I almost can't believe I did it.
I planned a 200+ mile cross-country solo flight, all by myself, and actually flew it! It was an amazing feeling.
This flight is a requirement for my private pilot's license.
It didn't actually need to be 200 miles, 150+ would have been OK, but the airport destinations that I was interested in put me at a little over 200 miles, for a total of 3 hours on the HOBBS meter.
(For those that don't know, that is the little meter in the plane that you use to track engine time and flight time) I left Phillipsburg (3I7) and headed for Hardin Co.
Airport (I95).
When I filed my flight plan, the operator thought I was saying I would take I-95 to the airport since I95 kinda sounds like a freeway.
He said he's heard stranger things.
Anyhow, it was a 30 minute flight, very similar to Muncie.
The difference was, I flew to Muncie with my instructor the first time.
That made going there the second time much easier.
With this flight, I was flying to two brand new airports that I had never been to.
I navigated half way between 3I7 and I95 via VOR which is a radio transmission that allows you to navigate directly to or directly away from a VOR station.
I literally flew right over the VOR, maintaining a very tight heading.
I had also calculated the exact radial to fly on to go directly from the VOR to I95.
That enables you to navigate and make corrections for wind and know that you're headed right for your destination.
I arrived at I95 30 minutes later, exactly on schedule.
I landed and took a break for about 5 minutes while I tuned in the next radio and VOR that I would be using to get to MZZ, my next destination which was 95 miles away.
More details on that trip in my next article.
I planned a 200+ mile cross-country solo flight, all by myself, and actually flew it! It was an amazing feeling.
This flight is a requirement for my private pilot's license.
It didn't actually need to be 200 miles, 150+ would have been OK, but the airport destinations that I was interested in put me at a little over 200 miles, for a total of 3 hours on the HOBBS meter.
(For those that don't know, that is the little meter in the plane that you use to track engine time and flight time) I left Phillipsburg (3I7) and headed for Hardin Co.
Airport (I95).
When I filed my flight plan, the operator thought I was saying I would take I-95 to the airport since I95 kinda sounds like a freeway.
He said he's heard stranger things.
Anyhow, it was a 30 minute flight, very similar to Muncie.
The difference was, I flew to Muncie with my instructor the first time.
That made going there the second time much easier.
With this flight, I was flying to two brand new airports that I had never been to.
I navigated half way between 3I7 and I95 via VOR which is a radio transmission that allows you to navigate directly to or directly away from a VOR station.
I literally flew right over the VOR, maintaining a very tight heading.
I had also calculated the exact radial to fly on to go directly from the VOR to I95.
That enables you to navigate and make corrections for wind and know that you're headed right for your destination.
I arrived at I95 30 minutes later, exactly on schedule.
I landed and took a break for about 5 minutes while I tuned in the next radio and VOR that I would be using to get to MZZ, my next destination which was 95 miles away.
More details on that trip in my next article.