Yesterday I passed the airman’s knowledge test with two questions missed.  I missed a question on steam fog and a question on accident reporting.

For flight thirty, T and I decided that I should fly out to the practice area and practice some turns about a point and some s-turns across a road.  There was a considerable wind to deal with (30 knots) so it was good practice.  The GPS showed that my s-turns were quite symmetrical if not quite semi-circular.  My turns about a point were close to circular, but a bit rougher, so there’s some work to do there.

Well, today was the day.  After a week of waiting out some serious winds, the forecast was for clear skies and light winds.  When I woke up Oshkosh was clear, but the clouds were still low over Green Bay; they began to clear up by 7:00.  All of my planning was done, so T reviewed it with me, I filed my flight plans, got my preflight briefing, and headed over to the aerodrome.  We took off from Oshkosh and flew to West Bend.  Things were just peachy along the short flight and the rain that had gone through Oshkosh at 4:00 a.m. had passed West Bend by 8:30.

On the ground at West Bend we stopped in at the Terminal and asked if there was a pilot’s phone, the guy at the front desk told me down the hall and turn right and then right again.  Well, I ended up in the lunch room and there were three old codgers but no phone.  They told me I had gone one door too far, but when I backtracked, it was a private office.  So I just used my cell phone.  I went back to the lunch room and asked if any of the codgers would like to sign my log book and they started jabbering, “Isn’t there someone up front?  Don’t you need a flight instructor for that?”  Well, wasn’t up to arguing so I went up front to ask the guy there to do it.  On the way down the hall, I heard the codgers continue, “Wow, the poor guy is being ignored.  Shouldn’t there be somebody up front?”

Thence to Sturgeon Bay, we had planned to cruise at 3500′, but the winds aloft were stronger there than the forecast I used, so we descended to 2600′.  We gained 15 knots ground speed by doing so.  Flying along Lake Michigan was plenty scenic and then the stop at Sturgeon Bay was great.  The FBO lineman there was super-friendly and helpful and recommended taking a look at the canal, which we overflew upon takeoff and it was picturesque like he said.

Thence to Oshkosh, the flight was relatively easy as I am familiar with the entire route.  In the Green Bay Class C airspace, we encountered three other ships.  You would think that when the controller tells you to look for traffic 2 miles away at 10:00 and 500 feet below you inbound for landing, it would not be hard to spot.  It took a minute, however, to pick him up and we  were only a mile away when I did.  I have to admit some satisfaction at being able to call the controller and report “traffic in sight.”  There was also a DNR aircraft that was flying circles above another aircraft that was spraying for gypsy moths on the surface.  That was an interesting operation, both because the DNR were spraying for gypsy moths and because they were using one aircraft near the surface and another at 3500′ to do the communicating.

In the last few weeks I have read two magazine articles about how pilots often take the word of a controller as gospel truth and now and then it gets one into trouble.  My student pilot’s manual also has a page on this topic.  All of these author’s explain that it is important for us to think about what the controller is telling us and if it doesn’t make sense, it is our responsibility as pilots to (respectfully) question the instructions or humbly ask for clarification if you don’t understand.  The pilot is the final authority and responsibility for the safety of the craft and her passengers.  When I called Oshkosh to announce my intentions, we were north of the airport.  The controller asked me to report a two mile right final for runway 9.  The pilots in the audience will have noted that the instructions would require us to fly around the city to the south and come back to runway 9.  This would not be unsafe at all, but I began to wonder: first I wondered whether I had heard her correctly, but my acknowledgment confirmed that I did; second, I wondered whether she was comprehending where I was.  So I called back and respectfully asked, “Oshkosh tower, seven zero gulf, that was a two mile right base for runway nine, correct?”  She asked me to repeat my position and then gave me a left final for runway 9…good experience.

Next up: Short and soft field landings and preparation for the practical test!

Today, we were scheduled to make the long solo cross-country flight, but the surface winds forecast kept us home. Instead, we shot four takeoffs and landings. The first one stunk. It wasn’t unsafe or anything, but I would have been embarrassed had there been anyone else in the airplane. Well, I hadn’t flown in two weeks, so I already knew I was in need of practice and I’m glad I got it at my home field. The last three landings were just great — lots of small adjustments on final, keep her on the centerline, smooth round-out, hold her off, correct for a small gust from the right, keep her nose pointed straight, flare, touchdown. The perfect landing is elusive.   If I were to critique myself, I would say I could improve by flaring 12 inches closer to the runway.

All in all, it was a treat to be up again, and I must remind everyone how fantastic it is to slip the surly bonds at daybreak.

To meet the night cross-country requirement, we took off and headed down to Wisconsin Dells.  It was the perfect night to fly with almost no surface winds and the stars out.  MP rode along.   Everything went according to plan on the way down and I knew where I was at all times.  The landing at Wisconsin Rapids was a bit dicey because of the optical illusion that a night landing presents (just like the book says, the runway was closer than it appeared at night).  Wisconsin Rapids was a nice little airport.  We turned right around and headed back to Oshkosh and again, I didn’t get to enjoy the return trip because I spent almost all of it under the hood.  My simulated instrument flying was good as far as I could tell.  The landings back at Oshkosh were better and we even tried one with the lights off, which went fairly well.

This week I made my first solo cross-country flight.  After the first couple of times planning a cross-country flight, the planning process goes rather quickly and is straightforward.  This flight was to Wisconsin Rapids and back.  There were several things I encountered that were new or nearly new to me so there were opportunies to learn.  For example, a cloud layer at 4500′ rolled in sooner than forecast and so on the return flight to Oshkosh I had to select a lower altitude than planned, had a stronger headwind than planned, and arrived later than the flight plan indicated.  Moreover, I arbitrarily decided to close the flight plan after refueling, which is found out is a bad idea.  When I did call to close the plan, the FSS informed me they had already closed the plan after calling the Oshkosh tower and verifying I was on the ground.  Two lessons may be learned from this — 1. call FSS in the air to tell them when you’re behind schedule — 2. close the flight plan in the air or as soon as you’re on the ground.

At last, we took our first cross-country flight.  The flight was from Oshkosh to Green Bay to Merrill to Oshkosh.  JR rode along.  Of course the hop from Oshkosh to Green Bay was pretty quick.  On the downwind for runway 24 you get a great view of that Wisconsin Mecca, Lambeau Field.  The change of venue to class C airspace did throw me off a touch and T reminded me of the carburetor heat and the flaps.  I’m not sure how much longer it would have taken for me to remember those but I expect I would have done.  We stopped on the ground for a quick rest and to close our flight plan and continued thence to Merrill.  The flight to Merrill was nice and smooth and seemed to run right along the border between the real north woods and the rest of Wisconsin.  The ride back to Oshkosh was fairly turbulent and to make things more interesting, T put me under the hood.  I flew under simulated instrument conditions for about 20 minutes and I think it went fairly well.

How did you celebrate Earth Day?  We celebrated ours by driving our “SUV” 180 miles to and from work at a paper company, and then changing her oil at the end of the day.

During flight number 24, T set me the task of flying around Lake Winnebago clockwise.  While on the east side of the lake, I was to find Chilton, then New Holstein, and then the New Holstein Airport.  All of this went quite smoothly:  Communications with air traffic control, cruising at 3400′, finding landmarks (navigating by pilotage),  finding my way back to Oshkosh.  The turbulence was moderately high near the lake; it takes some getting used to.  The landing process went tolerably well considering the variable and gusty winds, but after the solo flight I did not call T right away because my phone battery was nearly dead.  Well of course I forgot to call him when I got home and he got nervous and had to call me.  I was rightfully scolded.

The next flight (weather permitting and Lord willing) should be a dual cross-country.

The purpose of our trip to Cameroon was to meet the physical and more importantly the spiritual needs of the people in these villages.  You could say those goals were accomplished.  There was a young boy who had fallen and bonked his two front teeth.  Because they were dying, they needed to be pulled out.  He lay there and took it like a champ.  There was a small girl who had an infecton on her ankle so the nurses cleaned it and gave her some medicine.  So these were medical services that the team could offer.  Most of the local people also received a toothbrush and Dr. Mitchell explained to them the importance of using it daily.

We were also privileged to be able to witness many of the local people come to know Jesus as their Lord.  Idol worship and witchcraft are common in those parts so in some cases these folks were saved directly out of those practices.  Two of those people physically confirmed their faith in Christ by burning their idols immediately.  It would be appropriate to point out here that idol worship and witchcraft are unfamiliar to Westerners and so they seem unreal.  Well, being near these things brings a sense of reality to the spiritual realm, but it would be right and good for us to remember that the “more common” sins from which we have been saved are no milder than these.  We all were dead in our sins, guilty of idol-worship and rebellion against God and so in need of a Saviour.

A special thing for me to see was the establishment of local churches in these bush villages.  Felix, a young pastor, had recently moved to Olulu to become a local pastor.  The last week we were there, 4 believers were baptised and several were added to the number of believers.  These things were a major encouragement to me and I only hope that I played a small part in the harvest there.