It was quite an adventure both scary and rewarding. I flew from Stillwater, ok to LNK on Friday, stayed for the weekend, then flew home today. It's funny how worried I get that I'll forget to find a frequency or feel like something unimaginable is going to happen, but once I'm enroute, everything seems to settle down into a flow. I've become pretty good in my opinion with VORs and crossing and or following a radial. It still seems pretty mysterious that somewhere out there is a city you have to find. There are no road markings or big city signs you can see from thousands of feet up so you have to use your best judgment in determining which city is which and those VORs definitely help to confirm.
I think probably the neatest part about the flying portion was flying by Wichita international and seeing the airliners take off underneath your left wing, not to mention all the houses and business buildings. I couldn't pick them all out, but there are also many small airstrips scattered throughout the Wichita area including Cessna and I believe Beechcraft's fields. I hear also that there is a huge Stearman fly in each year that is pretty neat to go to.
Salina was a 70 mile jog to the north and although their runways could use a little TLC, the FBO offers free cookies (confirmed by an earlier visit). Which, as every pilot knows, could turn into a reasonable fuel stop just for that!
From there was a 127 mile northeast trek to Lincoln. That part was the loneliest portion of the entire trip. Kansas city center cannot pick you up below 6,000 feet and neither can anyone else I know of. FF is out of the question, so you're on your own. There's nothing to see and no one to hear so picking depicted landmarks is somewhat tricky at times, not to mention in visibility decreasing the closer you get to Lincoln. Thankfully it didn't drop to 5 and light showers until about 10 miles out. By then, Lincoln approach picked me up and vectored me in. BTW, I have to thank Jesse for giving me the tip on asking for vectors, it helps in an unfamiliar area. Approach and Tower were surprisingly friendly about it.
Jesse picked me up at the airport from which I later saw the true weather that I had just missed. Sometimes I wish I had a few more toys with pictures to play with in the airplane, but until then, I'm greatfull for what I can get.
The weekend was relaxing and my last vacation before school starts tomorrow.
Although, unsure at first looking at a huge rain mass hovering over my home airport, I headed home today after seeing it was moving east. The flight back went pretty smoothly. I stopped in Ponca city for a short break and needing to adjust. I ended up meeting a nice EAA 'er filling up his cessna who let me inside the EAA building for the restroom since I had arived after hours. He was very friendly and offered me a gaterade and an invitation with tickets to a huge pancake breakfast they have every month at the EAA hanger. I said thanks and we both jumped in our airplanes. He took off and I did a run up. For some reason the airplane wasn't wanting to get power and shook much like carbon build up. It started to worry me but after some convincing and manipulation that took patience, like magic, it stopped and purred. I gently took off, and flew my 30 min flight home.
The sun was creating a deep orange, sliced in half by a thin strip of cloud as I turned out of the Flight center parking lot. It seemed to fit in the background amongst 20 other orange and white cessnas including the one I made my 600 nm round trip in. Its still sinking what all happened and what I think I learned during my excursion north. I think I'm beginning to get a little confidence in my XC ability although I know I have a long road ahead of me, many obstacles to overcome, and a ton more to learn. In the end, it makes me feel better to know that a month ago, I wouldn't want to fly 50 miles on my own, now it's a little like next door. It's a good feeling accomplishing a big portion of a rating and a great feeling knowing when it comes to the event itself you are capable of doing it on your own.
