I left the airport and immediately started planning my next cross country, which would be to London-Corbin (LOZ) in Kentucky. It was of vital importance that I get most of the planning done because, for the first time in my training, I would be flying with less than 24 hours separation between flights. In fact, this would be my 2nd flight in 2 days and my 3rd flight in 4 days. I wish I could afford to fly like this all the time, but I’m paying as I go and I refuse to take on any debt. Josh told me that if I show up ready to preflight and takeoff, that we might have enough time to actually stop and eat at the restaurant on the field. It meant doing the weather and associated calculations at the end of my workday, but I was willing to make that sacrifice.
The weather wasn’t quite as good as it was for the trip to Cleveland, but it was still a good day to fly. The only issue that I could coming up was clouds on this side of the Cumberland mountains as the sky conditions were listed as few clouds at 4500 feet. That would mean that we might have to keep the altitude a little low on the way back and just climb over the ridges. Nothing risky, just not ideal. I wrote up nav logs for both legs of the flight, and I was prepared to calculate ground speed, etc with the E6B. Everything was perfect, except I forgot to fill in the radio frequencies on the forms, and I was ready for preflight when I walked into the flight school. The entire process seemed much easier this time, even having to deal with two sectionals.
I was determined to make this flight as perfect as possible, but it seems I was destined for some sort of issue from the beginning. That trouble was that I called clearance delivery, told them that we were headed VFR to London-Corbin, Lima Oscar Zulu, and they put us down as headed to Lima Zulu Uniform. This is an issue because, LZU is down near Atlanta and it exactly 180 degrees the wrong direction. We only became aware of this misunderstanding after we were handed off to departure and they gave us a heading that would take us way off our planned course. Josh quickly called them to ask what the deal was and where they had us headed. They had us stay on our current heading and await further instructions. The end result was that we were something like 20 miles off course initially. Josh let me use the GPS to get back on course and then it was up to me to find the visual checkpoints. This was not an issue with the exception of one — Powell STOLport, which I could not locate until we were past it. I did catch myself drifting a little right of course at the next checkpoint which was easy to see. I corrected and everything else was smooth sailing. I did notice that our current altitude, 4500 feet was about the highest one could fly and maintain cloud clearances. This would be interesting on the way back.
After we crossed the Cumberlands, the sky was clear. It is very interesting to go from dodging clouds to a completely clear sky in a matter of seconds. Not long after crossing the mountains, we had the field in sight. The wind was negligible and was reported as variable, which led us to select runway 6. It would make for an easy landing and a quick turn around, but on listening to the CTAF, we discovered that there was traffic in the area and they intended to use 24. We elected to follow suit and entered on the 45 for a left downwind for 24. We didn’t have time to eat, which I knew before we left, but Josh let me know the particulars for getting to the restaurant in case I return on a solo cross country or any future flight (which I know I will). Apparently they had quite a time trying to get into the restaurant.
On the return trip Josh elected to show me some particulars of VOR/GPS navigation. He explained the button that switches between radio an GPS navigation and set it to GPS. He mentioned that it would be easier to deal with tracking the GPS course back to McGhee Tyson. He explained how to track the course on the HSI and how and when to correct. He also showed me some GPS features that would be helpful when tracking a course. It was very useful information. He also had me do some more simulated instrument work. In all I’ve got about half of the required 3 hours. Truth be told, I really don’t mind instrument flying and I find that not having to watch outside makes it easier to fly specific headings, altitudes, and etc. In order to avoid running into clouds, we kept the return leg pretty low and there wasn’t much excitement past crossing the mountains. Once we were within about 20 miles, I called approach and they set us up to enter a left base for runway 5L. For those unfamiliar with current airport projects, that runway is currently 2500 feet shorter and has non standard markings. That said, I made a really good landing and completed a really good flight.
After we taxied back to parking, we secured the plane, Josh debriefed me and we discussed the next step. He mentioned that he usually likes to get in a night cross country before he signs a student off for the solo cross countries. He also mentioned that we would hopefully do some VOR stuff on the night cross country and that I should select a destination accordingly. I mentioned that I was getting close to being ready for the knowledge test and inquired whether there was anything he needed to do. He said to let him know when I scheduled it and that he would sign me off.