Earning My Wings: Solo Cross Country

January 9, 2011

Today I flew my solo cross country!! My day started at 7:00am as I got up and went online to get all the weather forecasts. I then spent an hour and a half doing all my calculations for my flight plan. At 9:30am I arrived at the airport and reviewed my flight plan and calculations with Matt. Once he approved everything, I called the Flight Service Station (FSS) to get a weather briefing and schedule my Flight Plan. Afterwards, I went outside and did the pre-flight inspection on my airplane.

It was roughly 10:45am when I departed the airport. I headed to my first destination, Jacksonville, IL which is about 50 miles north. This was an easy leg to navigate because Matt and I flew this during my dual cross country. The only issue I had was that I could not contact the FSS on my radio to open my flight plan. Without opening my flight plan, they cannot keep track of my flight. I was a bit freaked about this. I tried over and over again on two separate frequencies and got no response from them. There was nothing else that I could do that I knew of, so I let it go because it wasn’t required.

About a half hour after leaving my airport, I reached Jacksonville. I landed on Runway 13, then pulled off to the side and got ready for my next leg of the trip. This part of the flight wasn’t as pleasant. I couldn’t find my first checkpoint on the ground so I was a little off course. I was definitely worried that I was getting lost, but I could see Springfield, so I knew I should be ok. Half way to the next airport which was Taylorville, IL, I found my second checkpoint. From there I felt much better. I arrived at Taylorville, but came in way too high on my landing, so I did a go-around. My second attempt was a success. I landed on Runway 18, then again pulled off to the side and got prepared for my final leg of the flight. After departing Taylorville, I quickly got on the correct course and headed home.

I landed back at my airport at 1:30pm. I logged 2.6 hours of cross country and pilot-in-command time. The total distance was about 160NM (nautical miles).

Next up, I’ll need to fly with my instructor a couple of times to review maneuvers and polish my landings. Then I’ll do a couple of solo flights to practice maneuvers and landings alone. We will also need to do some ground school to prepare me for the FAA Oral Exam. I’m in the final stage of training, and it’s so exciting!

Flight Log to Date
Hours flown: 21.1