18th Lesson

I had my 18th lesson with Jim yesterday. We were scheduled to do our first introductory cross-country flight, but the weather was looking questionable all day, with thunderstorms approaching from the southwest. By the afternoon, most of the storm activity had dissipated, and it turned out to be a nice afternoon to fly, with winds out of the southeast at 10-15kt. I had done the flight planning on a few flight log sheets, and we reviewed that together. Then, we went and got the plane out of the hanger as usual, and when I hopped in the plane, right away Jim said "I want you to take it out and fly 3 laps around the pattern by yourself again." I was a bit nervous about not warming up and testing the conditions with Jim first, but I just followed my normal routines, and all three rounds through the pattern were a non-event. After completing my second solo, I swung by the gas pumps and picked up Jim, and we went on our first cross-country. We made sort of a diamond pattern, flying to Buffalo airport (KCFE). After landing at Buffalo, we headed over to Maple Lake airport (KMGG) and landed. Next, we departed back to the east-north-east, and flew over Lake George, then we turned east-south-east, and headed back to Forest Lake. The trip went pretty well, and we flew about 102 statute miles. We didn't fly at full cruise speed - instead we targeted 100mph to allow more time for matching landmarks up with the chart as a learning experience. The whole trip took about 90 minutes, 30 of which was for climb out and flying the pattern for landing at each airport. This was Jim's "introductory" cross country flight he takes all of his students on to get them used to it. Tomorrow we're going to fly a cross country flight of my choosing. I have chosen to fly from Forest Lake to Moose Lake, which is about 70nm north, then southwest to Princeton airport, after which we will return to Forest Lake. I believe if the trip goes well, I will fly the trip solo sometime in the near future. I'll be doing the flight planning for the trip this evening. The weather also looks questionable for tomorrow, with a 50% chance of thunderstorms, so the next lesson may not happen until Friday.