Our Big Schmidt Adventure: Lesson 20 - Cross Country to Anoka

Today was quite a treat, we rented the larger Cessna 172R Skyhawk so Bob, my father-in-law, could join Jack and me on our jaunt into Minnesota. We got to the airport around 10:15 am, weather was questionable, nothing convective in the area yet, but some rain moving into the twin cities, but it appeared it was going to stay just enough south. I got myself setup in the unfamiliar plane, I had only flown this bird once before, on my very first introductory flight lesson almost a year ago. It was still a Cessna, but the plane seemed so much bigger. It largely handled the same except for a few minor procedural differences, it also operated the same. However, the controls were much tighter and required a much firmer hand, I found myself reaching for the trim a lot, it was for this particular reason I really missed the C152. Anyway, after getting accustomed with a slightly different avionics panel, called up weather, taxied to runway 14, and off we went. The plan was to track the Eau Claire VOR outbound, and eventually pick up the Gopher VOR inbound. The Gopher VOR was about 7 miles west of Anoka. What was also great about this route is it would take us almost directly over our house, so I used Tainter lake as one of our checkpoints. Weather largely cooperated for us, the flight was pretty smooth except for some bounces here and there when we got a close to the band of rain showers from the south. Given the rain was a little too close, we didn't spend much time in Anoka, just a quick touch and go, a pretty nice landing there. As we flew our approach for a landing on runway 9, we asked tower to setup us up with flight following out of Minneapolis Center, this is where ATC services will assign us a special transponder code, and they will keep us in radar contact to advise us of any area aircraft we need to watch for. It's another eye in the sky for us, and a good safety measure that should always be used if available. Sometimes the ATC gets a little busy with IFR traffic, and they terminate services and send you on your way. Anyway, on the way back, we used both VORs and the GPS to track our course back. I had a tendency to focus a little too hard on the needle, so when Jack asked, "Where do you think we are?" I had to reply, "Um, no clue, I know I am on the Eau Claire 285 radial, but not sure." Jack responded, "Now you know why we don't show students this technology sooner, its easy to get complacent, and if the equipment fails you can get lost really easy." So noted, I think GPS and moving maps are great, but its essential to keep your pilotage, dead reckoning, and radio navigation skills just as sharp. Anyway, got back around 12:30, ok landing, I ballooned a bit, but nothing too dramatic.

During debrief, Jack gave me the go ahead to start planning my solo cross country. It doesn't have to be the super long, one of my solo cross countries must include stops at 3 airports, total distance of at least 150 nm, and at least 1 leg at least 50 nm. However, I technically need 5 hours solo cross country (and 10 total solo hours). So, I won't be making just 1 cross country anyway, so we are going to start small, I am thinking of a return to Marshfield since I have been there.

We ran into some NetJet pilots there, they were on their way to Columbus, OH. They were super nice, we had a long chat with them, and they showed all of us around their new Cessna Citation jet, it was awesome. The first officer had me sit in the pilot seat, and had me watch as he programmed the flight computer for their upcoming trip. Wow, what an awesome experience, I can't imaging having that job, if there was a dream job in Aviation industry, that had to be it. Don't worry, no inclinations for any career moves at the moment! But it was so fun catching a brief glimpse into their lives as a professional pilot, very cool!

Happy Father's day all!