Post by spad54 on Nov 13, 2005 7:52:43 GMT -5
Yesterday I completed my first X-country solo flying from POU (Dutchess County Airport,NY) to GON (Groton New London Airport,Ct) total distance one-way was 86 nm.
The day started with a popped alt wave circuit breaker, that I had not encountered before, the friction lock on the throttle backed itself all the way off on climb out (I'll be paying more attention that checklist point and am thanking the CFI for drilling it into my head to keep hand on throttle during the climb) and my transponder decided to quit about midway to GON, but recycling it twice got it going again. Jeeze that stuff never happens when the CFI is sitting next to me!
My route of flight
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The weather was perfect for a newbie with calm winds and clear skies along the entire route, so settled in at 5500 and trimmed I was able to snap a few shots of check points along the way. (Turned out there was a haze above 5k that ruined the view a tad.)
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Bridgeport, CT with Long Island Sound and the north shore of Long Island, NY in the distance.
New Haven CT and that lake with the island in the middle served as a great landmark
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On the ground at GON, Columbia Air Services, got the logbook signed
Landing at GON was a bit of a surprise. They called for wind 260/6 so I was landing on 23 which faces the ocean. On short final I hit a sinker and then a tail wind, correcting I rounded out to high, ballooned and under corrected for the x wind, moving left of the center line. The runway is 150 ft wide so I accepted the position I was in and got the flare settled, added some rpm and with a bit of a "thump" landed safely. You can see by the picture that all the parts are still on the plane, a good thing! You can be sure that I'm going to put some additional x-wind training in before my long x-country.
Heading west to POU at 4500 looking toward Hartford Brainard
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Waterbury CT and I84 about 30 nm to go to POU
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At this point in the flight I had come off flight following and it was time to set sights on POU, (no more pictures) I dropped down to 2500, did a little sight seeing over familiar country and brought her home. It was a great day!
The day started with a popped alt wave circuit breaker, that I had not encountered before, the friction lock on the throttle backed itself all the way off on climb out (I'll be paying more attention that checklist point and am thanking the CFI for drilling it into my head to keep hand on throttle during the climb) and my transponder decided to quit about midway to GON, but recycling it twice got it going again. Jeeze that stuff never happens when the CFI is sitting next to me!
My route of flight
The weather was perfect for a newbie with calm winds and clear skies along the entire route, so settled in at 5500 and trimmed I was able to snap a few shots of check points along the way. (Turned out there was a haze above 5k that ruined the view a tad.)
Bridgeport, CT with Long Island Sound and the north shore of Long Island, NY in the distance.
New Haven CT and that lake with the island in the middle served as a great landmark
On the ground at GON, Columbia Air Services, got the logbook signed
Landing at GON was a bit of a surprise. They called for wind 260/6 so I was landing on 23 which faces the ocean. On short final I hit a sinker and then a tail wind, correcting I rounded out to high, ballooned and under corrected for the x wind, moving left of the center line. The runway is 150 ft wide so I accepted the position I was in and got the flare settled, added some rpm and with a bit of a "thump" landed safely. You can see by the picture that all the parts are still on the plane, a good thing! You can be sure that I'm going to put some additional x-wind training in before my long x-country.
Heading west to POU at 4500 looking toward Hartford Brainard
Waterbury CT and I84 about 30 nm to go to POU
At this point in the flight I had come off flight following and it was time to set sights on POU, (no more pictures) I dropped down to 2500, did a little sight seeing over familiar country and brought her home. It was a great day!
