Lesson 21: Second Solo Cross Country
Thursday,2/5/04
Take off BFI, Touch and go Arlington, Bayview, stop at Friday Harbor,
return BFI
Cessna 150, 2.7 hours, 4 landings
Again, I intend to go to the coast but a large fog bank sits between me and Hoquiam. Deane thinks that I could probably fly around it but I want a plan that is more likely to go. I settle on a trip to Friday Harbor via Arlington and Skagit/Bayview. With the help of CoPilot (flight planning for palm computers) I quickly plan a new route, get a weather brief, file a flight plan, and I'm off.
I fly the Mercer departure and cross over Bellevue for the first time. The clouds are high so I can climb as high as I want, which today is 3,500ft. I cross Harvey Field, my check point for staying east of Paine airspace, and on to Arlington.
As I approach Arlington I begin to hear other pilot calling out their positions. We each take turns, call and response, stating where we are and where we are going. "I am here". "I am here". I think that I know where they are, but as hard as I look I don't see anyone. Other planes are easiest to spot when the are on short final, a well known location. Of course, by that point they are not a factor for me. I cross the airport, circle to enter the downwind, touch and go.
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Bayview is quite until I'm about 10 miles off then several pilots declare intention to land. There are two runways. ASOS indicates that 04, the short runway, would be best aligned for the wind but other pilots have decided to use 28 so I go along with that. Since planes are coming in from the east and the west AND I can't see them yet I decide to NOT over fly the airport, instead circle south of the air port to enter on the 45 for runway 28, fitting my self in behind the other planes. A pilot reports cross wind on the runway. On final I have to use quite a crab angle to keep on the centerline I line up. Near the runway drop a wing and use the rudder to align with the runway. I'm surprised by how much rudder I do have to use. I'm a little off center and I bounce once. Not my best landing, but neither was it a bad landing.
Arc north of the Whidbey NAS airspace, crossing Guyman and Cypres islands. The San Juans look a lot different from the air.
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At Friday Harbor all the parking spaces seem to be marked "reserved". I pick one near the gas pump, park, and get out to stretch my legs. There's not much here at the airport. I could walk into town, but it's further than I have time. In fact, I'm behind schedule. These flights seem to take longer than indicated by the flight planning. I begin to suspect that this plane is not flying as fast as the airspeed gauge says it is.
When I go to do my run ups I find that the engine is miss firing on the left magnetos. I shut down and call Deane who tell's me to run the engine at full for a minute or two then try. I do this and the engine runs find on each magneto so I'm off.
Right out of Friday Harbor I contact Whidbey Approach and tell them I would like to transition through their airspace to the coast of Whidbey then south to Port Townsend and that I would like Flight Following. I'm at 3000 ft as I leave Lopez island. Even though I seldom have flown this high, looking down it does not seem all that far below me. I decide to do something very radical and new: climb to 4,500, the VFR cruising altitude for my current heading. Even at 4,500 ft the ground does not seem all that far away.
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I over fly Port Townsend and take a picture of my mother's house. I've been able to see Boeing field since I was over Whidbey and soon it is time for me to start my descent to pass under the Seatac airspace.
Though this phrase is certainly over used, it's a different world up here. The scale of time and distance is different. I never could have visited all the places that I did today by ground transportation, yet if I wanted to get to Bellingham it would be faster and more reliable to drive my car. The Friday Harbor that I landed at was not the Friday Harbor that I have arrived at by boat. I over fly Shilshole and see my house. 10 minutes later I'm parked at Boeing field and now have a half hour drive to get back to my house.
Deane is on vacation the next 3 weeks. I'm endorsed for local flight and two cross country routes. I have 28 hours now and expect to have 35 or so by the time he gets back. I may be ready to take my check ride far sooner than I ever expected. In fact, I may be able to do it before I leave for Utah. That's a goal: able to rent a plane in Utah.
Lesson 22: I Miss the Runway!
Monday, 2/9/2004
Take off BFI, Stop at Sequim, Stop at Jefferson, return BFI
Cessna 150, 2.0 hours, 3 landings
Deane is on vacation in Hawaii and I've been left with two cross country routes that I can do. Weather is forecast clear all week so I've reserved the plane. Morning fog and clouds don't actually lift until early afternoon. I fly up to Sequim, circling around a cloud layer off the Olympic Mountains. It's a narrow runway up there.
After a short break I'm off to Jefferson County, which is just 10 minutes away. I enter left traffic for runway 27, turn base, turn final, and find myself high. I do a slip, release it early, and cross the threshold well off the ground. I can't believe it! This is the first time that I've miss a landing! I go round and do fine on the second.
Ed Merrell meets me at the airport and we visit for a short while. His wife has been helping us with my mother's medical bills. When he heard that I was taking flying lessons he was eager to meet me. He shows me his "little Cessna 172" which is about the same vintage as the club's 172 but in much, much better shape. But I'm worried about getting back before dark so I'm soon off.
I did get a weather brief for this flight but I didn't file a flight plan or use Flight Following. I did call Flight Watch at get a weather forecast for Sequim when I was half way up there.
I did intend to try to stick to headings and times to build confidence in my pilotage navigation but I gave up that idea at the first cloud bank I had to detour around. Around here I can figure out where I am just by looking at the ground, though Deane points out that does not work so well in the featureless plains.
Oh, I bought a GPS from E-Bay, a used 195. This was my first flight with it. I didn't need it to navigate, but I did watch it and confirmed that it agreeded with me as to where we were. It has a moving map which shows airspaces. This will easy my workload as I navigate through the unseen boundaries of controlled airspace.
Lesson 23: I Drop the Plane!
Monday, 2/11/2004
Take off BFI, Touch and goes at Arlington, stop at Skagit, return BFI
Cessna 150, 2.9 hours, 7 landings
Weather is still good and I do the other cross country to Arlington and Skagit/Bayview. I have plenty of time to I plan to practice landings at each of the airports and practice turns along the way.
3189J, the newer 150 is back in service. I'm excited to use it because:
- 7815Z is overloaded with two people and full fuel - it is unlikely that I'll be able to use it to do my check ride.
- 7815Z also has a worn tire that I hope they replace soon.
- Where as 89J has big honking tires which look like they would be good for grass strip landings.
But when I land at Arlington I'm surprised by how quickly 89J wants to slow down, stall, and drop from the sky. In fact, on my second landing it does just that. I get too slow in the flare and the plane falls through the last several feet faster than is comfortable. It is like I'm back to my early landings! Which, now that I think about it were in this plane. Now I'm missing 15Z and it's gentile, floating ways.
Also, 98J's wants to go sideways through the air and I have to hold pressure on the right rudder to keep it straight. This throws off my coordination. And the plane wants to bank to the left so I have to keep steady right pressure on the ailerons. At bayview I bend the aileron trim tab to take some of that pressure off, but then also discover that if I hold the plane straight (right rudder pressure) the tendency to bank left pretty much goes away. Now I miss 15Z and it's straight flying ways.
But on my 3rd landing at Arlington I'm on the power and make a better landing.
I head north and practice turns over the large fields in the Skagit valley. I feel like my skills are inconsistent. First time I did turns along a line I thought I did great. Now I'm feeling off balance. I should be doing much better. What is going on?
I stop at Skagit, then do two more landings there, then contact Whidbey Approach for transition through the NAS airspace. That goes we'll. The controller advises me as to several planes near by and I find this reassuring. On the way up there were planes all over the place and I had to keep a constant eye out. Even with that I'm often surprised by where planes show up. I hate to think of this airspace on a good summer weekend.
By the time I'm back at Boeing a strong south wind has come up (later weather data shows gusts up to 19). The ride in is bumpy. A cross wind shifts me right over the runway and I bank to bring the plane back to center. The left main touches down first, not too hard, but then followed quickly by the right main and the nose wheel.
I brought my GPS (Garmin 195 bought from E-Bay) on this flight. Here's it's track log of the flight the practice near Bayview and the touch and gos at Bayview.
