Date & Time: Wednesday, 6th August, 1997, 17:30 CDT
Where: From SPX -> 3R1 via VUH, LBX -> SPX
Instruction: 1.8 hrs solo. Running logbook total: 44.2 hrs, 16.9 hrs solo
Aircraft: Beechcraft C23 Musketeer, N5977S

Pilotage!
   Today was probably the most pleasant flight I've had. It was a flight which made it all worthwhile, only overshadowed by one thing I heard on the radio (more of that later).
   Before I left work, I called for a weather briefing, and found the weather to be good, with a 'few' layer at 4,000 and not much else (a few isolated showers had been reported earlier, but there was no longer any evidence of them on radar). I filed a round-robin flight plan to 3R1 (Bay City) and back home.
   I got to the airport and looked at the almost completely clear skies. It was going to be a good day. My route had originally been planned for flying in the Cessna 172, which is equipped with an ADF receiver. I was going to try an outbound track from Galveston NDB to Bay City, which put a sizeable dogleg in my route (making it about 25 miles longer or thereabouts over the direct route). The Beech doesn't have an ADF receiver, so I when I got the signoff from Lee, I told him I'd do a pilotage/dead reckoning trip since the dogleg would sharpen my navigational skills. In the end I used pure pilotage - I just referred to the heading off my navigational log, and followed the map.
   After taking off from SPX, I headed directly south towards Galveston Island, crossing Interstate 45 down towards the coast. As I came to a certain point, it was time to point southwest for Bay City. I climbed to an altitude of 6,500 feet as I turned, and the view was good. There was some haze, but the lack of clouds made up for it. I opened my flight plan and got ready to call Houston departure for flight following. I switched to departure and listened, and couldn't get a word in edgeways. They were very busy - it seemed like the rush-hour. Since the visibility was good, I decided that on the balance of it, I didn't want to load up the already busy controller who was trying to get traffic into Hobby.
   The most visible features were the resevoirs and lakes. I could easily pick these up on the map, and Brazoria Co. Airport slid by underneath, just where it should be. As I approached 3R1, I turned to its CTAF frequency, and got ready for descent. I followed the railroad tracks that would lead to the airport.
   About now, I started hearing an incident on the radio. There was somebody up there in a retract, and he couldn't get his wheels down. I could hear another pilot who was helping him by looking at the gear after the pilot attempted to use the emergency gear extension system. This hadn't worked. The pilot was calmly going through his strategy to try to get the wheels down - he was going to try a 3-G pull-up to see if it would shake his gear down and get it locked. Shortly afterwards, I got too low to hear them still (this was happening quite some ways off judging by the signal strength).
   After landing in 12-knot or so direct headwinds into Bay City, I parked up to go and get a quick drink. However, the place was utterly deserted. The only aircraft on the ramp was my Beech and a fair-sized piston twin. The only other thing at the airport was a maintenance shop. I think this is one of those 'gas station' type airports where few people are actually based, but judging by the quality of the runway (which is good) and a nice pilots lounge, plenty of people fill up with fuel here. In fact, I saw a very odd looking taildragger come in, fuel up and leave (after following a very unconventional traffic pattern, I may add...)
  Since the airport was deserted, I didn't stay long. I checked the fuel and oil status and did a quick preflight, and left for home. After departing, I listened out for the pilot with the gear troubles, but the frequency was quiet. Hopefully this means that his problems were sorted out by a sharp pull up on the yoke of his airplane. Most retractables have 'fail safe' gear failure modes, where the gear will extend if hydraulic pressure is lost (however, they may not necessarily lock, hence the pull-up manoever). On the way back, although I kept the map on my lap folded to the correct page, I didn't need it since I could just follow the landmarks in. With the sun now behind me, I could see for miles. I climbed to 5,500 feet, and the view was excellent.
   I heard something interesting whilst I was tuned into Houston Approach...
"Houston Approach, King Air xxxx is heading for home"
"Errr, King Air xxxx, where _is_ home exactly?"
My instructor would have told me off if I had done that! Turns out that the King Air was off to Houston Hobby.
   Since it was close to the FBO closing time, I closed my flight plan in the air once SPX was in sight. I followed TX Highway 146 back the normal way, and entered the pattern and did a nice smooth landing with the stall horn going off, with deep satisfaction that my navigational skills are coming along nicely! But I do hope that gear-up pilot got sorted out in the end.

Conclusion.
   I've gotta say it again... if you navigate just by using navaids such as VOR and GPS, you don't know what you're missing! The satisfaction of the airport appearing just where you anticipated after using nothing more than a chart, a watch and your eyes gives a great feeling of satisfaction.
   Well, I'm out of town this weekend, so this will be the only flying this week (oh well...) However, under the new Part 61, the only cross country I now have left is two more controlled field landings since I've already met the minimum solo cross country hours.

What was learned.
   Lakes, rivers, roads and railroads make the best pilotage landmarks. Airports aren't great as landmarks, since you can't see them as far away as the former ones mentioned, but having them marked is good since you then know where there's a place to land should you need to divert for any reason.
   Altitude is your friend for pilotage. You can see far more and it gives you a better opportunity to compare what  you see out the window to the shapes on the map. If there's nothing stopping you from climbing high, keep climbing!