What a long day!  The weather was good with few clouds and light winds, so I went ahead with my long cross country.  I took off from Burlington and flew direct to Cape Fear Regional Jetport (KSUT) on the coast just south of Wilmington.  That is a distance of 144.5 nautical miles (about 166 statute miles) each way.  During the flight, I was in radio communication with Raleigh Approach, Washington Center, Fayetteville Approach, and Wilmington Approach.  I think I handled it pretty well for still being a student pilot.  I was able to easily find all of my landmarks for navigation and used the VOR navigation radios as well.

Here is the obligatory picture of Cape Fear airport:

Notice the palm tree to the right.  All small airports have the “fixture.”  This one had a guy who was in his 70’s who has been working at the airport for decades.  He assisted me in refueling the Cessna 152 and chatted for a bit about where I flew from and flying a student cross-country.  We said goodbye and I took off again for Fayetteville and then back to Burlington.

This is the view getting ready to depart Cape Fear (nice name for a solo student, huh?).  Also notice the altimeter.  I am at 0 feet above sea level, right on the coast.

I then flew from Cape Fear to Fayetteville where I performed a touch-and-go on Runway 4 before heading back to Burlington.  This completed the requirement to land at a towered airport.  Fayetteville Approach cleared me to enter their airspace, fly at or below 2,000 feet and proceed to Runway 4.  He then transferred me to Fayetteville Tower, who cleared me for the “option” on Runway 4, then proceed on runway heading and recontact Approach, which was now referred to as Departure.  Once I climbed to about 2,000 feet, Departure had me turn direct to Burlington.  I flew very close to Pope Air Force Base and could count the C-130’s on the ramp.

On the way back to Burlington, I got to see the runway work at Sanford.  All I could really see was the large yellow “X” letting overflying planes know that the runway was closed, DO NOT LAND!

I got back to Burlington at sunset when the air was cool and smooth!  After landing, I took a big sigh of relief and signed in after 3.7 hours in the airplane.  As I explained earlier, the clock ticks on the plane as long as the engine is running, even if you are not flying.  I actually was in the air about 3 hours.

Sunset at Burlington.

I immediately texted Liani to let her know I had landed safely and then called Richard to let him know the same.  He congratulated me on a major milestone and said we would immediately get to work on prepping for the FAA checkride to obtain my Private Pilot’s License.  Seems unreal.

Well, I have scrubbed my long solo cross-country twice now for weather.  The first time, the projected sunny weather ended up to be low clouds and rain all day.  The next attempt was welcomed with beautifully sunny skies but 18 knot winds (approximately 21 mph).  My maximum as a student pilot is 15 knots.  I will attempt to fly the cross-country again tomorrow afternoon.

In the meantime, I flew over 2.5 hours today with Richard.  We flew close to dark so I could become current on my night landings.  I already had enough time flying at night from my previous training in Little Rock.  While waiting for dark, we flew to two other airfields and practiced landings.  He then made me fly without being able to see outside, only by instruments.  Even though the license is for visual flying, we still have to practice just in case something happens where you can’t see outside.

Just like most of Generation X that wants to be a pilot, I was raised playing Microsoft Flight Simulator.  Because of that, I seemed to fly more precise by just instruments than flying visually.  Richard made me fly all the same maneuvers by instrument only as I do flying visually (steep turns, climbing turns, slow flight, stalls).  Everything seemed to be great tonight.  Sometimes, things just click for a period of time.  Oh well, I am off to finish planning the cross-country again.  Long day ahead tomorrow.

Today, I left North Triangle Airport at 2:00 pm and flew to Kinston Airport on the same cross country route that I flew with David last week.  The winds were pretty calm so the flight was essentially smooth with some afternoon bumpiness under the fair weather clouds.  I took a few pictures to document the trip.

First, taxiing to Runway 23 at North Triangle.

 

Next, performing my pre-takeoff checklist at Runway 23.

 

Flying over a huge junkyard that we use as a landmark en route to Kinston.

 

I made 3 full stop landings at Kinston and then returned to North Triangle.  We pass Wilson Airport on the way down and back.  Wilson was used as a training base during WWII and has 3 huge runways forming a triangle.  Now, it is basically deserted.

 

Finally, the ramp at North Triangle taxiing back to the hangar.

 

I did much better on my radio communications with Raleigh Approach, Washington Center and Seymour-Johnson Approach.  However, I will definitely put the doors back on before my long cross country.  It wore me out more worrying about my papers flying out into space than actually flying the airplane.

What’s next?  David said to plan a cross country to Cape Fear, Fayetteville, and back to North Triangle.  That’s more than 3 hours in the air.

In preparation for my solo cross country tomorrow, I flew the Remos GX solo around the traffic pattern and to the practice area today for about an hour. The Remos has tons of performance with two people, but with just me, WOW!!! I was at pattern altitude basically by the end of the runway (that is a slight exaggeration, but it was fast). My landings were actually pretty smooth, but I did land a little long due to the lighter weight in the airplane.

I also got to coordinate with other planes in the pattern, including taking off from a taxiway intersection due to a Cessna 172 with an instructor and student sitting at the entrance to the end of the runway and “discussing things”. I asked if they were ready to takeoff or if I should perform a short field takeoff. They were not ready, so I just took off with a shorter runway. Of course, not a problem solo in the Remos.

Tonight, I get to plan my cross country and figure my headings factoring in the winds aloft and such. I meet David tomorrow afternoon to go over my planning and then I launch into the great blue yonder.

Yesterday, I flew my first cross-country in the Remos GX.  David and I flew from Triangle North (KLHZ) to Kinston (KISO) and back.  That is a distance of 54 nautical miles each way (about 62 statute miles).  During the flight, I practiced navigation with pilotage, which is looking out the window, actually big, gaping hole since we had the doors off, for landmarks, such as towers, highways, airports, and in this flight, a huge junkyard.  I also used VOR radio navigation and the GPS.

In addition, I was in radio communication with Raleigh Approach, Washington Center, Seymour Johnson AFB, and Kinston Tower.  It gets pretty hectic to control a light-sport airplane on a summer day, talk to different air traffic controllers and navigate, which is why it is required practice.

I am schedule to fly this same cross country solo next week.  When I do so, I am going to put the doors back on the Remos.  The sensation that your maps and radio frequencies were going to fly out the door made things too difficult for just one person.

After this next flight, I am planning a solo cross country to Cape Fear, then to Fayetteville, and back to North Triangle.  This is a distance of 268.5 nautical miles (309 statute miles), the requirements state that one leg must be at least 100 nautical miles.  At a little over 100 mph cruising speed, I will be in the air at least 3 hours by myself.  It doesn’t get boring, though, as you are constantly monitoring air traffic control, your position, looking for traffic, and watching the gauges/instruments.

Since the Raleigh Executive Jetport (KTTA) has been closed for runway resurfacing and Wings of Carolina has relocated to Burlington, NC, I have trained twice more with Total Flight Solutions in Louisburg (Triangle North Executive Airport, KLHZ) in the Remos GX light sport.  It is beyond fun flying with the doors off on this light sport airplane!

I also got to see the benefits of these planes first hand.  I am making ALL of my short-field landings in less than 1,200 feet of runway and that’s as a student!  The Remos is also not designed to be a STOL (short take-off and landing) airplane like the Zenith CH750 or JustAircraft SuperStol (www.justaircraft.com).  This really opens up mission access in the rest of the world.

Last lesson I practiced actual soft-field landings on the grass next to the runway.  We are allowed to do that at Louisburg.  My instructor said that I did fine and the airplane was fun to land on grass.

Today, I learned valuable lessons of “defensive driving” in the air.  I had two different airplanes fly close by me without ever acknowledging my existence and a flock of turkey vultures dive into my flightpath.

As I was practicing power-on stalls, my instructor says to watch traffic at my 9 o’clock and proceeds to pull back on the yoke and climb the airplane.  A Cessna RG flys right under us close enough for us to read his tail number!  David (my instructor) tried to contact them by radio to see if they had seen us but they refused to communicate.

I was then practicing turns around a point when about 6 or 7 turkey vultures dove right in front of me.   Needless to say, we went to another area to practice.

Finally, as I was in the traffic pattern to land back at Louisburg, an older Cessna took off and then turned left about halfway down the runway, right in front of me!  That is completely against procedure but just like driving, you always have to be on the lookout for the other guy who is not paying attention or obeying traffic laws.

I am scheduled to make a cross-country flight with David on Thursday to Kinston and back.  This is a 110 nautical mile trip that should take about 1 1/2 hours of flight to complete.  Getting closer to that check-ride.

Well, I was hoping that I would be finishing my Private Pilot checkride and getting my license by the time that school started back.  Instead, here we are with school starting and I just soloed again.  The weather this summer has been atrocious.  Summer in the south means sunshine!  Instead, we have had low clouds every morning, clear up around 10 am, then thunderstorms begin around 3 pm.  That means good flying weather between 10 am and 3 pm.  Unfortunately, that is when I work during the week and when the other 350 members of the flying club want to fly on Saturdays.

Also, I found out that the flying club will be relocating to Burlington, NC in early September due to the airport at Sanford being shut down to repave the runway.  The “powers that be” state that the runway will be closed for 52 working days (yes, that exact).  However, this is a government contract and we are heading into fall/winter, so I don’t expect the runway to be open again until early 2014.

This will make things difficult as Burlington is a 120 mile roundtrip from Wake Forest.