Sunday, February 19, 2006
Solo Cross-Country
I finally got my second cross-country flight done to complete my solo cross-country training requirements for my private pilot's license, after trying to do it for over a month and repeatedly being prevented by high cross-winds, low ceilings or poor visibility.
What really made it interesting, though, is that I did it on what may prove to be the coldest day of the year. The Westosha Flying Club limits flights to temperatures above zero (F), so yesterday I had to wait until about 2:00 p.m. for it to rise above zero! Then, of course, the usual northwesterly cross-wind kicked up, jeopardizing my flight once again. Dana was good enough to offer to fly with me on a landing on the paved runway (03-21) and one on the grass runway (14-32) just to make sure I was up to it if the winds persisted on the return from my journey. If the cross-wind was so bad as to prevent me from landing on the paved runway I could land on the grass.
My flight plan was to fly direct to Lone Rock, Wisconsin, going just south of Madison's controlled airspace, then fly to Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, and return to Westosha. If for some reason that flight wasn't long enough to fulfill the 2-1/2 hours minimum that I needed, I had an alternate to fly to Kenosha. Fort Atkinson has a paved runway running the same direction as Westosha, so if I had trouble landing there due to cross-winds I could just keep going to Kenosha.
I had a heck of a time getting the engine started, even though the club has them hooked up to electric heaters all winter. The pre-flight inspection was interesting because everything was so stiff or frozen from the cold and all the rain this past week, (N96832 hadn't been flown for several days) but the cold, dense air made the little Cessna perform much better than normal.
Here's a photo I took at my first check point over Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
This one is looking north toward Madison as I was flying past at 4,500 feet. In the distance you may be able to see the two lakes with the bridge of land between where the state capitol and the University of Wisconsin are located.
Obviously, the visibility was great and there wasn't a cloud anywhere along my route, although there were some lake-effect clouds out over Lake Michigan to the east. Lone Rock is just west of Spring Green, in the vicinity of Frank Lloyd Wright's former home and school at Taliesin. I was hoping I could spot them from the air but alas, I could not. The terrain changes to lovely wooded bluffs and hills in that area as you can see in this picture of the Wisconsin River, taken just east of Spring Green, as I was descending toward Lone Rock.
The cabin heater works pretty good in the plane I was flying, so I was comfortable enough to fly with my gloves off in the airplane, but by toes were cold and I could see wisps of my breath from all the drafts in the plane. Even a tiny hole can make a heck of a draft when the air is blasting through it at 120 miles an hour and is several degrees below zero!
On my way back toward Fort Atkinson I flew right over the top of Madison. Here is a photo of the state capitol and the downtown area between the lakes.
In this picture you can see the Madison (Dane County) airport in the distance, north of the city. I was actually flying over the top of their controlled airspace at 5,500 feet.
Here's a shot of McFarland, just south of Madison. Ken, Tricia and Hailey, can you see your house?
After uneventfully landing on the ice and snow at Fort Atkinson, I continued back to the southeast. My next checkpoint was Palmyra, which happens to be near one of my favorite nearby playgrounds, Kettle Moraine State Park Southern Unit. Here's a picture looking south as the wooded glacial formations of the park stretch into the distance.
Westosha Airport was out of gas so I decided to stop at Burlington to use the self-serve pumps there. It was getting too late for me to divert all the way to Kenosha to fill up there. Of course the temperatures were dropping with the sun, and the wind chill was incredible. I lost all feeling in my hands while gassing up the plane and still have numb spots on the ends of my fingers. Thankfully the plane started up again just fine and I high-tailed it back to Westosha just a few minutes away. I just flew toward the lights on the Wilmot Mountain ski hill. Here's a shot as I circled overhead to enter the landing pattern at Westosha. There were actually a few brave souls out there skiing!
After tieing down the plane as darkness fell, I snapped this shot of the sunset reflecting off the plane. What a great day to spend in the sky!
What really made it interesting, though, is that I did it on what may prove to be the coldest day of the year. The Westosha Flying Club limits flights to temperatures above zero (F), so yesterday I had to wait until about 2:00 p.m. for it to rise above zero! Then, of course, the usual northwesterly cross-wind kicked up, jeopardizing my flight once again. Dana was good enough to offer to fly with me on a landing on the paved runway (03-21) and one on the grass runway (14-32) just to make sure I was up to it if the winds persisted on the return from my journey. If the cross-wind was so bad as to prevent me from landing on the paved runway I could land on the grass.
My flight plan was to fly direct to Lone Rock, Wisconsin, going just south of Madison's controlled airspace, then fly to Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, and return to Westosha. If for some reason that flight wasn't long enough to fulfill the 2-1/2 hours minimum that I needed, I had an alternate to fly to Kenosha. Fort Atkinson has a paved runway running the same direction as Westosha, so if I had trouble landing there due to cross-winds I could just keep going to Kenosha.
I had a heck of a time getting the engine started, even though the club has them hooked up to electric heaters all winter. The pre-flight inspection was interesting because everything was so stiff or frozen from the cold and all the rain this past week, (N96832 hadn't been flown for several days) but the cold, dense air made the little Cessna perform much better than normal.
Here's a photo I took at my first check point over Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
This one is looking north toward Madison as I was flying past at 4,500 feet. In the distance you may be able to see the two lakes with the bridge of land between where the state capitol and the University of Wisconsin are located.
Obviously, the visibility was great and there wasn't a cloud anywhere along my route, although there were some lake-effect clouds out over Lake Michigan to the east. Lone Rock is just west of Spring Green, in the vicinity of Frank Lloyd Wright's former home and school at Taliesin. I was hoping I could spot them from the air but alas, I could not. The terrain changes to lovely wooded bluffs and hills in that area as you can see in this picture of the Wisconsin River, taken just east of Spring Green, as I was descending toward Lone Rock.
The cabin heater works pretty good in the plane I was flying, so I was comfortable enough to fly with my gloves off in the airplane, but by toes were cold and I could see wisps of my breath from all the drafts in the plane. Even a tiny hole can make a heck of a draft when the air is blasting through it at 120 miles an hour and is several degrees below zero!
On my way back toward Fort Atkinson I flew right over the top of Madison. Here is a photo of the state capitol and the downtown area between the lakes.
In this picture you can see the Madison (Dane County) airport in the distance, north of the city. I was actually flying over the top of their controlled airspace at 5,500 feet.
Here's a shot of McFarland, just south of Madison. Ken, Tricia and Hailey, can you see your house?
After uneventfully landing on the ice and snow at Fort Atkinson, I continued back to the southeast. My next checkpoint was Palmyra, which happens to be near one of my favorite nearby playgrounds, Kettle Moraine State Park Southern Unit. Here's a picture looking south as the wooded glacial formations of the park stretch into the distance.
Westosha Airport was out of gas so I decided to stop at Burlington to use the self-serve pumps there. It was getting too late for me to divert all the way to Kenosha to fill up there. Of course the temperatures were dropping with the sun, and the wind chill was incredible. I lost all feeling in my hands while gassing up the plane and still have numb spots on the ends of my fingers. Thankfully the plane started up again just fine and I high-tailed it back to Westosha just a few minutes away. I just flew toward the lights on the Wilmot Mountain ski hill. Here's a shot as I circled overhead to enter the landing pattern at Westosha. There were actually a few brave souls out there skiing!
After tieing down the plane as darkness fell, I snapped this shot of the sunset reflecting off the plane. What a great day to spend in the sky!
