Tarheel Pilot
Line Up and Wait
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2007
- Messages
- 603
- Display Name
Display name:
Tarheel Pilot
Aircraft: Piper Cherokee 180 N3663R
Well tonight I went on my second cross country from Concord Regional to Greensboro and back. This time I took extra time to plan out my trip (and did it in pencil) and I picked way points that I would be able to see in the dark. I picked KRUQ, the city of Salisbury, KEXX, and the town of Lexington. We departed close to 2230 local time, (didn't forget my AFD this time) and while we were preparing for the trip, I looked at my sectional, and I noticed that my coloring system (blue for TOC, green for BOD) did not really work all that well in the red light. *Doh!* Luckily I brought a little fashlight with me, and I was able to tell the difference from there.
The winds were pretty calmed and I put the winds aloft at 1005+13 which actually worked out pretty well. I did the usual taxi, the run-up and the take off. We climbed up to 5,500 feet towards Greensboro. Now earlier we were worried about the clouds, but they actually cleared away and we were able to cruise at 5,500. We leveled off at 5,500 without having to level off at 3,000. I got to say, everything looks beautiful at night, the lights, the stars, the calm air, it was pretty amazing. My way points were easy to see too, I saw the beacon for KRUQ, the town of Salisbury, I saw the KEXX beacon as well as the smaller town of Lexington. After we passed Lexington I descended down to 3,500 (as per Greensboro Approach instruction) and then we ran into a small snag.
In the sea of lights that makes up a city, we really couldn't see the airport that well. It wasn't until we saw the beacon for Greensboro that we were able to see the actual airport. We had GPS, but I've made it a practice to only use it to make sure I'm on the right route. I really didn't get a chance to go down to pattern altitude until I was mid-downwind for 23. Which really isn't a problem, espically since we got a big long runway.
We landed at Greensboro, and taxied back. While we were taxing, I update myself on the weather with the ASOS, and copied my clearance back to Concord with Greensboro Tower. (Apparently they weren't busy enough to warrant the switch to ground.) We held short at Runway 23 for what appears to be an MD-80 series aircraft and a Boeing 727. I tried to get a picture of the Boeing 727, but my battery died and I didn't get it! *another Doh!* After the Boeing 727 cleared off, we taxied onto the runway and took off. There's something I've noticed. When you're in an airliner you don't notice the runway lights that are embedded into the runway, but in a small aircraft you do.
The trip back to Concord was uneventful, I had to make a 5 degree correction to the left, but other than that it was pretty much smooth sailing. Along the way Jim talked about his experience as an airliner pilot and how they would mess with each other and the stewardess. What brought this up was that we both watch Family Guy and in one of the recent episode was about Glenn Quagmire and him losing his job as an airliner pilot. This is what we were talking about.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Pysnp6-PdOs
Now we hit the same snag with Concord, couldn't see it in the sea of lights, and had to use Charlotte Approach and our GPS to find it. Luckily we were at 2,000 ft when we found it. Now we landed at the hour where there was no ATC. Now before I started flying out of Concord, I used to fly out of Wilgrove (8A6) so I am used to uncontrolled fields, and I basically treated this like an uncontrolled field, made my calls, watched out for traffic, and landed safely back down on Runway 20.
All in all, this was a much better trip. I had a deviation airport (KINT) and (8A6), I made sure I was up to date, and that I had all the NOTAM, and basically I didn't make the same mistakes that I did last time. Now I made some new mistakes, but this time around I had it much more together, and that led to a much better flight, it was fun and I can't wait to take more exciting and fun X-country!
Well tonight I went on my second cross country from Concord Regional to Greensboro and back. This time I took extra time to plan out my trip (and did it in pencil) and I picked way points that I would be able to see in the dark. I picked KRUQ, the city of Salisbury, KEXX, and the town of Lexington. We departed close to 2230 local time, (didn't forget my AFD this time) and while we were preparing for the trip, I looked at my sectional, and I noticed that my coloring system (blue for TOC, green for BOD) did not really work all that well in the red light. *Doh!* Luckily I brought a little fashlight with me, and I was able to tell the difference from there.
The winds were pretty calmed and I put the winds aloft at 1005+13 which actually worked out pretty well. I did the usual taxi, the run-up and the take off. We climbed up to 5,500 feet towards Greensboro. Now earlier we were worried about the clouds, but they actually cleared away and we were able to cruise at 5,500. We leveled off at 5,500 without having to level off at 3,000. I got to say, everything looks beautiful at night, the lights, the stars, the calm air, it was pretty amazing. My way points were easy to see too, I saw the beacon for KRUQ, the town of Salisbury, I saw the KEXX beacon as well as the smaller town of Lexington. After we passed Lexington I descended down to 3,500 (as per Greensboro Approach instruction) and then we ran into a small snag.
In the sea of lights that makes up a city, we really couldn't see the airport that well. It wasn't until we saw the beacon for Greensboro that we were able to see the actual airport. We had GPS, but I've made it a practice to only use it to make sure I'm on the right route. I really didn't get a chance to go down to pattern altitude until I was mid-downwind for 23. Which really isn't a problem, espically since we got a big long runway.
We landed at Greensboro, and taxied back. While we were taxing, I update myself on the weather with the ASOS, and copied my clearance back to Concord with Greensboro Tower. (Apparently they weren't busy enough to warrant the switch to ground.) We held short at Runway 23 for what appears to be an MD-80 series aircraft and a Boeing 727. I tried to get a picture of the Boeing 727, but my battery died and I didn't get it! *another Doh!* After the Boeing 727 cleared off, we taxied onto the runway and took off. There's something I've noticed. When you're in an airliner you don't notice the runway lights that are embedded into the runway, but in a small aircraft you do.
The trip back to Concord was uneventful, I had to make a 5 degree correction to the left, but other than that it was pretty much smooth sailing. Along the way Jim talked about his experience as an airliner pilot and how they would mess with each other and the stewardess. What brought this up was that we both watch Family Guy and in one of the recent episode was about Glenn Quagmire and him losing his job as an airliner pilot. This is what we were talking about.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Pysnp6-PdOs
Now we hit the same snag with Concord, couldn't see it in the sea of lights, and had to use Charlotte Approach and our GPS to find it. Luckily we were at 2,000 ft when we found it. Now we landed at the hour where there was no ATC. Now before I started flying out of Concord, I used to fly out of Wilgrove (8A6) so I am used to uncontrolled fields, and I basically treated this like an uncontrolled field, made my calls, watched out for traffic, and landed safely back down on Runway 20.
All in all, this was a much better trip. I had a deviation airport (KINT) and (8A6), I made sure I was up to date, and that I had all the NOTAM, and basically I didn't make the same mistakes that I did last time. Now I made some new mistakes, but this time around I had it much more together, and that led to a much better flight, it was fun and I can't wait to take more exciting and fun X-country!