2 posts tagged “cross-country”
Greta and I signed up for the ConUS Challenge, which is for pilots around the country visit all of the public US airports in one year. We had planned to bag five this weekend but only managed to visit three. This picture is of our Skyhawk (courtesy of the North Texas Flying Club) on the ramp at Terrell Municipal Airport (KTRL). That was our first stop of the day.
To prove that you visited an airport for the Challenge you take a picture of something distinctive that can identify that airport along with a sign that says "Go Fly America". The Challenge website has a handy printout you can use for the sign. I added my name and the date to mine as well. As it turns out, it can sometimes be really hard to find something distinctive that identifies an airport.
We flew a leisurely pace from McKinney down to Terrell where we were lucky to find some folks out on the ramp. I had read that Terrell used to be a training base for British aircrews during WWII. There is a small museum on the field somewhere but I didn't see it when we were wondering around. A woman working at the FBO was kind enough to point us to a good sign where we could take our picture. We also came across a great bumpersticker that said "Don't tell mom I'm a pilot. She thinks I play piano in a whore house." lol
Despite the beautiful skies it was actually quite bumpy up there. That's mostly to do with all the sun's heat warming the earth and creating "thermals" ... or areas of rising warm air. Those are great for glider pilots because it gives them lift. But for G and I it just means "thank goodness for seat belts".
When the thermals are causing turbulence you're only escape is to go higher. But when you're visiting airports that are only 10 to 15 minutes apart from each other there's no time to go higher. So G and I rocked and rolled from Terrell over to Wills Point Airport (76F).
Now this one was a challenge. There were no signs that identified the airport. Just a few hangars and a couple of houses. And hardly any signs of life ... we did see a small kid riding a tricycle around one of the hangars. We didn't stay for long.
Next stop was Canton-Hackney Airport (7F5) just outside Canton, TX. Canton's claim to fame is the Canton Flea Market ... or First Monday's at Canton. People come from miles and miles around to buy and sell things there. These days there are Flea Markets popping up everywhere but Canton was one of the firsts. At least, in North Texas that is.
So we were hoping that the airport in Canton would be a nice one, with maybe a crew car that one could borrow to head out to the fair. But no ... not even close. This poor airport looks like it might not exist much longer. No buildings. No hangars. No airplanes. Just one runway and a weed-overridden ramp area next to a road. One one side of the runway are houses and on the other side is a golf course. At least we gave the golfers something to watch besides their balls.
The only thing we could find to take a picture of was a blue trash barrel that had "Canton" stenciled on the side.
From here we were suppose to go to Mineola-Wisener and Mineola-Wood County airports but after taking off again Greta and I decided we were getting hungry. Plus I was worried that the battery wasn't going to turn the starter motor too many more times. That starter takes a lot out of the battery and we hadn't been flying for long between stops to give it a chance to recharge.
So we turned back to McKinney (well, the scenic route) and after an hour we touched down in between a couple of students doing touch-and-goes and a couple of business jets stopping for fuel. We also got to sit and watch a guy take off in a Vari-Eze. Now that's something you don't get to see every day.
I think for the next flight we need to go on a real cross-country. Maybe to Austin to visit Mom.
Today I took my first passenger for a ride. Greta has been patiently waiting two years for me to get my pilot's license and finally the day arrived.
Initially we had talked about going to Llano to revisit Cooper's Old Time Pit BBQ. But since I'm new to this particular Skyhawk and we have reasons to want to be home by early afternoon I decided it would be better to stay relatively closer to home. I joined the North Texas Flying Club (NTXFC) which is based at the Collin County Regional Airport (KTKI ... otherwise known as McKinney Airport).
The plan was to make a square pattern. From McKinney go south over Lake Lavon and Lake Ray Hubbard and Mesquite Metro Airport (KHQZ) to the Cedar Creek VOR, or actually to its neighbor the Cedar Creek Reservoir. Then we'll hang a left toward the Frankston VOR, which is near Lake Palestine. Then we'll turn northerly to go up to Mineola Wisener Field (3F9) at the town of Mineola. After a quick lunch there we'll take off and head north toward the Sulpher Springs VOR where we'll hang a left and follow the interstate highway back to Big D and McKinney.
Or, in pilot speak, our plan is KTKI KHQZ CQY V569 3F9 and then 3F9 SLR KTKI.
The intention is not actually to follow the plan to the letter. Instead, I know Greta wants to take a lot of photographs so I'm planning to fly at a relatively low altitude, 3500', and we'll probably circle a couple of the lakes we come across.
The weather this morning was perfect. Cool, clear, light winds. I had some trouble getting through the gate at the airport so we ended up parking in the main parking lot and hiking out to the Skyhawk. The right fuel tank was an inch down from the top but in the left tank I couldn't reach the fuel so I called for a fill-up. In the club fuel is factored into the aircraft rates. So save your receipts when you get fuel and you can get reimbursed. But if you fill up at McKinney all you have to do is call the FBO (fixed base operator) and they'll send the fuel truck out. The fuel (and/or oil if you need it) will be charged directly to the club and you don't have to deal with getting reimbursed.
I did a thorough pre-flight and showed Greta how to work the door, window and seat belt. And we talked a little about the controls and we put batteries in her new headset. After firing up the engine we had trouble getting her headset to work. She could hear me but I couldn't hear her. Turns out she just wasn't talking loud enough and/or had the mic positioned badly. The mics are voice activated so you have to speak fairly forcefully to get it going. Quite often mine cuts in after the first word or two I speak ... which is ok since I start most sentences with "ummm". lol
Piston-engine aircraft have two magnetos providing current to the spark plugs. Before you take off you do a test to make sure they are both firing correctly and this is done by standing on the brakes while you power the engine up to about 1700 RPM. Then you turn off both magnetos individually and watch the RPM gauge. There should be a slight drop for each one. Well, I turned the key to the Right magneto position and the engine turned off!! I quickly turned the key back to Both and it started running again.
That's not good ... So I tried it again. This time there was just a 30 RPM drop. Ahhh I realized I had turned the key too far .. to the Off position. Stupid! Since Greta was looking at me and could tell I was perplexed I told her what I had done. We both had a good laugh over that. Runup complete I got cleared to takeoff and away we went. Since we were using runway 17 we were pretty much already on our on course heading so we just kept the nose pointed that direction and climbed to 3500'. McKinney Airport is under the Dallas-Fort Worth Class B airspace but the floor of it starts at 4000'. So we had no problem staying underneath.
The skyline was relatively haze free though you could still see a distinct brown line. During the ride from McKinney to Mesquite we could easily make out the downtown Dallas skyscrapers, which was at least 15 miles away. Once over the Mesquite Airport we altered course toward the east to take us toward the Cedar Creek Reservoir.
The Reservoir is almost completely developed around it's shoreline. Though after the drought we've had this year there are a lot of high-and-dry boat docks. This is where you'll find the towns of Mabank (pronounced may-bank), Seven Points, and Gun Barrel City. I once got a speeding ticket in Mabank. We flew up and down the center of the lake a couple of times so Greta could take pictures of the shoreline. When I wasn't watching out for other aircraft I was watching flocks of seagulls fly low across the surface of the lake. Even at 3500' they were easy to spot against the green water ... large, white and throwing shadows down on the surface. The flock would undulate like one large living creature.
We both decided we were getting a little peckish so instead of going to the Frankston VOR we turned and headed direct to Mineola. We chose Mineola because it's near Quitman. A friend's parents live in Quitman and we've heard stories about what a neat area it is. And the AOPA Airport Directory lists several restaurants in Mineola. Plus I heard that there is a small aviation museum on the field.
We picked up the latest weather report from Tyler and then tuned in the CTAF (common traffic advisory frequency) for Mineola to see if anyone else was moving about the area. Turns out that CTAF is shared by several airports and it was quite a busy morning everywhere but Mineola. The airport was a little hard to spot at first since it is practically in town and is surrounded by trees. There's only one short, narrow runway but it has a taxiway running the full length. We crossed over the field at 2500' in order to get an overview and to see how the windsock looked but I couldn't see it. In Tyler as well as everywhere in North Texas the wind was coming from the south so I set us up to enter the left downwind pattern for runway 17.
The runway is 3203' by 40' wide and is covered in asphalt. And the Airport/Facility Directly lists trees near runway 17. It wasn't kidding, it looks like the whole field is ringed by trees. Finally, a challenging field to land at. When learning to fly you're taught how to deal with landing challenges but you never actually get to land at short fields with obstacles .. usually for insurance reasons. So I've really been looking forward to try this for myself. The approach wasn't much steeper than I usually manage (I have a tendency to arrive too high on final anyway) so I easily cleared the trees and landing within the first third of the runway. The real challenge was in taxying around. The runway looks like it was resurfaced recently but the rest of the airport is in serious disrepair!
About the time we parked on the apron a pickup truck pulled up nearby with three guys in it. And they just sat there watching us. Hrm ... why do I feel like I stepped onto the set of Deliverance all of a sudden? Greta was thinking the same thing because after I stopped the engine and we peeled off our headsets she turned and looked at me and made her best dueling banjos imitation. lol
Turns out they were just teenagers, probably on their lunch break, watching the airport action. And I think there's not much action out there because it sure looked dead. The office was all locked up. And the aviation museum was all locked up. There was a sign for restrooms but it pointed off down a trail through the trees! Since the field is in the town it would be easy to land and just go walk around town but I could not get my door latched. I sure didn't want to just leave the plane and all our stuff unlocked and unattended so we decided to just stretch our legs for a bit and then head back to McKinney.
Greta and I have this joke that when we go on road trips I'll stop at every historical marker on they way, turning a one-hour trip into a three-hour trip. (I don't really do this by-the-way). So guess what we find at Mineola? An historical marker! Turns out, Wisener Field was one of the first airports in Texas. The first aircraft to land there was a Curtiss Jenny in 1917.
After about 15 minutes or so the teenagers in the pickup watched Greta and I climb back into the Skyhawk, fire up the engine and taxi back down the "sidewalk" to runway 17. I did a the regular runup and then announced my intentions on the CTAF, we turned out onto the runway and took off.
The flight back to McKinney was more or less direct. First we went more northerly towards Sulphur Springs and then followed the interstate highway back to the west. We did get a great view of Majors Field as we passed Greenville. That formerly military field is now home to an 8000' runway so you often get Boeing 747-sized aircraft landing there for repairs. It looks a little odd out in the middle of farmland.
Soon enough we were entering a left base for landing at McKinney, again on runway 17. The winds had picked up and I now had a 9-knot crosswind to deal with. Again, training prepares you for this but you never actually get to try it out on your own. The landing really wasn't too bad though I did have to use a lot of rudder to keep the nose lined up straight down the runway. One small bounce and then we were home.
I called the FBO to get the tanks filled up for the next guy, and I managed to get the door latched! Turns out there's a trick to it.
This flight: 2.5 hours
Landings: 2
Total: 68.9 hours
My Logbook
Destination Map
Initially we had talked about going to Llano to revisit Cooper's Old Time Pit BBQ. But since I'm new to this particular Skyhawk and we have reasons to want to be home by early afternoon I decided it would be better to stay relatively closer to home. I joined the North Texas Flying Club (NTXFC) which is based at the Collin County Regional Airport (KTKI ... otherwise known as McKinney Airport).
The plan was to make a square pattern. From McKinney go south over Lake Lavon and Lake Ray Hubbard and Mesquite Metro Airport (KHQZ) to the Cedar Creek VOR, or actually to its neighbor the Cedar Creek Reservoir. Then we'll hang a left toward the Frankston VOR, which is near Lake Palestine. Then we'll turn northerly to go up to Mineola Wisener Field (3F9) at the town of Mineola. After a quick lunch there we'll take off and head north toward the Sulpher Springs VOR where we'll hang a left and follow the interstate highway back to Big D and McKinney.
Or, in pilot speak, our plan is KTKI KHQZ CQY V569 3F9 and then 3F9 SLR KTKI.
The intention is not actually to follow the plan to the letter. Instead, I know Greta wants to take a lot of photographs so I'm planning to fly at a relatively low altitude, 3500', and we'll probably circle a couple of the lakes we come across.
The weather this morning was perfect. Cool, clear, light winds. I had some trouble getting through the gate at the airport so we ended up parking in the main parking lot and hiking out to the Skyhawk. The right fuel tank was an inch down from the top but in the left tank I couldn't reach the fuel so I called for a fill-up. In the club fuel is factored into the aircraft rates. So save your receipts when you get fuel and you can get reimbursed. But if you fill up at McKinney all you have to do is call the FBO (fixed base operator) and they'll send the fuel truck out. The fuel (and/or oil if you need it) will be charged directly to the club and you don't have to deal with getting reimbursed.
I did a thorough pre-flight and showed Greta how to work the door, window and seat belt. And we talked a little about the controls and we put batteries in her new headset. After firing up the engine we had trouble getting her headset to work. She could hear me but I couldn't hear her. Turns out she just wasn't talking loud enough and/or had the mic positioned badly. The mics are voice activated so you have to speak fairly forcefully to get it going. Quite often mine cuts in after the first word or two I speak ... which is ok since I start most sentences with "ummm". lol
Piston-engine aircraft have two magnetos providing current to the spark plugs. Before you take off you do a test to make sure they are both firing correctly and this is done by standing on the brakes while you power the engine up to about 1700 RPM. Then you turn off both magnetos individually and watch the RPM gauge. There should be a slight drop for each one. Well, I turned the key to the Right magneto position and the engine turned off!! I quickly turned the key back to Both and it started running again.
That's not good ... So I tried it again. This time there was just a 30 RPM drop. Ahhh I realized I had turned the key too far .. to the Off position. Stupid! Since Greta was looking at me and could tell I was perplexed I told her what I had done. We both had a good laugh over that. Runup complete I got cleared to takeoff and away we went. Since we were using runway 17 we were pretty much already on our on course heading so we just kept the nose pointed that direction and climbed to 3500'. McKinney Airport is under the Dallas-Fort Worth Class B airspace but the floor of it starts at 4000'. So we had no problem staying underneath.
The skyline was relatively haze free though you could still see a distinct brown line. During the ride from McKinney to Mesquite we could easily make out the downtown Dallas skyscrapers, which was at least 15 miles away. Once over the Mesquite Airport we altered course toward the east to take us toward the Cedar Creek Reservoir.
The Reservoir is almost completely developed around it's shoreline. Though after the drought we've had this year there are a lot of high-and-dry boat docks. This is where you'll find the towns of Mabank (pronounced may-bank), Seven Points, and Gun Barrel City. I once got a speeding ticket in Mabank. We flew up and down the center of the lake a couple of times so Greta could take pictures of the shoreline. When I wasn't watching out for other aircraft I was watching flocks of seagulls fly low across the surface of the lake. Even at 3500' they were easy to spot against the green water ... large, white and throwing shadows down on the surface. The flock would undulate like one large living creature.
We both decided we were getting a little peckish so instead of going to the Frankston VOR we turned and headed direct to Mineola. We chose Mineola because it's near Quitman. A friend's parents live in Quitman and we've heard stories about what a neat area it is. And the AOPA Airport Directory lists several restaurants in Mineola. Plus I heard that there is a small aviation museum on the field.
We picked up the latest weather report from Tyler and then tuned in the CTAF (common traffic advisory frequency) for Mineola to see if anyone else was moving about the area. Turns out that CTAF is shared by several airports and it was quite a busy morning everywhere but Mineola. The airport was a little hard to spot at first since it is practically in town and is surrounded by trees. There's only one short, narrow runway but it has a taxiway running the full length. We crossed over the field at 2500' in order to get an overview and to see how the windsock looked but I couldn't see it. In Tyler as well as everywhere in North Texas the wind was coming from the south so I set us up to enter the left downwind pattern for runway 17.
The runway is 3203' by 40' wide and is covered in asphalt. And the Airport/Facility Directly lists trees near runway 17. It wasn't kidding, it looks like the whole field is ringed by trees. Finally, a challenging field to land at. When learning to fly you're taught how to deal with landing challenges but you never actually get to land at short fields with obstacles .. usually for insurance reasons. So I've really been looking forward to try this for myself. The approach wasn't much steeper than I usually manage (I have a tendency to arrive too high on final anyway) so I easily cleared the trees and landing within the first third of the runway. The real challenge was in taxying around. The runway looks like it was resurfaced recently but the rest of the airport is in serious disrepair!
About the time we parked on the apron a pickup truck pulled up nearby with three guys in it. And they just sat there watching us. Hrm ... why do I feel like I stepped onto the set of Deliverance all of a sudden? Greta was thinking the same thing because after I stopped the engine and we peeled off our headsets she turned and looked at me and made her best dueling banjos imitation. lol
Turns out they were just teenagers, probably on their lunch break, watching the airport action. And I think there's not much action out there because it sure looked dead. The office was all locked up. And the aviation museum was all locked up. There was a sign for restrooms but it pointed off down a trail through the trees! Since the field is in the town it would be easy to land and just go walk around town but I could not get my door latched. I sure didn't want to just leave the plane and all our stuff unlocked and unattended so we decided to just stretch our legs for a bit and then head back to McKinney.
Greta and I have this joke that when we go on road trips I'll stop at every historical marker on they way, turning a one-hour trip into a three-hour trip. (I don't really do this by-the-way). So guess what we find at Mineola? An historical marker! Turns out, Wisener Field was one of the first airports in Texas. The first aircraft to land there was a Curtiss Jenny in 1917.
After about 15 minutes or so the teenagers in the pickup watched Greta and I climb back into the Skyhawk, fire up the engine and taxi back down the "sidewalk" to runway 17. I did a the regular runup and then announced my intentions on the CTAF, we turned out onto the runway and took off.
The flight back to McKinney was more or less direct. First we went more northerly towards Sulphur Springs and then followed the interstate highway back to the west. We did get a great view of Majors Field as we passed Greenville. That formerly military field is now home to an 8000' runway so you often get Boeing 747-sized aircraft landing there for repairs. It looks a little odd out in the middle of farmland.
Soon enough we were entering a left base for landing at McKinney, again on runway 17. The winds had picked up and I now had a 9-knot crosswind to deal with. Again, training prepares you for this but you never actually get to try it out on your own. The landing really wasn't too bad though I did have to use a lot of rudder to keep the nose lined up straight down the runway. One small bounce and then we were home.
I called the FBO to get the tanks filled up for the next guy, and I managed to get the door latched! Turns out there's a trick to it.
This flight: 2.5 hours
Landings: 2
Total: 68.9 hours
My Logbook
Destination Map
