Flight #32 Long Solo Cross Country...done!
Corpus to Alice to McAllen to Port Mansfield back to Corpus, 244 miles, 3 hours. Did T&G's at Alice and McAllen. In addition to pilotage I used VORs and GPS, so no problems getting lost. Radios were no problem as I had written down all the frequencies.
Flew ALI to McAllen at 7500',following hwy 44 along with MFE and ALI, VORs. Used Autopilot for the first time, what a huge improvement that was... actually let me do other things like look at the sectional and the ground. Had two Navy jet trainers flying off my left wing, maybe 5 miles-very cool.
Encountered broken clouds about half way, which caused me some concern. Began shallow decent about 25 miles out , dropped under clouds down to pattern altitude flying over the city ( bit nervy) saw runway 13 no problem, major road directly in front of the threshold, not so pretty landing, then off again .
Left turn North to intercept the 51° radial to Port Mansfield. Climbed back through the cloud deck. I was a little concerned that I could climb fast enough to get on top without going into the clouds - a little exciting.
Turned North at Port Mansfield following VOR radials for Brownsville and Corpus at 6500'. Beautiful weather or top but view of beach was obscured by clouds.
After passing over Baffin Bay flew into CRP C space passing on Westside to setup for runway 17 (winds 180 @ 12). That was my first landing on 17 and it sure looked short (only 5000'). Landing was sloppy with a few bounces.... but ..... damn I did it! what a good feeling it was!
This was the first flight since I began this process that I actually enjoyed. Hopefully many more to come.
Today was especially important since I had bailed on this trip yesterday after going out to the airport, pre-flighting,and starting. I had all kinds of reasons (crosswinds, etc.), but more than anything it was a lack of confidence. This was my first Solo trip away from CRP.
Flew ALI to McAllen at 7500',following hwy 44 along with MFE and ALI, VORs. Used Autopilot for the first time, what a huge improvement that was... actually let me do other things like look at the sectional and the ground. Had two Navy jet trainers flying off my left wing, maybe 5 miles-very cool.
Encountered broken clouds about half way, which caused me some concern. Began shallow decent about 25 miles out , dropped under clouds down to pattern altitude flying over the city ( bit nervy) saw runway 13 no problem, major road directly in front of the threshold, not so pretty landing, then off again .
Left turn North to intercept the 51° radial to Port Mansfield. Climbed back through the cloud deck. I was a little concerned that I could climb fast enough to get on top without going into the clouds - a little exciting.
Turned North at Port Mansfield following VOR radials for Brownsville and Corpus at 6500'. Beautiful weather or top but view of beach was obscured by clouds.
After passing over Baffin Bay flew into CRP C space passing on Westside to setup for runway 17 (winds 180 @ 12). That was my first landing on 17 and it sure looked short (only 5000'). Landing was sloppy with a few bounces.... but ..... damn I did it! what a good feeling it was!
This was the first flight since I began this process that I actually enjoyed. Hopefully many more to come.
Today was especially important since I had bailed on this trip yesterday after going out to the airport, pre-flighting,and starting. I had all kinds of reasons (crosswinds, etc.), but more than anything it was a lack of confidence. This was my first Solo trip away from CRP.
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