t0r0nad0
Pattern Altitude
Well, following the trend set forth by Tristan, Elizabeth, and a few others, I also did a cross-country flight this weekend. I took my girlfriend over to San Antonio for some Rudy's BBQ. Here's the trip report that I cross-posted elsewhere:
Well, as many of you know, I did my first flight with a passenger yesterday, August 19, 2007, when I took my girlfriend from Sugar Land Regional Airport in Houston over to San Antonio to get some Rudy's BBQ. I had the plane reserved from 9:30a until 2:30p and we got to the airport about 9:15a and I did my preflight while she waited inside the airconditioned lobby. After I preflighted 1629E and added a quart of oil, I went in and got her. I gave her the full passenger briefing, including seatbelts, doors, what to do in an emergency, keeping an eye for traffic, sterile cockpit limitations, and what to listen for on the radio. Then we hopped in, strapped up, started the engine, taxied for our run-up, and took off. The routing that I took was KSGR ELA V198 SAT KSAT, so as we proceeded direct to ELA, I called up FSS and opened our flight plan, then I called up Houston Center and got flight following.
I initially climbed to 2500' to stay below some clouds, then it cleared up a bit so I went up to 4500' to fly along in the smoother, cooler air above the low scattered layer. So we were flying along, dodging the cloud tops and keeping an eye on I-10 off our right-hand side, then we came upon a wall of clouds that we couldn't pass, so I called center and told them I would be descending to 2500' to get below them. Center said that he didn't have radar coverage and I needed to squawk 1200 and to call SAT Approach when I got to be about 30nm from the airport. So I did a forward slip to increase my descent, and it was apparent that that wouldn't be enough, so I did a left 360 to get down below the clouds. The bottoms were pretty low, so we cruised along at 2000' to stay below them, a couple of times dropping down as low as 1600' to clear them. I kept an eye on the minimum altitude for the block I was in on my sectional and made sure that I didn't go below that altitude.
When we got within 30nm of SAT, I got the ATIS and called up Approach to get flight following in. They ended up clearing me direct to the SAT VOR for sequencing. When I was almost to the VOR, they told me to fly heading 190 after the VOR and make a left base for runway 12L. So I made the turn and they told me to contact the tower. As we rolled out on base, an American Eagle E145 was on a 3-mile final. Tower pointed him out to me when he was on short final, and also a SWA 737 on a 5 mile final. I said that I saw the E145 and that I'd look for the 737. My better half pointed him out first, then I saw him, so I called and told the tower. They cleared me to land on 12L and to watch out for the traffic on the parallel. I did what I thought was a pretty craptastic landing... a little flat and off-center, but no bounce so it was okay. She said she didn't really notice. We were told to turn off the runway and hold short of the parallel, with the tower. After another SWA 737 landed, we were cleared to cross and then taxi into Hawker-Beechcraft.
After parking the plane, she called some friends of hers in the area and told them that we had arrived, and they came to pick us up. Meanwhile, I called FSS to close my flightplan and I had H-B top off our tanks so that we could avoid the $50 ramp fee, as I get reimbursed from my flight school for the fuel I buy since I pay a surcharge. By the time I paid the bill, our friends were there, and we were off to Rudy's to get some yummy BBQ and creamed corn (the best in the universe).
Unfortunately, with the lower altitudes and cloud-dodging, it took us a bit longer to get there than originally anticipated, so we wound up needing to eat quickly and get back to the airport. Once back, our friends came out to the ramp to see our plane, and they visited for a second with the better half while I sumped the tanks and checked the oil. Everything was good, so we hopped in and fired up. I checked the ATIS and called clearance delivery to get a squawk to get out of the Class C. They gave us a squawk and departure frequency, so I called ground and called for taxi. He cleared me to taxi to 12R - Kilo intersection via taxiway Hotel, and I was to hold short of taxiway Golf on Kilo to let the jet traffic go by. I traced the route out onto my taxiway diagram, and went on out there. I called and said we'd need a quick runup when we got there, and we were cleared to do so. While we were doing our runup, an ExpressJet in the XJet livery taxied by, as well as a couple of SWA 737's and an AAL 737. I finished my runup and called the tower, and was told to hold short. A SWA 737 taxiing on Golf stopped short of Kilo and asked tower if we were ready to go or if he was supposed to go all the way to the end. I thought it was a great gesture, but the tower told him to go all the way to the end and hold in position on the runway. He took off, and while I was waiting, a 152 came up taxiway Golf and held short of 12R on Kilo, blocking my access to the runway there. Tower cleared me to take off on 12R, so I made a zig-zag to get to the full length, and took off. I then made my left turn-out as directed and contacted departure.
I had wanted to climb up to 5500' for the way back to get some cool and smooth air, but the clouds wouldn't allow it. Fortunately, they lifted enough that I was able to fly at 3500' the entire way back. The 172N that we were flying is equipped with an old GNS100, so I punched in Direct to SGR to shave some time off on our way back, as the hold on the ground in SAT put us a bit behind schedule. I was able to still see I-10 in the distance off our left wing, and I followed the landmarks on the sectional as we flew along. SAT departure canceled our radar service and had us squawk 1200, then told us to call Houston Center for additional following. I did, and got a new squawk for the remainder of our journey. They handed us off to Houston Approach, and I picked up the ASOS for SGR. I spent a bit of time on the way back showing the better half some of the features on the chart and what they looked like on the ground. She thought it was remarkable that I was able to pick out the little airports along our route while she couldn't see them until we were on top of them. I said that it took a lot of practice before I was able to do that.
About 20nm from SGR I started descending and told approach that we had SGR in sight. About 8nm out, they handed me off to SGR Tower, who told me to make a right base for 17 and to report a 3 mile right base. I made for the base leg entry, and descended to TPA. When we were on a 4-mile right base, tower called another Cessna at our 2:00 and 1 mile. I looked and saw another plane from my flight school climbing out, and I reported him in sight and that I was on a 3 mile right base. Tower cleared me to land on 17. I landed - not spectacular, but better than my landing at SAT - and taxied back into the flight school - 15 minutes late. They didn't say anything to me about it and the person who had the plane after me was checking the weather, so all was good. We packed everything up, tied the plane down, and had a great afternoon!
Here are some pictures - First, the prison just west of SGR as we're making a right turnout after taking off on 17. Second, on a modified left base for runway 12L at SAT. Third, climbing out after taking off on 12R at SAT, with an Aeromexico 737 taxiing out and the Hawker-Beechcraft ramp where we parked on the left side of the shot.
Well, as many of you know, I did my first flight with a passenger yesterday, August 19, 2007, when I took my girlfriend from Sugar Land Regional Airport in Houston over to San Antonio to get some Rudy's BBQ. I had the plane reserved from 9:30a until 2:30p and we got to the airport about 9:15a and I did my preflight while she waited inside the airconditioned lobby. After I preflighted 1629E and added a quart of oil, I went in and got her. I gave her the full passenger briefing, including seatbelts, doors, what to do in an emergency, keeping an eye for traffic, sterile cockpit limitations, and what to listen for on the radio. Then we hopped in, strapped up, started the engine, taxied for our run-up, and took off. The routing that I took was KSGR ELA V198 SAT KSAT, so as we proceeded direct to ELA, I called up FSS and opened our flight plan, then I called up Houston Center and got flight following.
I initially climbed to 2500' to stay below some clouds, then it cleared up a bit so I went up to 4500' to fly along in the smoother, cooler air above the low scattered layer. So we were flying along, dodging the cloud tops and keeping an eye on I-10 off our right-hand side, then we came upon a wall of clouds that we couldn't pass, so I called center and told them I would be descending to 2500' to get below them. Center said that he didn't have radar coverage and I needed to squawk 1200 and to call SAT Approach when I got to be about 30nm from the airport. So I did a forward slip to increase my descent, and it was apparent that that wouldn't be enough, so I did a left 360 to get down below the clouds. The bottoms were pretty low, so we cruised along at 2000' to stay below them, a couple of times dropping down as low as 1600' to clear them. I kept an eye on the minimum altitude for the block I was in on my sectional and made sure that I didn't go below that altitude.
When we got within 30nm of SAT, I got the ATIS and called up Approach to get flight following in. They ended up clearing me direct to the SAT VOR for sequencing. When I was almost to the VOR, they told me to fly heading 190 after the VOR and make a left base for runway 12L. So I made the turn and they told me to contact the tower. As we rolled out on base, an American Eagle E145 was on a 3-mile final. Tower pointed him out to me when he was on short final, and also a SWA 737 on a 5 mile final. I said that I saw the E145 and that I'd look for the 737. My better half pointed him out first, then I saw him, so I called and told the tower. They cleared me to land on 12L and to watch out for the traffic on the parallel. I did what I thought was a pretty craptastic landing... a little flat and off-center, but no bounce so it was okay. She said she didn't really notice. We were told to turn off the runway and hold short of the parallel, with the tower. After another SWA 737 landed, we were cleared to cross and then taxi into Hawker-Beechcraft.
After parking the plane, she called some friends of hers in the area and told them that we had arrived, and they came to pick us up. Meanwhile, I called FSS to close my flightplan and I had H-B top off our tanks so that we could avoid the $50 ramp fee, as I get reimbursed from my flight school for the fuel I buy since I pay a surcharge. By the time I paid the bill, our friends were there, and we were off to Rudy's to get some yummy BBQ and creamed corn (the best in the universe).
Unfortunately, with the lower altitudes and cloud-dodging, it took us a bit longer to get there than originally anticipated, so we wound up needing to eat quickly and get back to the airport. Once back, our friends came out to the ramp to see our plane, and they visited for a second with the better half while I sumped the tanks and checked the oil. Everything was good, so we hopped in and fired up. I checked the ATIS and called clearance delivery to get a squawk to get out of the Class C. They gave us a squawk and departure frequency, so I called ground and called for taxi. He cleared me to taxi to 12R - Kilo intersection via taxiway Hotel, and I was to hold short of taxiway Golf on Kilo to let the jet traffic go by. I traced the route out onto my taxiway diagram, and went on out there. I called and said we'd need a quick runup when we got there, and we were cleared to do so. While we were doing our runup, an ExpressJet in the XJet livery taxied by, as well as a couple of SWA 737's and an AAL 737. I finished my runup and called the tower, and was told to hold short. A SWA 737 taxiing on Golf stopped short of Kilo and asked tower if we were ready to go or if he was supposed to go all the way to the end. I thought it was a great gesture, but the tower told him to go all the way to the end and hold in position on the runway. He took off, and while I was waiting, a 152 came up taxiway Golf and held short of 12R on Kilo, blocking my access to the runway there. Tower cleared me to take off on 12R, so I made a zig-zag to get to the full length, and took off. I then made my left turn-out as directed and contacted departure.
I had wanted to climb up to 5500' for the way back to get some cool and smooth air, but the clouds wouldn't allow it. Fortunately, they lifted enough that I was able to fly at 3500' the entire way back. The 172N that we were flying is equipped with an old GNS100, so I punched in Direct to SGR to shave some time off on our way back, as the hold on the ground in SAT put us a bit behind schedule. I was able to still see I-10 in the distance off our left wing, and I followed the landmarks on the sectional as we flew along. SAT departure canceled our radar service and had us squawk 1200, then told us to call Houston Center for additional following. I did, and got a new squawk for the remainder of our journey. They handed us off to Houston Approach, and I picked up the ASOS for SGR. I spent a bit of time on the way back showing the better half some of the features on the chart and what they looked like on the ground. She thought it was remarkable that I was able to pick out the little airports along our route while she couldn't see them until we were on top of them. I said that it took a lot of practice before I was able to do that.
About 20nm from SGR I started descending and told approach that we had SGR in sight. About 8nm out, they handed me off to SGR Tower, who told me to make a right base for 17 and to report a 3 mile right base. I made for the base leg entry, and descended to TPA. When we were on a 4-mile right base, tower called another Cessna at our 2:00 and 1 mile. I looked and saw another plane from my flight school climbing out, and I reported him in sight and that I was on a 3 mile right base. Tower cleared me to land on 17. I landed - not spectacular, but better than my landing at SAT - and taxied back into the flight school - 15 minutes late. They didn't say anything to me about it and the person who had the plane after me was checking the weather, so all was good. We packed everything up, tied the plane down, and had a great afternoon!
Here are some pictures - First, the prison just west of SGR as we're making a right turnout after taking off on 17. Second, on a modified left base for runway 12L at SAT. Third, climbing out after taking off on 12R at SAT, with an Aeromexico 737 taxiing out and the Hawker-Beechcraft ramp where we parked on the left side of the shot.
Flying becomes a lot more enjoyable when you have someone special to share it with! Looking forward to many more stories from ya'll. 
