Finally got my X-country in..

Hey Kevin,

I'm taking a ship from Anchorage to Idaho. Leaving Sunday or Monday.

Drop me a note if you're interested.
PJ

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Here's to the duck who swam a lake and never lost a feather,
May sometime another year, we all be back together.
JJW
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"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net wrote in
message ...
After getting scrubbed by lack of instructor-itis and bad weather last
Monday night, I finally got my solo cross country in on Wednesday.

I spent Tuesday evening poring over my charts and getting Wx outlooks
from DUAT and finally came up with a route to fly. X-countries are
normally scheduled in a 4-hour block but I "squeaked" in with a 3 hour
block. 93 nautical miles in all and I'd planned to fly at 75kts so I
had plenty of time.

Got to the field a little after 8 and was scheduled to launch at 10.
Went over my flight plan again and then called flight service to file
my plan with the very nice woman who answered the phone and then got a
quick weather update while I was on the phone. No winds to speak of
at any of the 4 fields I was going to visit and clear skies predicted
for the rest of the day.

Went over some last minute details with Q and as I walked out to the
ship with him (He was going up with another student) I asked "How are
you going to tell I actually made the flight. What's to stop me from
just ducking over the hills and screwing around for a few hours?"

He looked at me funny and said "Nothing." Nice. I didn't see the
fun in that and I was looking forward to actually going somewhere for
a change.

The fuel truck showed up just as I got to the ship so I told the
driver to fill it to the gills and once he was done, I knocked out my
preflight and strapped in. I got the ship started and got the
avionics all set up for the 1st leg. Com1 on home field freqs and
Com2 on the next field's freqs. by the time I got route plugged in to
the GPS, the engine was warmed up so I did my last few checks, called
up ground to open my flight plan and then picked up and called the
tower for a straight out departure to the North.

I was cleared with a warning regarding the barrier at the end of the
runway (Lots of construction going on at the ends of the N/S runway)
so off I went.

1st leg was a whopping 4 miles at 000 to 900' and then a left turn to
300 and a climb to 1500 for about 12 miles. Once at altitude I eased
off the power and added enough cyclic to keep me at 75kts. I picked
up my next landmark before I'd even made the turn and once I'd
completed the turn, I picked up my 3rd landmark off in the distance at
about 10 miles so slightly altered my course and headed right for it.

I start to monitor Com2 for ATIS info at CRQ and then flip over to
transmit on Com 2 and call the tower to ask for a transition through
their airspace. CRQ has me ident a couple times and then clears me
through at 2200' so I climb and alter my course so I cross midfield
directly over the tower. I have to alter a bit more to fly behind a
Cherokee departing to the East and once he's past, I change course to
OKB, report overhead and continue on my way.

OKB has no tower, but they do have AWOS so I tune Com1 accordingly and
get the current info then start transmitting my position and
intentions on their Unicom freq. I don't hear anyone else so check
and double check my chart to make sure I have the radios set properly
and finally call for a radio check. I get a response that I'm being
received loud and clear so I've obviously got it right.

I fly my approach to 24, hover for a second over the numbers and then
I'm off. Noise abatement procedures are in effect so I haul ass to
the coast before turning and then climb out on right downwind and
select the next way point on the GPS, RNM.

Monitoring tower I don't hear a thing which is kind of odd because
there's always someone at RNM. As I get closer, I can see at least 2
aircraft in the pattern and a V-tail Bonanza climbing out to the West,
headed directly towards me. I'm having a tough time believing
nobody's talking and then figure out what's up. I've mistuned the
radio. I make the change and then it's tough to make my call to get
cleared into the Class D because there's at least 5 aircraft in the
pattern.

I finally get a moment of silence and call in asking to make an
approach to the compass rose. The controller calls back and tells me
he can't handle me right now and I can loiter outside the Class Delta
airspace and he'll get to me when he can. I then ask just to
transition the airspace to the South. That's approved at or above
3,000 MSL. I'm at 1500 and have about 3 miles to gain 1500 feet so I
pull power up to make takeoff power and slow to 60 knots.

Climbing at almost 1300 FPM I make 3,000' just as I hit the edge of
the class D ring. It's very busy so I back off power about 1" and
feed in the forward cyclic to get some speed on. I want to get out of
the area ASAP. Just as I report overhead at 3 thousand, the tower
calls and says they can squeeze me in if I'd like to. I politely
refuse and offer my thanks for trying to fit me in. Tower tells me to
report leaving the Class D airspace so I haul ass Ota Dodge at 95
knots and descending to 1500'

I reset the radios and GPS to SDM and settle in for the leg. I've
definitely picked too many way points to look for as I can see 2-3 way
points ahead so I make a mental note to choose way points a bit
farther apart for next time.

Halfway to SDM I've got to over fly the home field so I call up and
ask for a transition and am approved immediately with a request to
report at 1 mile. I hit the 1 mile area, report in and then report
again when I'm overhead.. I've still got about 11 miles to go to get
to SDM so I start singing to myself (to the tune of Rawhide)

"Boring boring boring,
man this flight is boring
I'll probably start snoring
then die...."

I've been flying for a little over an hour and my ass is asleep and
this straight and level stuff is going to put me to sleep.

I call up SDM and tell 'em I'm inbound for landing. I'm asked to
report at 1 mile and once there, I call up and am cleared to land
assuming I can make right traffic. The notice was a little late, but
I managed to make a nice steep turn and slow to downwind speeds and
then shoot a really nice approach to the numbers. I'm cleared for the
option so figure I'll fly a few patterns while I'm there.

After the 1st 20 trips around, I decide to have a little more fun so I
start making my turns very aggressively and run my takeoffs at 70
knots and about 20 feet altitude before establishing the climb and
turn.

A few more patterns and I ask for a full stop and then a departure to
the North to head back home.

I approach the home field from the Southwest and am cleared to land at
the taxiway near our ramp. As I turn final and get my angle set up, I
notice all 5 pads are full, the R44 is sitting next to the last pad
and the fuel truck is next to the only spot on our ramp I can set
down. I get down and taxi clear of the runway and then have to call
the tower and tell them I need to hover where I am to try and figure
out where I'm going to set down.

I see something out of the corner of my eye and it's the fuel truck
driver waving his arms and once he's got my attention, he makes some
weird arm gesture that I assumed meant "Do you want me to move so you
can land?" which I assume was correct because as soon as I nodded in
the affirmative, he hopped in and drove to the other side of the fuel
shed.

I set the ship down next to the R44 and got it shut off and walked to
the hangar to find Q. I found him in the classroom in the middle of a
staff meeting.so I made eye contact just to let him know I'd made it
back safely and filled out my logbook and hauled all my crap back to
my truck.

Just as I was walking back in the hangar, Q was coming out and asked
how it went. That got me to thinking about how I'd been nervous
planning and making the flight. Looking back, I can honestly say it
was kind of boring. The helicopter ran very well and I was able to
find my position on the chart without too much effort and use the GPS
to double check that.

Logged 1.9 hours but I bet I had enough fuel hours for 4 hours if I
needed it. All I've got left to finish up prior to my checkride is
1.1 more hours of solo X-country and 2 hours of night x-country. - oh,
and take my written test

I found out my checkride will be in January and I'll need to fly to
Vegas or Long Beach. Add one more point of stress - flight at an
unfamiliar airport. Oh well, I'm finally seeing some light at the end
of the tunnel.