Long Cross Country Flight

It has been a month since my last flight. This was not by design, but weather has canceled several of my flights. It was good to be back in the air.

Today I scheduled my “long” cross country flight. I’m required to make one solo cross-country flight of at least 150 nautical miles total distance, with full-stop landings at a minimum of three points and with one segment of the flight consisting of a straight-line distance of at least 50 nautical miles between the takeoff and landing locations. Most of my solo flights do not originate from Nashville’s International Airport. We usually fly to a nearby smaller airport and start from there.

It is common to pick a flight plan where the starting point is also the destination. Days before my flight I planned my flight. I decided to start at Lebanon Municipal Airport (M54), then fly to Portland Municipal Airport (1M5), next to Humphreys County Airport (0M5), and then finally back to Lebanon Municipal Airport (M54). The total flight would be 161 nautical miles.

This would require me to fly right over Nashville. I planned to fly that leg of the trip at 5,500 feet and since the ceiling of Nashville’s airspace in 4,600, it would be no problem.

When I met up with my Von (my CFI), he informed me that the first leg of the trip needs to be at least 50 nautical miles. I haven’t seen that requirement in my research, but I’ll take his word on it. Since I planned my first leg to be a short 25 km flight, I would have to reverse my flight plan.

After checking the weather, I found it to be sunny but windy today. Winds were out of the south gusting up to 30 knots. In addition, cloud cover was broken at about 5,000 feet. My flight was still doable, but winds would be bouncing me around. In addition, since the clouds were so low, Von suggested that I fly the trip at 2,500 feet.

Since it had been so long since my last flight I was nervous about soloing. Would I remember how to fly? Is it like riding a bicycle, which you never forget? It is Thanksgiving Day weekend so would the notoriously busy air travel cause a problem?

We pre-flight checked the Cessna 172 (434EP) and headed to Lebanon. The wind did make it a challenge. First of all, when I was flying downwind of the traffic pattern, the wind caused me to be faster than desirable. Which meant I had to burn off a lot more speed on base and final than normal. Then, on approach, the wind was pushing me around and I had to focus to stay on the center line. My first landing I faired out a little high, but nothing too troublesome. I did a couple more landings and was relieved that I still knew how to fly.

Next, I stopped the plane, let Von out, re-fueled completely, and headed for runway 19. A fun little fact about the Lebanon airport is that it also has runway 4/22 which is a grass strip used for light sport aircrafts.



Lebanon Municipal Airport (M54)

I took off on runway 19 and headed west towards Humphreys County (I also had the GPS tracking my progress). I contacted Nashville Approach (air traffic controlling the middle TN area) to request VFR flight following. I had hoped they would allow me to fly right through Nashville, yet I was disappointed when they started to vector south of the Nashville airspace. I assume it was because I was now flying so low that I may be in the way of arriving/departing airliners. They did have me fly over Smyrna Airport, which is something I hadn’t done since I stopped flying the Diamond Aircrafts.

 

Smyrna Airport at 2,500 MSL

   Since they altered my route, my check points were now invalid and I had to fly the course headings directed by ATC and the GPS. About mid-way through my flight, ATC requested I fly at 3,500 feet (to stay on the radar) and then they transferred my service to the Memphis Center.



110 knots, at 2,450 MSL, slowly descending

About 10 miles from the airport, ATC notifies me that the “airport is 10 miles at 12-o-clock” and that they were discontinuing radar service. I informed them that I was a student pilot on a solo flight and that I would appreciate it if they would stay with me until I had a visual on the airport. These small airports can be hard to see, especially by untrained eyes like mine. I usually don’t see the airport until I’m about 3 miles out. In addition, Humphreys County Airport has a skydiving program there and I was concerned about getting in the middle of a bunch of jumpers.



Humphreys County Airport (0M5)


I found the airport without any problem and it was completely vacant (I assume the strong winds made it a poor day to jump). As I set up to land at runway 21, during final approach I noticed that I was still too high and fast so I aborted the landing and went around for another landing. This time I landed with no problem. I taxied to the ramp and shut down the plane so I could call Von (and Katie) to provide an update.



On the ground at Humphreys County Airport - wind is blowing

When I went to start the aircraft, I couldn’t get the engine to turn over. I had surmised that I flooded the engine, but wasn’t able to determine how to correct it. I called Von back and he agreed it was mostly flooded. He gave me some instructions (full throttle and completely lean) and it started right up!


I took off at Humphreys County and headed to Portland. I was now traveling with a strong tailwind, so my ground speed was over 110 knots (about 126 mph). This flight was perfect.  I spotted all of my check points and was at Portland in quick time. To give a frame of reference, Google maps says it would be a 119 mile drive taking 2 hours and 18 minutes, where as it took me about 37 minutes to fly there.


A corn maze form the air



As far as the eye can see

Once again, I asked ATC to stay with me until I had a visual with the airport, which I had no problem finding. I approached runway 19 with a soft landing. This was my first time at Portland Airport and, once again, it was completely vacant.


Can you spot the airport?  About 3 miles away




Portland Municipal Airport (1M5)


Finally, I headed back to Lebanon airport and landed smoothly. Due to the headwinds, I traveled to Lebanon at a much slower 67 knots speed. There is an old saying in flying cross country flights: “The fuel tank is never full enough and the bladder is never empty enough.” While at Lebanon airport, I took care of both of those situations. We then flew back to Nashville.

No fanfare, but another milestone completed nonetheless.

Total Flight time: 3.50 hours

Pilot in Command time: 2.7 hours
Cost: Plane rental - $402.50, Instructor Fee - $140.00