jspilot
Cleared for Takeoff
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2011
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jspilot
Today was just one of those flights where things did not go right. I showed up at the flight school where I rent from and was told that the plane I was assigned was having issues with the heading indicator. No big deal as the plane has a GPS, the good old fashioned compass and I have foreflight on my iPad mini, but this should have tipped me off that this may not be my day.
As I was taxing out the wind kicked up from 8 knots to 20 knots. I heard a very interssting conversation between the ground controller at KISP and an air wisconsin regional jet as the regional jet reported a coyote crossing the runway( probably more likely a fox- but who knows) I managed a nice smooth takeoff non the less.
My plan was to go to Sky Acres (44N) and check out the resturant up there. I was cruising along comfortably enjoying the scenery and I noticed a pretty good line of snow off the right side. I kept a good eye on the snow and kept on going towards 44N. About 25nm south of 44N the weather looked terrible up ahead but there was a clear area off my left so, here comes the diversion training- plug in Stewart Airport into the GPS and Mini IPad, notify ATC of my diversion( they were very easy going about it) and off I went to Stewart.
The whole diversion thing is really no big deal at all. It was nice to have to do it for real and put into practice what I learned.
Anyway, the flight home was relatively uneventful until I arrived back at KISP. The tower made a rather large mistake and did not provide enough seperation between myself and a hawker jet landing behind me. As I turned my base turn the tower asked me to keep it close and have minimum time on the runway. I responded that I would try and did try. However the winds were real strong( still about 20 knots) so it was virtually impossible to make the 172 go fast enough on final. Landed and tried to get off the runway as quick ad I could but I was not about to firewall the throttle and run the risk of flipping the plane in windy conditions, I did give it some extra but as I was about to turn off the hawker was told to go around. I felt bad but honestly there was nothing I could do more than I did.
Quite the flight- lots of good learning experiences. I've definitely learned that the whole PPL is a license to learn is a true statement!
As I was taxing out the wind kicked up from 8 knots to 20 knots. I heard a very interssting conversation between the ground controller at KISP and an air wisconsin regional jet as the regional jet reported a coyote crossing the runway( probably more likely a fox- but who knows) I managed a nice smooth takeoff non the less.
My plan was to go to Sky Acres (44N) and check out the resturant up there. I was cruising along comfortably enjoying the scenery and I noticed a pretty good line of snow off the right side. I kept a good eye on the snow and kept on going towards 44N. About 25nm south of 44N the weather looked terrible up ahead but there was a clear area off my left so, here comes the diversion training- plug in Stewart Airport into the GPS and Mini IPad, notify ATC of my diversion( they were very easy going about it) and off I went to Stewart.
The whole diversion thing is really no big deal at all. It was nice to have to do it for real and put into practice what I learned.
Anyway, the flight home was relatively uneventful until I arrived back at KISP. The tower made a rather large mistake and did not provide enough seperation between myself and a hawker jet landing behind me. As I turned my base turn the tower asked me to keep it close and have minimum time on the runway. I responded that I would try and did try. However the winds were real strong( still about 20 knots) so it was virtually impossible to make the 172 go fast enough on final. Landed and tried to get off the runway as quick ad I could but I was not about to firewall the throttle and run the risk of flipping the plane in windy conditions, I did give it some extra but as I was about to turn off the hawker was told to go around. I felt bad but honestly there was nothing I could do more than I did.
Quite the flight- lots of good learning experiences. I've definitely learned that the whole PPL is a license to learn is a true statement!
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