Cross-country
So my instructor sent me a note last weekend, saying he had a family emergency he had to attend back in the UK, and transferring me over to my fall-back instructor, John, who also happens to be the chief pilot of my flight school. I've flown with him before a few times and while I appreciate the very structured methods my regular instructor utilizes, John just lets me fly; he has so much experience that it is a lot more difficult to faze him, and I get to stretch my elbows a bit. He's not a chatterbox either (as per the classic pilot joke: "what's the best thing about finally going solo? getting rid of the chatterbox on your right!").
Anyway, I came in Monday morning, and we started chatting. We were going to follow the incremental plan I had laid out with my regular instructor, when the discussion turned to requirements, and cross-country. John has seen me operate a plane safely in very harsh conditions; he is the one that had remarked once after one of my difficult experiences "three perfect maximum crosswind component landings in a row; that's skill, not luck". So I knew he trusted me a lot more than my regular instructor does.
But even I did not expect the next thing that came out of his mouth, which was something along the lines of: "OK, let's do your cross-country then".
Nice.
So we picked an airport - Orland Haigh, O37, west of Chico, CA - and made a plan. We would fly out to Rio Vista (O88), do a touch&go, then proceed to Haigh, land there, refuel if need be, then come back. It's a long trip - O37 is over 100 miles away from CCR. Anyway, we discuss it a bit longer, then hop on the plane, and take off.
I do the T&G at O88, then head northwest to try and find I-505. Almost immediately, I get lost. John, bless his heart, refuses to help me; instead, he keeps telling me to look at the chart and figure out where I am. I start by blind-guessing, and true to form, he refuses to tell me if I'm right or wrong, instead forcing me to think. Yes, I was panicking. But eventually I calmed down and started following the Pilotage advice I had heard before. In 5 minutes I got reoriented, found the freeway, and went back on course.
We did some dead reckoning, then VOR, before hitting Willows and starting to look for Haigh. I was pretty certain I was dead-on when John started saying "I think we passed it". I was, like, "wait, have you ever been there?", and he goes "nah, figured you'd be able to find it". I swear I glared at him. We went a bit higher and started looking. The damn thing nowhere in sight. We looked at the chart. It should be right beneath us!
Nope.
Eventually I went back to Willows and tried again, this time relying on dead reckoning. Sure enough, the chart (current, updated) was misleading! Haigh was about 3 miles north of where you would expect it to be based on the chart. John saw it first, but a split second later I did as well.
Landing was a cinch, but we had used so much fuel already that we had to refill the tanks. That was a fun experience and I learned something really new and unexpected!
The flight back was pretty uneventful, so John decided to stick me under the hood and get me lost and see if I can recover still under the hood. No problem, dude. Instruments are fun.
Came back to find the Hobbs indicating exactly 3 hours.... which is exactly the minimum requirement for dual cross-country. All that time getting lost? well, that enabled me to check that box in my training... and set me up for the next big milestone:
My first solo cross-country.
That will come in the next post.
Anyway, I came in Monday morning, and we started chatting. We were going to follow the incremental plan I had laid out with my regular instructor, when the discussion turned to requirements, and cross-country. John has seen me operate a plane safely in very harsh conditions; he is the one that had remarked once after one of my difficult experiences "three perfect maximum crosswind component landings in a row; that's skill, not luck". So I knew he trusted me a lot more than my regular instructor does.
But even I did not expect the next thing that came out of his mouth, which was something along the lines of: "OK, let's do your cross-country then".
Nice.
So we picked an airport - Orland Haigh, O37, west of Chico, CA - and made a plan. We would fly out to Rio Vista (O88), do a touch&go, then proceed to Haigh, land there, refuel if need be, then come back. It's a long trip - O37 is over 100 miles away from CCR. Anyway, we discuss it a bit longer, then hop on the plane, and take off.
I do the T&G at O88, then head northwest to try and find I-505. Almost immediately, I get lost. John, bless his heart, refuses to help me; instead, he keeps telling me to look at the chart and figure out where I am. I start by blind-guessing, and true to form, he refuses to tell me if I'm right or wrong, instead forcing me to think. Yes, I was panicking. But eventually I calmed down and started following the Pilotage advice I had heard before. In 5 minutes I got reoriented, found the freeway, and went back on course.
We did some dead reckoning, then VOR, before hitting Willows and starting to look for Haigh. I was pretty certain I was dead-on when John started saying "I think we passed it". I was, like, "wait, have you ever been there?", and he goes "nah, figured you'd be able to find it". I swear I glared at him. We went a bit higher and started looking. The damn thing nowhere in sight. We looked at the chart. It should be right beneath us!
Nope.
Eventually I went back to Willows and tried again, this time relying on dead reckoning. Sure enough, the chart (current, updated) was misleading! Haigh was about 3 miles north of where you would expect it to be based on the chart. John saw it first, but a split second later I did as well.
Landing was a cinch, but we had used so much fuel already that we had to refill the tanks. That was a fun experience and I learned something really new and unexpected!
The flight back was pretty uneventful, so John decided to stick me under the hood and get me lost and see if I can recover still under the hood. No problem, dude. Instruments are fun.
Came back to find the Hobbs indicating exactly 3 hours.... which is exactly the minimum requirement for dual cross-country. All that time getting lost? well, that enabled me to check that box in my training... and set me up for the next big milestone:
My first solo cross-country.
That will come in the next post.
posted by Blinkered at 12:23 PM
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