYI), which is about 27 nm from Smyrna, plus it offered a VOR for navigation.


We practiced a couple of landings, which were not my best, and headed back home. It was getting dark at this point so I logged my first night hour (0.5 hours actually). If I thought airports were hard to spot during the day, it is even more difficult to find them at night. Luckily they have the lights directing towards the runway.


This was a great experience, but all in all I didn’t feel comfortable during this flight. Everything was so new to me that I felt like it was my first time flying.  I was just as overwhelmed as I was on my first flight.

Flight Time: 1.2 hours
Cost: Plane rental - $178.80, Instructor Fee - $68.00

Where have all the CFIs Gone?

It is fairly hidden from the public, but there is a looming pilot shortage happening. There are several reasons why that may be, but here are a few:

• In decades past, 80% of the pilots hired by airliners were recruited from the military. This has changed 80% of pilots now come civilian marketplace, which isn’t set up to supply the airliners with qualified pilots.
• Currently, about 75% of all students drop out before they even get their private pilot’s license
• Global air travel, especially in Asia, has dramatically increased, and is forecasted to grow even more. Since the universal aviation language is English, American pilots are being aggressively recruited to that market.
• Careers in aviation have been viewed as undesirable for the last decade. Made worst by comments from celebrity pilots like Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger saying he wouldn’t recommend an aviation career to anyone anymore.
• The pay and benefits are poor for new pilots.
• The most critical reason is that the baby boomers are hitting retirement age and are leaving the occupation in alarming numbers.

The sluggish economy and increased security concerns have hidden the shortage, but the industry will need to respond quickly before customers start to see service level decline even more.

Why does that matter to me? I have already mentioned that I have no intention of flying as a career (it does not allow for the work/life balance). Well the airliners are pulling recruits from the local small airports by hiring flight instructors. I’m happy to announce that my CFI, Adam Signaigo, has been hired by American Eagle. In addition to him, 2 flight instructors at Nashville Flight Training (where I have been flying the Cessna) have been picked up by commercial carriers.

While I’m happy for them, this has impacted the momentum of my training. I was heading into the final weeks of education when he left. Switching to a new instructor come with a set of new challenges. First I have to re-prove my skills, yet before I can, I have to re-learn a few a skills well. For example, Adam had me practice landing “on the numbers” (printed numbers on the runway) where as some instructors want me to land on the thousand foot mark. This is just a small adjustment, yet landing a plane is a lot of muscle memory, which requires me to re-learn how I land. This will add hours of additional training before I expect to test for my license.

Also, I’m disappointed in Wings of Eagle. One might expect someone from the school would have reached out to me to assist in transiting to a new instructor. In the last few months I have spend over $5,000 with Wings of Eagle, I don’t fault them from my instructor leaving, but it is reasonable to think that they would want to retain his students. Not one person from Wings of Eagle has approached me without me e-mailing them first.

I have observed that learning to fly isn’t a traditional educational experience, but has to really be driven by the student. The student has to have a plan and seek out the resources needed. If I wasn’t so focused on my goal, I can envision feeling really frustrated in this situation.

I have given it some thought, and even though I believe they could have handled this much better, I believe it is still in my best interest to continue to work with Wings of Eagle until I receive my pilot’s license.

On a side note, I may have also finished quicker had I not elected to transition to other aircrafts. This may delay my progress some, but I feel like I’ll have more enjoyment and better skills by having experience with a diverse groups of planes.

At the intersection of Donelson Pike and Taxiway “L”

Today was a perfect day for a flight at Nashville International Airport (BNA). I pre-checked the Cessna 172 (5146R) and we headed towards runway 20C. I handled the communications for the first time at a Class C airport.

In the C172, on Runway 20C, ready to take off!

Takeoff was perfect and we flew east towards Lebanon airport (M54). Once again, we stayed in the traffic. 9 take off and landings.

Before heading back to BNA, we practiced a simulated engine failure. It did go very well as I would not have hit my intended target. One of the differences with the C172 as compared to the DA20 is that the distance appears to be greater on the C172, thus I lost more altitude making the turn (and I wasn’t in position) then I had expected.

On the way back to the airport, I stayed “under the hood” for some more instrument training. The big fun this time was landing on runway 20L. Runway 20L is a normal 8,000 foot runway, yet it is on the other side of Donaldson Pike. I taxied back via taxiway L, which is the bridge over Donaldson Pike. Growing in Chicago, I’m use to seeing planes taxi on a bridge over a road, but it was fun to experience it myself.



This is what taxiway L looks like from Donaldson Pike 



Flight Time: 1.5 hours

Cost: Plane rental - $172.50, Instructor Fee - $60.00

More Fun In A 172

Today I headed back to the Nashville Flight Training school at Nashville International Airport (BNA) to with fly with CFI, Von Gains. This time we flew a 1974 Cessna 172M (5146R). This aircraft is the oldest plane I have ever had the opportunity to fly, yet the age of the aircraft is quite normal in general aviation. It is very common to see aircraft after aircraft built in the 60s and 70s take off at class D & E (small airports) airports.

This can sound unsafe when we think about how often a 7-10 year old car breaks down. It then becomes scary to think about flying in a 40 year old plane. Yet, aircraft usage is not measured in years, it is measured in hours. While a standard family care can be on the road 80 to 1,200 hours annually, a general aviation aircraft may be operating just a couple of hundred a year. In addition, most people drive their cars in all type of weather conditions (which can be hard on the vehicle), yet most private pilots only fly when the weather is ideal. Think about how often you neighbor’s motorcycle or vintage automobile gets driven, very similar.

Also, each airworthy aircraft are required to have an extensive annual inspection and maintenance, plus maintenance at every 100 hours of use. In addition, the pilot completes a detailed inspection of the plane before each flight. Most automobile drivers feel an oil change every couple of months is sufficient.

The biggest change I noticed with flying this aircraft over the prior (new) Cessna 172 I flew, was that it had a carburetor. All other planes I have been flying have been fuel injected, so no carburetor. The potential of carburetor icing (even in warm weather) is present, which may lead to engine failure. This is easily overcome with introducing carburetor heat.

Of course the potential for the most problems from an engine failure is during landing. Thus as a precaution, the pilot will engage carburetor heat as part of the landing procedure. It is just one lever to pull, but is did add to the complexity a little in the landing, as I had easily forgotten it a couple of times.

Since the clouds were low, we flew to John C. Tune Airport and stayed in the traffic pattern and practiced landings. The other item that made landing more complex was the flaps adjustments were more manual. I am use to flipping a switch and the flaps would automatically set to a specific angle. On this plane the pilot engages the flaps and has to verify when it reaches the desired angle.



Carb heat in blue, throttle in yellow, flaps in green, trim tab in orange circle

 The highlight of the flight was when we were returning to BNA, we were directed to land on runway 20C. This put us in a position to fly directly over my house. Not a life changing event, but a neat addition to the flight.

Flight Time: 1.3 hours
Cost: Plane rental - $149.50, Instructor Fee - $52.00

Say Again

One of the many benefits of the AOPA is that they host seminars throughout the country, most are free. This evening I attended one of these seminars at the Nashville International Airport. The topic was “Say Again? Radio Communication Done Right” (basically radio communications).


Out of the 60 plus attendees, only a handful were students like me, so some of the information went over my head, yet I still found some useful information. Even better, they had some air traffic controllers present.

The most helpful part was the Q&A section, as I got to hear the more experienced pilots were asking.

Overall this was a great experience. I did notice the audience was mainly older (55-70 years old) white men. I saw maybe 4 women, a handful of guys below 40 and only one black person. Around the airport, I noticed there wasn’t much diversity, but having everyone in one room really highlighted it. Not sure why this hobby (or career) appeals to such a select demographic. I can’t imagine anyone not wanting to fly…



2nd Solo Cross Country

Today I flew my second solo cross country flight. This time to Tompkinsville-Monroe County (KTZV) Airport, which 65 nautical miles from my home airport in Smyrna, TN. I had been there once before, but that was over a month ago. In addition, navigating there is a little more complex because it is a rural location with few landmarks. I planned the trip and my CFI reviewed my calculations to sign me off. There were some storms south of Smyrna, but nothing that should impact the flight. Winds were calm. Next, I pre-checked the Diamond DA20 (223HN) and had the fuel tanks topped off.

I did discuss with my CFI all of the static I was receiving during my last flight while communicating with flight following. There are two different radios on the aircraft, and he suggested I use the other one.

As safeguards, I again elected to request flight following and set the GPS for a direct flight.  I took off of Smyrna runway 19 and ascended to an altitude of 5,500 feet and set my heading.

Smyrna Airport



Once I reached my desired altitude, I noticed I was closer to the clouds than preferable. As a pilot permitted to fly VFR (Visual Flight Rules), I am not allowed to fly in clouds, but I must also stay clear (usually 500 to 1,000 feet) of clouds for two reasons:

• The VFR pilot does not want to take the chance of drifting, due to wind or turbulence, into a cloud.
• The VRF pilot will want to avoid collision with an IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) pilot who emerges from the cloud.

I descended to 3,500 feet and flew the rest of the flight that way.

At about 5,000 feet



At only about 27 degrees Celsius (81 degrees Fahrenheit) it was actually cool in the cockpit with the small windows open, but is made for a comfortable flight. I didn’t have any major problems, but since it was very rural, I wasn’t able to spot it until I was about 3.5 miles away. In addition, as I approached the airport, it started to rain. I was nervous as I had not expected to fly in rain today, and I was worried it would be a problem. When it comes to weather, the factors for safe flight are more about visibility and wind strength. Neither of them seemed to be a problem, so I proceeded to the airport.



Aproching TZV - See, the airport can be hard to spot!



There were no other aircrafts in sight, but I called out my intentions to land as I would have if there was. I was little gun shy on landing. It had been about 10 days since I landed this plane and I wasn’t happy with the results at that time. I set myself up for landing on runway 22. As I came in on final, I was higher than preferable, since it was raining, I wanted to give myself as much runway to stop just in case it was slick. I aborted the landing and flew the pattern one more time.

My next approach was much better and my landing was a smooth one I could be proud of. This landing helped restore my confidence.

Since TZV is such a small airport, there was no taxiway, so you have to taxi back on the runway and turn the plane around. There was a spot just off the runway where I could re-set the GPS and radio frequencies. As I was re-setting the frequencies, I review the one I had for TZV (which is listed as 123.05) and saw that I had set the frequency of 123.50. If there was anyone around, they may not have heard me calling my location and intentions. This situation wasn’t ideal, but I didn’t break any FAA laws, as radio communications is not required at this airport. That being said, I’ll need to be more careful in the future.

As I made my way back to the other end of the airport saw the rain was slowing down. Yet when I turned the plane around, I saw it was still raining at the other end of the 4,000 foot runway.

Sunny to the north

I took off without a problem, but I was headed towards the rain. It looked like it was just one cloud. Once I was past that cloud, it was sunny the rest of the flight.

Under the rain cloud

Sunny a couple of minutes later

I was able to take a picture of a checkpoint I found on the chart.

The blue "cone" means there is an obsticle - in the case they call it a Cooling Tower

Can you see it?

The rest of the flight was uneventful and I had another smooth landing on runway 19.



Flight time: 1.70 hours – Pilot in Command

Cost: Plane rental - $159.80, Instructor Fee - $0.00

Cessna 172

It has been my intention from the beginning to spend some time at another flight school to obtain experience on a different type of plane. Now that I have cross country solo, this seemed like a good time.

The aircraft in particular I wanted to fly was a Cessna 172. It is pretty much the staple of general aviation. More pilots have learned to fly in a Cessna 172 or Cessna 152 than any other plane. The two main difference between the 172 and the 152 the horsepower (172 = 180, 152=110) and number of seats (172 = 4, 152 = 2).

What they both have is that is different from the Diamond aircraft I have been training on:

• Wings mounted high on the aircraft
• Uses a yoke rather than a control stick
• Has doors instead of a tilting canopy
• The plane is built from aluminum and not plastic
• Fuel is gravity fed from two separate tanks in the wings

Like I said, it is one of the most common plane in general aviation, thus I will have the more opportunity to fly them. The Diamond is a fine aircraft, yet most small airports will have Cessnas to rent. I want to be skilled and comfortable in this aircraft. Also, having traditional doors will make it easier for passengers of all shapes, sizes, and ages to fly with me.

Without going too far from Nashville, there are about 3 other flight training facilities in the area, all of which train primarily with the Cessna. Can’t say for sure why, but I called Nashville Flight Training, Inc. This company flies out of Nashville International Airport (BNA). This is the same airport that serves all of Nashville’s airliners and most commercial flights. Class “C” airspace. I booked a flight with CFI Von Gaines.

Today was a raining on and off, and I thought it would be canceled, yet Von checked the weather and most of the problem was to the south of us.

We sent about 45 minutes discussing some of the conditions that would be different at a big airport like BNA that I may not be familiar with. Some examples are:

• The traffic pattern is more directed by ATC.
• A phenomenon called Wingtip vortices which are tubes of circulating air that are left behind a wing as it generates lift. All planes have this, but it can cause a problem for a small plane following a large aircraft.
 



Wingtip Vortices


• Communication with the different frequencies of ATC.
• Traveling speed within Class C airspace should be faster and you may have bigger aircraft following.

Next we went out to the 1998 Cessna 172R (N434EP) for a full pre-flight check. All went well, but the latch on the left door was not operational so I had to slide in from the other side. It did feel a little strange because switches, instruments and dials were located in different places than I was use to.

 

  

The sky was gray, we had slight rain, and it was a little foggy, but Von and I agreed since we were just going a few miles away, we would take off and return if need be.

As I taxied it to the runway, I noticed it was a lot easier to taxi. Not sure if it was my skill level or the aircraft, but it felt like it was the aircraft. Rotation speed, or the speed required to get off the ground, was about 55-60 knots. Compared to the DA20 at about 45 knots. With the added power I didn’t notice any additional time required to get the plane off the ground.

It was very fun flying a new plane! With each different activity I felt the same thrill as if it was my first flight. In addition, we headed west, which meant I flew right over downtown Nashville. I know that I had flowed thousands of feet in the air before, but it was such a different experience when I was looking down at towering buildings. The wings mounted high allowed for great visibility below. Not surprisingly, flying with a yoke felt very natural. It was more like driving a car than when I use the control stick.

We flew to John C. Tune Airport, which I have been to before, to practice some take off and landings. I’m not sure if this is true with all Cessna 172s, but this aircraft had 4 levels of flaps, and no flaps were needed for takeoff.

Once I got in the traffic pattern and made a couple of left turns, I saw one of the drawbacks of a high wing plane. When turning, I’m use to looking at landmarks (like the runway) on the ground for reference. When I turned to the left and looked out the window, all I saw was the left wing. During a standard turn, the wing will tip down in the direction of the turn and, with high wing planes, can obscure the view. When turning this type of plane the pilot needs to refer to the heading rather than ground references.

On final approach, I put in two set of flaps and I stayed within the glide slope. As I reached the runway and flared out, I thought I had missed judged (the Cessna’s landing gear is about a foot higher than I am use to) and was expecting a hard landing, yet it was one of my smoothest landings. Another loop around the traffic pattern and another smooth landing.

We then flew back to BNA, with some rain on top of us. Since they don’t have the standard traffic pattern, the pilot should anticipate which runway ATC will be directing them to and approach the airport from that direction. The pilot can listen to the wind direction or just listen to what runways ATC is telling other aircrafts to us to help determine what to expect from ATC.

Final handing was, once again, smooth. I have heard that landing a heavier aircraft is easier, but I’m not sure if that was the reason. Either way, I had a great time.

Flight time: .70 hours

Cost: Plane rental - $80.50, Instructor Fee - $28.00

Should I Continue To Fly?

I promised to provide full disclosure on this blog, so here goes:

For us the past few weeks have been a roller coaster. Kate is about 20 weeks pregnant and is due January 29, 2012. Rome and the new baby will be almost exactly 2 years apart, which is what were we trying to achieve. Well, maybe not birthdays during the same week….

About 5 weeks ago, Kate had some routine blood work at her OB’s office and they referred her to an endocrinologist. After and ultrasound and biopsy, they believed she has papillary thyroid cancer.


As you can imagine, due to the pregnancy, treatment options are limited. At this point, she is restricted to surgical removal of the complete thyroid. Of course there are risks to the baby when the mother has to undergo anesthesia during pregnancy.


We met with the surgeon, and she had given Kate the option to delay the surgery until after she delivers, but who really wants to have cancer in their body any longer than they have to? Thyroid cancer is slow growing, but there is always a chance of spreading throughout the rest of the body.


Making the decision on what we should do next has been a nightmare. After a second opinion with another surgeon and meeting with multiple other specialists Kate decided to have the surgery during her pregnancy.


On August 26th we found out we were having a girl. We are both filled with joy and excitement over the news.


Finally, on August 30th Kate had the procedure. I was a nervous wreck during the surgery, but I’m pleased to say that both Kate and baby girl made it through surgery very well. They did confirm the cancer and removed some of the surrounding lymph nodes as a precaution. Kate was sore and tired but we were looking forward to putting this event behind us. She is even starting to feel our daughter kick some.


Then, after this last flight, I returned home to hear that the pathology report came back and the lymph nodes were positive for cancer as well. The cancer had spread. I felt like I had just been kicked in the gut. There is no additional treatment Kate can have until after the baby is born, yet the prognosis is promising and we are optimistic.


Why am I talking about this on a flying blog? Flying no longer seems important. My family comes first, always! I thought: “Maybe I shouldn’t be spending any time away from my family” or “I shouldn’t spend money on myself” or “I shouldn’t be enjoying myself, I should be doing something to help.” My heart just isn’t in it anymore.


When I told Kate that I wanted to quit and the reason why, she said without hesitation: “Don’t quit until you have your license, or at least don’t quit because of this.” Exact verbiage!


My heart is in pain and my head is consumed with thoughts of cancer. Flying is one activity that requires (at least at my skill level) 100% of my attention and I’m not thinking about cancer. I really struggled with this decision and I have decided to continue, as the distraction is very much welcome.


I should be complete before the baby is born, and then I can concentrate on whatever our lives has in store for us. Looking forward to a long and happy life with my one true partner.

Rome, me, Kate & baby girl on board (7/30/2011)



1st solo Cross Country Flight

Today was my first solo cross country flight! Our practice flights has been to Bowling Green, KY so this seemed like the logical choice. I’m confident in my flying, the true main concern is getting lost. The Bowling Green airport actually has an advantage, as I can just keep I65 in sight and it will lead me right to the airport.



Direct flight from Smyrna, TN to Bowling Green, KY - North at a heading of 005



The winds were variable (meaning coming from different directions) at 4 knots. Since I wasn’t able to predict wind correct, and the strength of the wind was minimal, I had to plan my trip as if there was no wind.

There is a old saying in aviation, “There are 3 things that are useless to the pilot”:

1. The fuel left on the truck.
2. The runway left behind
3. The altitude above

Next, I preformed my pre-flight check on the Diamond DA20 (N223NH). There was enough fuel to make the trip and back, but I didn’t want to even worry about fuel levels on this flight, so I had them “top it off”, so I wouldn’t leave what I needed on the truck. Without a passenger, the weight of the fuel wasn’t a concern, and it seemed like it was the perfect companion.

When I checked the weather the clouds looked like they were going to be high today so I planned to fly at 5,500 feet. So I was going to make altitude work in my favor.

In addition to the additional fuel, I had a couple of additional safe guards I was putting into place. First, even though I was navigating using dead reckoning and pilotag, I was going to set the GPS as well. There is no rule that says I can’t, and if it will keep me safe, then I’m using it.

Next, I requested VFR flight flowing for the trip. It is always helpful to have a second set of eyes looking out for me in the air.

Before I even took off, I made sure to enter in all of the radio frequencies for Smyrna Tower, Nashville center, Bowling Green weather, and Bowling Green common traffic.

Once I took off I was diverted away from Nashville International Airport’s airspace. This takes me off course, but I was able to regain my heading after about 10 minutes.

Overall, I was pleased with my navigation, as I was able to get a visual of all of my check points. Once I got to 5,500 feet, I Noticed that I was very close to the clouds (which I’m required to say away from) so I made the decision to descend to 3,500 feet. This action required approval from the Nashville center providing my flight following.

I was having troubles hearing the Nashville center, as there was a lot of static, so I had them repeat their frequency. I confirmed that I was on the correct frequency and just managed the static the rest of the flight.



Nice clear blue skys




Relaxed and Having the Time of My Life





I found the airport without any problems and I checked the weather. The wind was coming from the south at 170 at 4 knots. I picked runway 21 and announced my intentions to enter the traffic pattern. When I got closer to the airport, I saw a larger jet holding short (meaning they were preparing to take off of, but were not actually on the runway) of runway 3, which is the other end of the runway I was planning to land on. I assume: bigger airplane means better pilot, so they must know something I didn’t. I started to second guess my decision, so I checked and re-checked, and I did select the correct runway. I decided to stick with my original decision. I spoke to the larger aircraft to confirm that they would be waiting until I landed before entering the runway.

I landed the plane with no major problems, yet it was far from being my smoothest landing. In fact, I would have been embarrassed if my instructor was with me. That being said, I was safely on the ground and there was no damage to the plane.

A few minutes later a Cesena chose the same runway I did, so it gave me more confidence that I made the correct decision.

I taxied to the ramp and sent my “OTG” text message to Kate. Since I have been flying, so Kate does not worry too much, I text her with OTG (on the ground) once I have landed. Next, I spent a few minutes to re-set my radio frequencies and the GPS for the flight home.

OTG at the Bowling Green Airport

Did I mention it was 101 degrees today?



Setting the radio frequencies and the GPS for the flight home



 

This time I flew at or below 3,000 feet. This allowed me to be compliant with the VFR altitude crusing guidelines yet still be high enough to be safe.

The GPS was showing the route home but it, but for some unknown reason, it was showing me the airspace like it normally would. I knew if I flew my path directly, I would break into Nashville International Airport’s (BNA) airspace, which I needed to avoid. So I looked at my sectional chart and started flying more east than my flight plan (marked in red) required. I looked for what they call the “steam plant” (a company actually manufactures steam???) and headed south. Detour shown in green. Based on the chart, I would be a conformable distance from BNA’s airspace. Once I got close enough I flew back west towards Smyrna.

Finally, I called Smyrna ATC, obtained permission to land, and then landed on runway 19.

Success!!!

My first solo cross country was now complete. In final self-assessment, I didn’t follow my flight plan completely and it was less than perfectly executed flight, but I felt it was a safe flight and the adjustments I made was based upon sound aviation judgment.

This is another important milestone. I’m starting to feel like a true pilot and I’m one more step closer to my goal. I need a total of 5 hours of solo cross country flight hours so I’m now have about 40% of what I need with just this one flight.

Flight time: 2.10 hours – Pilot in Command
Cost: Plane rental - $197.40, Instructor Fee - $0.00