peewitppl: Starting cross country, no time for photos

Tuesday 21st February

My homework last night was to do some planning for a dual cross country from Naples to Pahokee and back. Most of the work can be done in advance but some can only be done on the day when the weather is known.
Here is my chart showing the route. Red out, blue back.

I needed to be at the airport by 7:30 ish so I had breakfast and set off. It was pleasantly warm on my bike but there was mist about and the bike was covered in condensation.
At NAC the weather reports confirmed a problem with mist but it was forecast to clear. I got the winds aloft figures and was able to complete my nav. logs for both legs. Nikki checked them out and I had forgotten about the semicircular rule on the first leg and had to change my planned altitude from 2500 to 3500. I also needed to draw maps of the landing airfield on the plan including the wind direction and traffic pattern. The planned descent and talking points also needed adding. Once everything was shipshape and Bristol fashion I checked over the aircraft and got the local airfield weather. It was variable winds at 5 knots, 10 miles visibility, scattered clouds at 6000ft, etc, etc. So all looked good and we set off at 10:10am. After takeoff from runway 05 and as we climbed it became obvious that the weather report was wrong as the clouds were at about 2000ft not 6000 as reported. Nikki called the tower to report this. We checked the chart and decided that we could proceed at 1500 ft instead of 3500 as we would be still be well clear of obstacles on the ground. So what was the effect of travelling at 1500 instead of 3500. Well it was bumpy making it difficult to operate the instruments and the aircraft and it was difficult to see the visual reference points as they were in the shade and we were low. I was kept busy with check points every 16 miles (10 minutes) so I was watching the heading and altitude, doing FREDA checks, looking out for the next check point, looking round for possible landing fields in the event of an engine failure, setting up frequencies on the radio, listening out, announcing our position and intentions, requesting traffic advisories, etc. Despite the awkward conditions and possibly because Nikki was alongside the trip went well and all the visual check points were located. As we approached Pahokee I announced our position and intentions (with a bit of prompting). We were to land on runway 35 but I could see from a fire in a field about 1 mile south of the strip that the smoke was drifting North so we would have a tailwind. I joined the circuit as another aircraft was landing and soon we were down too. I had been warned that the strip is narrow and this tends to make you come in too high. Nikki said I was too high. A bit of corrective action and we were soon on the ground. Great, I thought, now we can go and grab a coffee, but no, I have to taxi back down to the holding point, do the power and pre takeoff checks, fill in some of the paperwork and take off for Naples. At 11:17 we took off and it was now about repeating the process on the return leg. It was going well but I was struggling to maintain my altitude. The low cloud was still there so we were still at 1500ft. Just when I seemed to be getting the hang of it, Nikki asked me to get bearings from the chart on my knee and set up the two Nav radios and VOR bearings to help with confirming our position as it was still not easy to pick them up. In fact the return journey also went well and things appeared when they should do. As we approached Naples, I got the weather and runway details and called the tower. We got a straight in approach to runway 24. Back at the ramp Nikki said that it had been a good flight. I must admit I felt a bit weary but happy after 1.9 hours of heavy brain overload. Having landed at 12:08 I got the de-brief and then was asked to do the planning for a solo cross country to Immokalee and back at 3pm.
I did have time for a quick snack lunch and to catch up with how my fellow students were getting on and then it was a question of cleaning off the chart and doing a new plot and plans to Immokalee and back. It is only a 50 mile round trip but the planning still takes just as long. I had to use a low altitude as the scattered clouds were still there so I double checked for ground obstacles. I rang Immokalee and got runway and weather details. I asked about traffic and they were doing crop dusting. Nikki said to watch out as the pilot goes where he wants and does not talk. Later Nikki checked my work and signed up my log book to authorise me to make this trip. I checked out N946AC (I am getting fond of her) and got my final instruction that were to do some touch and goes at Immokalee before returning.
I must say the trip went well and I really, really enjoyed it. Highlights were the time when I was about to turn onto base at Immokalee onto runway 18 having announced all my details over the radio and the crop duster took off in the opposite direction on this runway. So as I was on the base leg and descending, the yellow crop duster took off towards me and turned underneath me. My camera will not work in these situations but it would have made a good picture. After only two touch and go’s I decided to head back to Naples as the sun was getting low in the sky. It was difficult to see much on the ground ahead with a grey haze and a low sun. Nikki’s advice on using the VOR really paid off as it did help me get the correct bearing to the airfield. I got ATIS and reset the altimeter and called the tower when ten miles North East. They said to proceed and call again at 7 miles. I could not quite workout where this was and when I called again they asked me to ‘ident’. Having done this they said I was 9 miles NE and to continue with no. 3 to land on runway 23. Later they called and asked me to discontinue my straight in approach so I veered to starboard so I could join for a right hand circuit base leg. I could see the other landing traffic and reported this. A couple of miles out I was given clearance to land and so did a dogleg approach and was back on the ground at 16:30. Wow, that was also so enjoyable and mixed with a reasonable workload that I was coping with I felt a real sense of achievement. I had to wait a little while for Nikki to reappear from a meeting with the CAA inspector but apparently that all went well. The de-brief was soon over and tonight I was to do the planning again for a trip to Pahokee and back but on a solo basis with a planned start time of 11am. I also got some homework on ditching. They are certainly keeping occupied and I need to do this post as well.
Appleogies (Blackadder) if this is boring you, how about some pictures ?