Feature: Solo Cross Country Worries

By Michael McCracken And Ron Blehm (January 31, 2012)

The solo-cross country flight is always memorable for pilots that are pursuing their private pilot's license. For some, it isn't the feeling of accomplishment that they remember, but the decisions that they were forced to make to ensure a safe flight.

I happen to fall into that category. On my second solo-cross country flight, I was fulfilling the FAA requirements of at least 3 airports, and 3 solo landings at a tower controlled field. To make this flight, I flew from my home airport of KLHZ, Triangle North Executive (formerly Franklin Co), to KVUJ, Stanly County, then up to KTDF, Person Co, and finally back home to KLHZ.

So I arrived at LHZ at around 9am, filed the flight plan, did the preflight inspection of the C172, N12902, and taxied out to runway 23. During the run-up, everything looked good, so I pulled out onto the runway, gave it full power and went off into the blue. (The scenery is still in progress, so please excuse the terrible ground.)

I turned right to a heading of 250 and climbed to 4500. I contacted Raleigh Approach on 125.3 and got flight following to Stanly County. The weather wasn't too bad, winds aloft were only about 10 knots, however it was quite hazy, even though it was only 9:30AM. My flight plan, which was originally directly to Stanly County, took me directly over Raleigh-Durham International; however, the controller vectored me around the airport. I received the instruction from the controller, when all of a sudden my attitude indicator bit the dust! I knew there were only two different options: 1) Turn around and go back to LHZ, or 2) complete the flight without a working attitude indicator. While following one of the two rules that my uncle always told me to follow while flying, DON'T PANIC, I realized that with a working altimeter, vertical speed indicator, and turn coordinator, I would be able to use these instruments to tell me exactly what the attitude indicator would've indicated. Equipped with these instruments, I decided to continue the flight.

Everything was smooth sailing as I approached Stanly County and entered the pattern. Coming in to land was a bit different without an attitude indicator to use to aide my approach for runway 4R. Even though I didn't have that working instrument, the landing was delightfully smooth. I made three stop-n-go's because the FAA requires that the landings be to a complete stop.

After making the third landing, I departed the pattern back to the north. I contacted Charlotte Approach to get flight following to Person County. Because of the hectic Charlotte airspace, I got put to the side and was told to stand by. Stanly County, however, is nearly 50 miles to the northeast of Charlotte! So I'm flying along, waiting for the controller to get to me on her list, but I was flying with a ground speed of nearly 120 to the northeast! The distance, along with the hazy conditions, resulted in a loss of radio contact! As a student pilot, the only solution I could think of was to turn around and try to make contact again. So that's exactly what I did. I had to fly almost all the way back to Stanly County to reach radio range again! I finally got in touch with Charlotte Approach again and she immediately handed me off to Greensboro Approach. Wouldn't it have been much simpler to have done that about 15 minutes before? So anyhow, I was off to Roxboro. I flew all the way to Person County without any trouble, entered the pattern, and did a quick stop-n-go and was on my way home!

The flight back to KLHZ was really nice and smooth. Did I mention that it was nearly 90°F outside? I know that the thermometer inside FSX says 72°F even though I set the temperature within the weather dialog box inside Flight Sim X...

Over three hours later in real time, I was back on the ramp at Triangle North, counting my blessings. The owner of the flight school seemed amused by the trials that I encountered within my flight, but he said that I made all of the right choices and I went "above and beyond!"

So, now that you've heard my real-life story and seen the re-creation of the flight in Flight Simulator, tell your story ... GET REAL!

Michael McCracken

Authors note:

I am a 17 year old rising high school senior. I've been taking flying lessons since January of 2010 and almost have my PPL. I have 43 hours of real life flying time.