Cross Country

I flew my first cross-country flight today.  I think it was exactly what I needed.  The flight reminded me of why I took up flying to begin with.  It is the pure joy and excitement of being up in the air, above the terrain with nothing else in the world to think about other than flying.

My lessons are often a great deal of work.  We get up, fly out to our practice area and get right to work on maneuvers.  Then it's right into landing practice at whatever uncontrolled airport we are near.  Then, as I approach mental saturation, it's back to home base and one more landing.

The result is that I often land mentally spent (in a good way) and with mixed feelings about my progress.  Usually I'm happy about something I've figured out but also slightly frustrated at something I still have to learn; or frustrated about something I could do last lesson but not this lesson.

But today was different.  Matt emailed me that it was time for some cross-country flying and had me work out a flight from Livermore to the small, foothill airports of Columbia and Calaveras and then back to Livermore via an instrument flight route.

The weather was mixed -- 7,000 foot ceiling with broken clouds at about 2,700 feet.  It was clear where we were headed and the forecast called for continued clearing all day.  I mention this only because in Northern California in September we are completely shocked with anything less than perfect, cloudless, mild days.

On the way to Columbia we practiced ded reckoning navigation using time, speed and heading as well as pilotage using ground references.  On the way back, we used the VOR nav aids and the Livermore ILS or instrument landing system.  More on my first instrument flying experience in another post.

Columbia is another world.  It's a funky little Sierra foothill town with a great little airport.  It's a bit tricky to land there because of the mountains around the airport and the fact that it sits up on a plateau.  This plays visual tricks with your mind when trying to get oriented for landing.

But, I got down without completely embarrassing myself and we taxied in for a quick soft drink before heading to our next stop, 6 minutes away at Calaveras.

Rumor has it that I'll be taking my FAA checkride exam at Calaveras, so our plan is to fly here a few more times while I am building up my student time.  The idea is that I'll be a bit more at ease in an airport with which I'm familiar.  Again, it is a challenging runway as it is situated on a small plateau up against a low mountain ridge.  I shot a few touch and goes and then we headed back home for Livermore.

All of this is to say that it pays to change things up from time to time.  It really helps you gain a fresh perspective and refresh your learning engine.

Oh, and it was my birthday...