Well readers, I have officially started flying my cross-countries. My first solo cross-country was amazing! I flew into Bloomington, Illinois and Kankakee, Illinois. The trip there was amazing, this time I didn't have all those first solo jitters like I did in Virgin Soloist, instead I was focusing on one thing. Weather. The day that I flew the cross-country, there was haze forecasted in the morning so once I got into the air, visibility wasn't so great, still flyable, but not great. There was also the problem of the cieling for the trip.
While looking at the weather reports prior to takeoff my instructor and I thought I could probably fit the cross-country in, but the cielings were supposed to drop as the trip progressed. So the entire way over I was constantly telling myself what to do if conditions became unflyable. I was constantly hitting the nearest button on the GPS, which tells you what airport is nearest to you so if I had to land I would know exactly where to go.
I got to Bloomington with no problems. I found all my checkpoints on the way there and didn't get lost like my instructor did her first time. I was pretty proud. So since I had completed one leg of the trip I was feeling more comfortable and didn't worry so much about the weather. I took off from Bloomington and headed for Kankakee. It was on this leg that the weather would begin to turn. I had found all my checkpoints up to about twenty miles away from the airport when I began to notice the clouds building. I didn't panic because I knew it would be a while before they were bad enough to ground me.
When I took off from Kankakee and headed to Lafayette things got really bad. While I was gone not only had clouds built up around Kankakee, but they had built up around Lafayette as well. I had a very small window to make it in. I got the weather from the Lafayette ATIS station and realized I could land, but that the clouds were getting so low it was just barely legal for me to be in the air. I landed the airplane just as the clouds made it non-VFR flying. I got back to the hangar and was met by my instructor. I looked her in the eye and said "Weather Sucks!". To which she replied "I know!".
So I finished the flight and got the shit scared out of me on the return trip, I'll never try to "fit in" a flight again. I was supposed to fly three cross-countries since then and each time the weather has been out of limits. Imagine that.
1 comment:
Congratulations on completing your first solo cross country! Weather has frustrated me almost every week and it never seems to work out, but eventually you will get the trips in. Makes all that work getting your instrument rating well worth the effort.
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