WEEK 14

Date & Time: Saturday, 2nd August, 1997, 15:00 CDT
Where: From SPX, local flight
Instruction: 1.1 hrs solo. Running logbook total: 38.3 hrs, 11.0 hrs solo...double figures for solo time!
Aircraft: Beechcraft C23 Musketeer, N5977S

All Systems Go
   I've been trying to go cross country all last week, but the weather has been continuously diabolical. It was either IFR at my departure or destination point, or at best true 'scud run' type weather. By the time Saturday had dawned, I was once again suffering withdrawal symptoms from flying! I now had a plane to fly, but the weather had forbidden it.
   Saturday started getting nice in the afternoon. So, I checked the weather, and got myself on the schedule for 3 p.m. to start sweating! (the temperature was running in the mid-90's). I decided to brush up my steep turns and slow flight, since I identified a few weaknesses in left-hand turn slow flight and steep turns. I also wanted to get familiar with the radios on the Beech, since they are different to the 172 (the 172 has a very nice set of King radios, the Beech has a Collins navcom, an older radio (probably the original), plus the real jewel...a GPS! The VOR head on the Beech is different (and IMHO) much nicer than the standard ones you get in a GA aircraft - the needle sweeps across the instrument, rather than being hung from the top like a voltmeter - the Beech CDI is the same as how they work on Flight Simulator).
   The steep turns were my best yet, after a slightly shaky start (I had to abort the first two left-hand ones because they turned into a spiral descent). Slow flight also worked well. I practised this for just about a full hour to make sure I had it down.
   The winds were perpendicular to the runway when I got back, running about 8 or 9 knots. The best thing about it was that I made my best crosswind landing ever! Although the touchdown could have been smoother, I was on the centerline, and I wasn't letting it drift! I had to keep quietly repeating "patience... patience... patience..." since the Beech stays in the ground effect seemingly for ever. However, the ailerons remain remarkably effective throughout the flare.
   I got back, then did my cross country planning for the Big Cross Country, scheduled for tomorrow. The plan was to go to Lufkin TX, then Lake Charles LA, then back home to SPX. Lee checked my planning and signed me off... let's hope for good weather!

Conclusion.
  Summer weather does its normal thing in Texas. I hadn't really started to appreciate it until I started flying... Although it's hot, you get the summer haze, scattered cloud cover, and a feature commonly in the METAR reports is WDLY SCT -TSRA (widely scattered low intensity thunderstorms). When a high comes in, it sucks moisture out of the gulf, then... no more flying!

What was learned.
   I found the best way to do the left hand steep turns was to make sure everything was straight and level, and at the entry, roll into the turn and gradually pull back, and listen to the RPM carefully. If the engine speed starts to increase, a small amount of back pressure is needed. If it goes the other way, ease off very slightly. So long as I enter the turn correctly, it only takes slight corrections to keep the altitude the same. The same goes for slow flight, except that power for altitude and pitch for airspeed is prevalent. If airspeed starts dropping off, pitch down, and if that's not going to hold altitude, you need more power. Of course, this is what my instructor has been telling me all along. I found the best policy in slow flight turns was to keep making small throttle and pitch adjustments so that any altitude changes were very small.

Date & Time: Sunday, 3rd August, 1997, 08:30 CDT
Where: From SPX -> LFK -> LCH -> SPX
Instruction: 4.1 hrs solo. Running logbook total: 42.4 hrs, 15.1 hrs solo
Aircraft: Beechcraft C23 Musketeer, N5977S

Cross country at last!
   Today was finally the day that everything would conspire to be right for my first solo cross country! I was hoping my first one would be the shorter trip to Bay City and back (about 55 miles each way). However, today was to be the long cross country - my route took me around 330NM or so. I had done this dual with Lee on the 13th July, but we went round the other way (Lake Charles first, I chose to reverse the course and go to Lufkin first).
   I learned some lessons in cockpit resource management last time, and one was looking after the radios. This time I made up a checklist of radio frequencies in the same style as the preflight checklist, with items like "Before taxi", "Before takeoff", "After takeoff" etc. with both the COM and NAV frequencies I should set on the radios. This worked very well! I had no trouble with having the radios straight, and I knew what frequency to use before I was handed off to other controllers (except in the Lake Charles area, where they had me tune in a different approach frequency than I expected, but that was no big deal.)
   I called for a weather briefing, and the weather looked good to go. I filed my flight plan, and was ready to go. My plan was to fly to Lufkin using VOR (up to Daisetta VOR, then use V407 up to Lufkin, and tune LFK VOR about halfway between the two). I kept visual checkpoints on the map to ensure my progress was going to plan. I also had the GPS on - Lee's words of wisdom were keep every bit of nav equipment doing something, even if you aren't using them for primary navigation. Then I would go to Lake Charles using pilotage and dead reckoning, then use the GPS to get back home (I know using GPS is thought of as cheating - but if I do my checkride in the Beech, the examiner will expect me to know exactly how to use it, so I wanted to make sure I could use it whilst I was in familiar territory). In the end I exchanged the pilotage/GPS legs, and did the LFK to Lake Charles using GPS, then pure pilotage from Lake Charles back home. This turned out to be a good plan - it had me use all the different types of VFR navigation methods that were available to me.
   So off I went. SPX was buzzing as I taxied out - there were 3 aircraft in the pattern with students practising touch-and-goes, two Cessnas and a Warrior. I was about to add to the general melee myself, since I would go round the pattern since I would be taking off to the south off 13, but wanting to go north.
   I did my run-up, and watched a Cessna 172 come in on final for a touch and go, and followed him out. Once he was clear, I pushed the throttle home and roared off down the runway, with 200hp of fuel injected Lycoming propelling me along the tarmac. I took off, and went round the pattern as far as downwind, then departed northwards towards Diasetta VOR. I had already set the radial and frequency before I had taken off thanks to my radio checklist.
   Once I was off, I opened my flightplan, then tried to contact Houston departure to get flight following. At this point, COM1 decided to get a little intermittent (this has been squawked), so I ended up putting the frequencies in COM2, and using COM1 to listen in to other things (like ATIS). It was then plain crusing all the way to Lufkin. I made the course change at Diasetta to get onto the victor airway, and changed tanks since I now had about 1/2 hour out of the left tank. I checked off visual checkpoints as I followed the victor airway (remembering the maxim: Pilotage and dead-reckoning are the basis of all air navigation - everything else is just backup). I wanted to make sure that if the electrical system bought it I could still get back home! Due to the haze, I remained fairly low. Fortunately, turbulence wasn't a problem. I did try to climb up, but the haze only gave about 7 or 8 miles of visibility anyhow, and the horizon was more visible if I kept a bit lower.
   When I got to LFK VOR, I had the airport in sight. I requested an airport advisory from the UNICOM operator, and the winds were calm, and everyone was coming and going on runway 07. I set the heading bug on the DG as a reminder (the heading bug is a small red arrow that you can set to a heading on the DG. It's very useful - you can set it to runways to remind you which runway ATIS told you was in use, you can set it to headings that ATC give you before you depart etc.). I made a nice landing, and taxied in where the fuel guy was already waiting for me. He signalled me in, and I parked. When I went through the shutdown checklist, and pulled the mixture, the engine decided to run on a little bit! But it did stop. The aircraft was refuelled as I went to close my flight plan, have a bit of rest and get a weather briefing for the Lake Charles leg.
   Once I was ready, I went out and preflighted and got rolling back towards 07. However, the engine was very balky! Lee had warned me that this type of engine can be trouble to start when it's hot. First I followed the hot-start checklist (mixture lean-cutoff, throttle fast idle, crank and when it fires, slide the mixture to full rich). This didn't work, so I tried again a couple of times with a pause in between as Lee had suggested. I then tried the flooded start checklist, which is mixture lean cutoff, throttle full power, turn the key and when it catches, bring the throttle back and at the same time push the mixture in! I think I need three hands... But this did work, and the engine sprang into life. I got it stabilized at 1000 rpm, and taxied out. I did my usual checks, including the radio checklist, and got the GPS set to Lake Charles to do the GPS navigation leg.
   I took off, opened my flight plan, then followed the GPS. They are right... GPS is cheating! It's extremely easy to use - you just select the 'Airport' function, and use the knobs to edit the identifier for where you want to go. Then press Enter, and the GPS tells you what heading to fly. As simple as that. I had still done the usual line on the chart and nav log, and I checked off my visual checkpoints as I went along. I also had the NAV radio tuned to LCH VOR as a further crosscheck.
   As the miles counted down on the GPS display, the time was nearing for my first solo encounter with an ATC controlled field! Unfortunately, due to the haze, I couldn't get high enough to contact Center and get flight following, so it wasn't until 30NM from Lake Charles that I made contact with Lake Charles approach. I got the ATIS before I called them up, then I called them, and added those magic words "student solo pilot" that makes ATC go easy on you! It was quiet at Lake Charles, so they told me just to keep on my own navigation, and go for a left downwind for runway 33. I set the heading bug ready on 330, and continued towards LCH. They also had me set a squawk (transponder) code so the could easily identify me as I came in on their radar screens. As the airport came in sight, I was handed off to the tower, who cleared me to land as number 2 behind a twin Cessna. I never saw the Cessna, so I reported 'negative contact' to the tower, and they told me that he had landed and was no longer a factor.
   My landing was kind of so-so - not quite on the centerline, and with a slight bounce thrown in for good measure. It always goes that way when someone (in this case, the tower) is watching!
   I taxied in. My Beech looked incongrous, parked amongst nothing else but various assorted Cessnas (last time we blended in perfectly in the 172). I got fuel - I didn't really have any difficulty pointing out my airplane to the fuel guy when I got to the office, since it was the only low wing on the ramp!
   After another period of sitting down to have a can of Coke, I called flight service and got the latest weather for the trip back home, and filed my final flight plan for the day. When I started the engine this time, I immediately used the 'flooded start' procedure, remembering the dismal failure of the 'warm start' at Lufkin. It worked! The engine started first time, and I quickly brought the throttle back to fast idle, and the mixture to full rich. I got the latest ATIS, then contacted ground control. He had me 'back taxi' down the runway (I decided not to hang around on this bit, and rolled down the runway at a reasonable speed) up to the runup pad. I did my run-up, and told tower that I was ready to go. I was cleared for takeoff, and to go for a heading of 300 after takeoff, so I set the heading bug, and rolled out onto the runway.
   Once I was established on the climb-out on a heading of 300, tower asked me 'do you have retractable gear?', to which I replied 'Negative' (Gear down and welded, I felt like saying!) I suspect the Beeches he usually sees are flashy things like Bonanzas which are all retracts, wheras the Musketeer is just a regular, four place airplane with a fixed-pitch propellor and fixed gear. I was soon handed off to departure, and could resume my own navigation.
   First, I headed towards the Sabine Pass VOR, and followed the network of lakes and rivers, using the VOR station as a cross check. As I got to Sabine Pass itself, I turned towards the heading that would take me home - paralleling the coastline and intracoastal waterway, a few miles to the north of the intracoastal. However, there was a scattered-becoming-broken cloud layer at the altitude I wanted to cruise at. It soon became clear that it wouldn't thin, and as I looked around, I saw that if I flew over the coastline, I would be in clear skies. I turned a little further south, and got up to 4,500 feet on a southwesterly course. I wanted to go higher, but the haze was a factor. I followed the coastline until High Island, where the intracoastal waterway starts widening towards Galveston Bay, and turned to follow the inland side of the intracoastal to Smith Point. As a crosscheck, I set Trinity VOR which is on Smith Point on the NAV radio. I followed this until I could see the familiar shape of San Leon on the other side of the bay, and began a gradual descent as I flew on towards it. I was down below 3,000 by the time I got to San Leon, which was good since the 4000-foot floor of the Houston Class B airspace starts just after here. From now on in, I followed my familiar way home from the practise area.
   After 4 hours of flying, it was nice to see the familiar approach into Houston Gulf rwy 13, and its normal 45 degree crosswind component! I made a nice touchdown on the centerline with the stall horn going off, and taxied back to the ramp, having had one of the best flying adventures I've had to date! It's now time to get some sleep...

Conclusion.
   One thing I did before I went out was file a flightplan using DUATS. I think I'll be sticking with WX-BRIEF! They tell you what frequency to open on, plus they interpret the weather data for you. However, DUATS is good for outlooks since you can download graphical weather maps etc.
   4.1 hours flying an airplane is quite a long time, but I tell you, it's so much better than 4.1 hours in a car! I'm looking forward to the day when I pass the checkride...

What was learned.
   Summer haze. I've never flown anywhere in it other than to the practise area (on my dual cross country, we had 20 miles visibility). I guess it's something you have to put up with down here. Lee tells me the spring and fall are the best times, and when the weather is good over the winter, you get nice clear days. I can well believe it.
   Using GPS - I've not used one until now, and before you write to me saying 'student pilots using GPS is cheating' it is something I will have to know for the checkride, so I will have know in practise how to use it. The only way to do that is to actually plan a trip using it. But as with every other electronic navaid... don't forget the visual checkpoints, just in case the electrics croak!
   Pilotage still gets the top marks in the enjoyment factor of flying cross-country. I enjoy checking off the visual checkpoints, following roads and rivers, and then have the satisfaction of the destination appearing just where I expected it. If you do use GPS/VOR all the time, you're missing out!

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