Tomahawk674
Pre-takeoff checklist
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2005
- Messages
- 270
- Location
- St. Joseph, Missouri
- Display Name
Display name:
Tomahawk674
Hello all, just reporting my first cross country, what a great experience.
I had been planning to do it for a while but because of different circumstances it had to wait.
The Flight was from STJ to IXD, 56.5nm. The CFI pulled up all the weather, and then we sat down and did a quick plan, not very rigorous. We decided to avoid going into the Class B rings from Kansas City Intl. so the route was mostly straight with a slight bend. He had a handheld Garmin which made life much easier. We calculated wind correction and then we were off. I was hoping the weather would have been smooth so that I wouldn't have had to keep my hands on it much, but it was exactly the opposite. It was bumpy (we were low to avoid clouds and airspace, about 1100 AGL) and I couldn't take my hands off the thing, had to keep correcting all the way down and back. Then as we got close to IXD, we noticed it was BUSY, and I mean busy, it was non-stop action on the radio! those controllers had their hands full alright, and we had some cool planes zooming about, including a P-51, a Stearman, Taylorcraft, a flight of 2 RVs, etc. We landed (it was a nice landing if I may say so myself) and we had to hold short of runway crossing. About a minute later we were cleared and then we were off. There was some traffic that we had to get out of the way for, and soon we were out of there. The radio was so congested it was annoying, I couldn't have a conversation with the CFI!. The flight back was uneventful, although still bumpy. It was starting to get warm in the cockpit, and my rear was starting to hurt... we then contacted the much more quiet STJ tower, and I brought her in for what was a very nice landing
A very enjoyable experience, ammounting to 1.6 hours, $168, and a big big smile on my face.
Next time I'll bring a cushion to sit on...
I had been planning to do it for a while but because of different circumstances it had to wait.
The Flight was from STJ to IXD, 56.5nm. The CFI pulled up all the weather, and then we sat down and did a quick plan, not very rigorous. We decided to avoid going into the Class B rings from Kansas City Intl. so the route was mostly straight with a slight bend. He had a handheld Garmin which made life much easier. We calculated wind correction and then we were off. I was hoping the weather would have been smooth so that I wouldn't have had to keep my hands on it much, but it was exactly the opposite. It was bumpy (we were low to avoid clouds and airspace, about 1100 AGL) and I couldn't take my hands off the thing, had to keep correcting all the way down and back. Then as we got close to IXD, we noticed it was BUSY, and I mean busy, it was non-stop action on the radio! those controllers had their hands full alright, and we had some cool planes zooming about, including a P-51, a Stearman, Taylorcraft, a flight of 2 RVs, etc. We landed (it was a nice landing if I may say so myself) and we had to hold short of runway crossing. About a minute later we were cleared and then we were off. There was some traffic that we had to get out of the way for, and soon we were out of there. The radio was so congested it was annoying, I couldn't have a conversation with the CFI!. The flight back was uneventful, although still bumpy. It was starting to get warm in the cockpit, and my rear was starting to hurt... we then contacted the much more quiet STJ tower, and I brought her in for what was a very nice landing
A very enjoyable experience, ammounting to 1.6 hours, $168, and a big big smile on my face.
Next time I'll bring a cushion to sit on...
