Big Valley

The cross-country work continues...

Stan is still out of commision so Dan and I took on another cross-country flight this morning out to Stockton in the San Joaquin Valley. I've become more efficient with my flight planning and now my time in the air exceeds my time on the ground plotting the charts. It was a really beautiful day in the Bay Area and with a review of my flight plan by Dan while I did my pre-flight on N5204A we eventually hopped in and were off to KSCK (Stockton).

We opened our flight plan on the ground with Oakland FSS (flight service station) and with a right downwind departure we turned East to follow a heading that I had not only charted on paper but had programmed into the GPS before taking off. You can program GPS way points into the system which aren't visible (necessarily) from the ground. They show up on the moving map and make for a nice tidy way to verify certain features against what's outside the window. We flew out at an altitude that did not make for the most expeditious route, 5,500ft, but made for a better way to slow things down while in the climb and get my bearings. I got flight following and am constantly amazed at the amount of air traffic in the vicinity that you don't see but hear about.

I had a really nice flight out and feel pretty comfortable with all of the aspects of a good cross-country. I made a pretty sweet landing at Stockton and we inverted our flight plan and proceeded to make a left crosswind departure out of Stockton for some training on how to use the autopilot feature of our Cessna 172S. Once we climbed out to an altitude of about 3,500ft Dan instructed me on the really easy to use autopilot. Turn it on and once you have achieved your desired heading and altitude you press the altitude button and heading button and the plane is now on cruise control. To adjust your heading and altitude is just as easy and it can really take a load off the pilot as the autopilot flies with very tight tolerances aaaannndd maybe holds altitude and heading better than me at this point. I really can do all of these things pretty well but it takes a lot of work to constantly tweak the controls. FYI, when you fly commercially and except for take-offs and landings that sucker is pretty much on autopilot. I really like the autopilot feature and plan to us it liberally when cruising for distances at a time.

We also practiced diverting to another airport when your primary route and destination must be discontinued for any reason, fog, runway closures, etc. Diverting can be, well, a diversion from flying the airplane. You get out your chart and measure the distance with the straight edge that measures distance and also determine where you are and where the alternate airport is located. You also have to figure time and fuel burn to the alternate airport. You do this by determining where you are and then circle this area until you literally get your bearings. Then move on to the alternate airport all the while flying the airplane and maintaining altitude. This will all be part of the FAA checkride so it's a safe bet I will have done a lot of diverting on the ground to different airports in the area before getting in the plane.

After 'diverting' our flight for a few minutes we took a tack back to San Carlos where I did a few soft field landings and greased those in for a nice day of flying. I really wished we could have stayed out a little while longer. I was fresh and on top of my game. Next week is a little ground school lesson and then a stage check. This will be what's called a Stage II check for my cross-country. This means I will be endorsed to fly to certain airports that are more than 50 nautical miles from San Carlos airport. I cannot wait because I am getting really bored flying to Hayward and Palo Alto. I have also been endorsed to take my FAA written exam this next week. I have been doing pretty well on the practice exams so feeling confidant that I should do OK. It is a lot of work to get your private pilot's certificate. I have over 70 hours of training in the plane and have been attending course classes (ground school) every Thursday for 3 hrs since January of this year. Interesting stuff though and I love to do it all. It is also nice to be learning something complex since leaving college. Keeps the neurons firing on all cylinders.

-russ