On 11/05/06 19:32, CareBear wrote:
Well I did another xc solo today. The flight was from 3A1 (Cullman, AL) to
CTJ (Carrollton, GA), to BHM (Birmingham, AL) and back to 3A1.

The leg to CTJ was kinda long (70 minutes) but it was relaxing. Flying to
BHM from CTJ was rather interesting. The sun was shining bright right at
me. The little sun visor in the plane really didn't help. Since I couldn't
see clearly, I really had to rely on the instruments. I was flying at 4500
until I got close to the Anniston-Talladega-St. Clair County area. Then I
climbed to 5500 since there is an info box on the sectional that says "For
Reasons of National Security Pilots Are Requested To Avoid Flight At And
Below 5000 Feet In This Area". Although I climbed to 5500 I also stayed
South of I-20 to stay clear of the Restricted area close to Anniston. (I
didn't want a couple of jets joining me for company) .

About 30nm out from BHM, I made the necessary calls to BHM
Approach/Tower/Grd Ctl, etc. after listening to ATIS. There was heavy
traffic at BHM. A couple of planes were told to stay clear of BHM Class C.
I think they were eventually allowed to enter and land.

Departing BHM and heading to 3A1 was uneventful except that it was getting
dark. I was familiar with this leg having flown it a couple of times.

I still get a little nervous when I have to talk to Approach/Tower, etc. at
Class C airports. I guess it will just take time and more communicating
before I really get the hang of it. There is a great little book that
really helps me with this. It's called VFR Radio Procedures in The USA.
I'm sure most of you are familiar with it.

That's about it for now. As usual, any advice, constructive criticism, and
other comments are welcomed.

CareBear



Sounds like you did just fine. All the radio work definitely gets easier
with practice. When I was doing my solo cross country flights, I was
using a ANR headset that would, at times, garble the received transmissions,
making it impossible to hear what the controller says. That was a really
horrible experience. I bought a cheap, non-ANR headset and haven't had any
more problems.

Did you have any particular problems with the communications that you
wanted to share?

Remember too that even if the sun is in your eyes, you are responsible
for seeing and avoiding other aircraft. This may even help you decide
whether or not it's safe to fly in a particular direction at a particular
time.

Congratulations on your third. You must be pretty close to your check
ride, aren't you? What's left?


--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane
Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA