I had less than 24 hours of downtime to prepare for my solo cross-country. Josh was heading out-of-town at noon and I was flying at 3. Nathan would sign me off. That was the plan. I elected to cheat a little and reuse a cross-country I had already planned but hadn’t gotten to fly, McGhee Tyson to Upper Cumberland Regional. It is far enough away and it looks like a really nice airport. The weather was finally cooperating on the plateau. The weather everywhere couldn’t have been better. No wind, clouds, or other meteorological phenomena – just clear, blue sky. A perfect day to fly.

I filled out the flight log, plotted the course and did all the weather calculations before heading to my lesson a little early. It was easier and quicker than the others because I was able to recycle the partially complete log from before.  All I really had to do was redraw the course on the sectional and calculate the numbers.  This all took about 20 minutes and I was ready to go pending a sign off.

I left work and headed across the ramp to the flight school.  Nathan looked at my stuff, we discussed the long cross-country and the weather, and he signed me off.  I was good to go with the exception of fuel.  Nathan called the FBO and had them dispatch a fuel truck and I headed out to the plane to preflight and leave.  Just as I was finishing the in cabin preflight checks, the fuel truck pulled up.  I greeted the lineman and he fueled the plane.  I proceeded with the preflight, taking care to check the fuel.  I trust the guys, but it is better to be safe than dead.

Even though I enjoy every flight, the ones with a specific destination are always a little more interesting to me.  It gives a sense of purpose to the flight.  That sense of purpose carries over into other aspects, such as the radio work.  It may just be my opinion, but I think it sounds better when you can tell clearance delivery, “Cessna 21693 would like to go to Sierra Romeo Bravo [or any other identifier] VFR at 4500 feet.”  Anyway, that is exactly what I said and they cleared me for 23L and 270 after departure.  That was close to my planned heading, but expected.  I’m starting to expect certain things when departing and arriving at TYS.  There are certain recurring patterns to flying from a controlled field and it seems the sooner you figure them out and incorporate them into the plan, things will go smoother.

Just to clear the air, I want to assure everyone that with the exception of setting up the gps (as a fall back) I did all the navigation by referencing the charts, checkpoints, and time.  I vowed not to jump in a fire up the GPS and go and I stuck with it because, GPS is prone to failure and I don’t want to be reliant on one navigation method.  For the most part the flight was just me flying and listening to radio chatter on the departure frequency.  There were some traffic warnings, but they were all really no factor courtesy calls.  Two of my checkpoints that held the most interest were Rockwood (RKW) and Crossville (CSV).  There wasn’t much going on at either, but I tuned in the frequencies anyway.  Just before I left Knoxville, another aircraft set out for Rockwood and I reached Rockwood in time to see their final approach and landing.  I assure you, seeing planes landing from above will never get old too me.  It is just a surreal experience to me.

I quickly arrived at my destination, it’s only a 40 minute flight, and was set up to enter a downwind.  The airport was pretty easy to find and the runway is just over half the length of McGhee Tyson and is the same width.  I didn’t anticipate any issues, and I had no issues.  I called that I was on downwind and there was a reply.  The reply caught me a little off guard, because the other aircraft stated that they were on downwind as well.  I immediately began scanning assuming that I had completely missed an aircraft, but the tail end of their transmission explained why I hadn’t seen anything – they were at Virginia-Highlands (they were surprisingly clear). I elected to do a full-stop landing so that I could call my wife and to explore a little of the airport.   In total I would say I was on the ground for about 5 minutes and then it was back home.

I executed a short field take off for no other reason than because I could.  Then climbed to 5500 feet and set the plane up for cruise.  The weather couldn’t have been better for flying, the air was perfectly calm and clear and the flight there and back were a breeze.  I took a moment just to take in the exquisite view and I was instantly reminded why I love to fly.  After the halfway point of the trip, the only thing I would have changed about it happened.  I was flying along and all of a sudden I noticed another plane and I realized that they were at my same altitude and that, more importantly, our paths were converging.  We didn’t bust separation or anything and nobody was ever in any danger, but we came closer than I would like to have.  I might have felt better about it if he hadn’t continued turning toward me while I tried to turn away from him, but everything worked out alright.

After that little event, I opted to call Knoxville Approach (it was time anyway) and get started on my descent.  They set me up for a base to 23R and I performed what seemed to me to be an exceptional descent and landing.  It was a nice smooth descent of about 200 feet per minute that basically stopped when I greased the landing.  It was probably the best flight I’ve ever had.  It wasn’t without its learning experiences, but it was an exceptionally smooth flight.  I’m really pleased with myself (toot.toot.)

Once I got back, I checked the time and called Nathan.  He mentioned that he had to leave early and that I should just call him when I got back.  I turned the keys and clipboard in at TACAir (the FBO), which was my first time in the building since it was Cherokee Aviation (which was like 10 or 12 years ago).  Then I made the long walk to the car and began thinking about my next flight.  We’ll see how next week goes.  Hopefully the weather is good and I can get my long solo cross-country in.