Ready for the Big ONE

I went on my last 50 plus nautical mile cross-country today. I decided to return to Shenandoah. It is a short trip over the mountains. I just love passing Old Rag. I passsed it from both sides--south side on the trip out and north side on the trip back to Manassas.

As for learning, the trip was routine. The only hiccup, which I remedied before it became an issue, is the ADIZ flight plan. The FSS filer was 'new' to the procedure and had me taking off and landing at Fluky. Funny. For those who do not know, Flucky is a virtual gate into the Washington DC SFRA. I got a little confused with the VOR coming back. I just did not have the radial picture in my head. I followed a 250 radial FROM the station on the way out to Shenadoah. A little math, the radial back should be 70 TO the station.

My last landing at Manassas stunk. The wind picked me up so I had to add some power. I settled gently to the runway at about 10 feet from the center line. Woops.

So, with the second cross country complete, it is time to plan for the big 150 plus trip. I have not decided where to go. It depends on the the weather. I have alternate plans for EACH direction from Manassas. This includes to the east of Manassas, which I will avoid if any of the restricted areas become active. I would love to head out to Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.

Below are some pictures from today's excursion. The observer should notice that the clouds are really close. At one point, I was at the same elevation during my mountain passage. I had to pay close attention to avoid the clouds, per regulations. These clouds are small and harmless, but there is no need for me to pass through them. I managed to snap a picture of a friendly passer-by.

Clouds

Old Rag (south side)

North Ridge

Dual Cross Country Radio Mishaps

My instructor and I flew from Manassas to Chesterfield County and back. It took me a while to figure how to summarize what I learned from this experience. Most of the 'problems' involved the radio and communication. The flight started with my instructor's headset jacks malfunctioning during the initial startup procedures. He spent the whole flight giving me hand gestures and listening to the speaker.

The next issue was a strange conversation with ground. I did everything right at the time, so I was confused why the conversation had so much confusion. I had radioed ground, detailing who I was, where I was, and what I wanted to do. The ground ignored the 'where' and the 'what' for a moment to inquire about my equipment code. I replied Uniform. This means I have a transponder with encoding altimeter. Ground then asked in a excited voice of disbelief: 'You do not have transponder'? Weird. I replied, 'Yes, I have a transponder with altimeter encoding'. The reply: 'You do not have altimeter encoding?'. Me: 'Yes, I do have a transponder with mode C' (same thing). Ground: 'You do or do not?'. Me: 'Do!'. Silence. Then ground replied with frequency and transponder code. I replied with the verification and then questioned ground if they cleared me to head to the runway. Once again, ground barks at me that they have not granted me clearance to taxi. I could not remember with all the confusion, so I asked. Ground apparently did not like that. What a mess!

Why did this happen? Well, it took sometime to put the pieces together. The mistake was partially mine. When filing the SFRA flight plan, I forgot to mention to FSS that I had a pre-stored plan. The stored plan had the information, including equipment code, for the plane. FSS created a new plan but DID not inquire about the equipment. Had they inquired, I would have caught on to the mistake. So the new plan was submitted without the equipment code. I later learned that there was an error in the prestored plan as well. It contained an equipment code Golf (for GPS). This is due to maintaining compliance with SFRA procedures when flying out of Leesburg.

The radio issues did not end here. Chesterfield County radio was out along with their ASOS. I used Richmond's ATIS for surface information and then picked the runway I liked the best, making the appropriate pattern calls. No one was responding.

Coming back into Manassas, we were an hourly early. It took me a few times, stating 'we are an hourly' to Approach, before Approach found the return SFRA flight plan and cleared me to enter. I explain why in a future blog. I always notify them around Warrenton. It is a good place to land if clearance is not granted. It is close to Manassas, so I could get a ride back.

Radio Madness

I completed my first cross country today from Manassas to Charlottesville and back. As can be expected, the challenge is not the navigation or any of the physical flying. Instead, the challenge is with all the radio communications that need to be performed along the way. It is not that any of it is hard. Rather, it just, for not doing it before, it was quite a bit.

Getting out of the ADIZ (sorry SFRZ...but more on that in just a bit), is easy. I have been filing SFRZ flight plans for a while. Once out and released, transponder on 1200 and monitoring 121.5, I need to open my first VFR flight plan. It is not hard, but I need to release the airplane to my instructor to get things together in my head:

"Leesburg Radio, Cessna Triple Two Niner Echo, on One Two Two point Six". I could have just called 122.2, but I knew the correct frequency and I clearly identified what I was up to. FSS may listen on different frequencies. If I called on 122.2, I would probably have identified my location instead (South West of Manassas for Charlottesville).

After that, those FSS people guide me through the process (really helpful!!!).

Now, this did not go without little hitch. I attempted to call Leesburg Radio twice. Why? Well, I had dialed the correct frequency in the radio but neglated to swith from radio 2 to 1. So Potomac Approach got to hear my first request. Dumb student.

Coming into Charlottesville, I dialed up a VOR and set the OBS to 2.5 degrees. When the line centered, I knew I was approximately ten miles out I could call the tower. I had information prior to the call, punching up the ASOS for Charlottesville. Information was Charlie.

"Charlottesville Tower, Cessna Triple Two Niner Echo, 10 miles North East with Charlie, To Land".

If I did not state 'Charlie', the tower would have said something like "29E, proceed to 3 left traffic and ident, you have information Charlie". What I got was "29E, proceed to 3 left traffic and ident". For students, ident is just pushing the 'ident' button on the transponder so your aircraft "stands-out" on their radar.

I usually get confused when the tower starts blasting traffic calls. I believe my instructor likes me to respond immediately. I really cannot stand this. I would rather take 5 seconds to look for traffic and then respond "traffic in sight" or "negative contact" (to differentiate the traffic NOT in sight, as the NOT can be missed).

Landing at Charlottesville, I decided to close the flight plane via phone. I could have just radioed 122.65.

Coming back from Charlottesville was fairly uneventful until I was 4 miles from the SFRZ. I contacted Potomac Approach:

"Potomac Approach, Cessna Triple Two Niner Echo, over Casanova for Manassas". PA could not find my flight plan, forcing me to divert towards Warrenton. Once the flight plan was found, it was the usual rush to punch the transponder code and start looking for traffic. There is always traffic. Again, the same issue I always have. I would say I see that traffic 50% of time within 10 seconds of the call!

Once landed, I was pretty beat and really pleased. I learned alot and did some great flying. What a fantastic day. Visibility was amazing. Coming back from Charlottesville, I maintained altitude at 045. So, is any one suprised that it took me 45 minutes to close the flight plan? Anyone? Just as I was calling FSS, the tower was on the radio with my instructor (he was taking another student), asking if the flight plan needed to be closed. I felt like an idiot...still do.

Radios were not the only element packed with lessons. At Charlottesville, I was directed by a airport personel using the red light and hand signals. I new my signals, so that worked out great.

In flight planning, always get winds aloft and never calulcate in a tail wind, unless to calculations are applied. Never assume a tail wind, especially when budgeting gas.

I came back from Charlottesville, dialed into the Casanova VOR. The purpose of the exercise was not to chase the needle. Rather, to see and adjust the planes flying with respect to wind.

So, back to the SFRZ. Every contact with FSS I was asked the same question, am I familiar with the SFRZ. Now, SFRZ and ADIZ rules are identical as far as I know. They are required to ask since SFRZ went into permanent effect today. It is forbidden to use the word ADIZ any more. It is formally a Special Flight Restriction Zone. Those poor FSS guys. The last thing they want to do is play cop trying to find a pilots who neglected to take a 30 to 40 minute on-line SFRZ training course. That is not me! Anyway, I try to look at the bright side. It get tons of traffic calls coming in and out of that narrow Flucky gate...my favorite thing. I feel real safe knowing all the pilots, to get out of Manassas quickly and easily, follow the same route, following the railroad tracks. I especially like the pilot I followed today who came up from underneath me, rose above and then dropped 800 feet. Nice.

BTW. I did fly last Saturday and I am officially ready to solo. I wanted to share the experience with my two instructors and wear the appropriate shirt, so I opted to wait, practicing 180 degree power-off landings instead. Yeh, I know it is not required, but what better way to work on emergency glides!