I knew it was the day when I woke up to find the clouds peeling away from the mountains to unveil the sunrise. A quick moment to check the weather, and then I was off to the aeroclub. Today was going to be my first cross country solo. I had been training for months now leading up to this moment, yet the past week was plagued with abysmal weather. I found myself holding short as F-22s occupied the runways. A minor inconvenience when you fly from out of a military base. Waiting, I reassured myself by checking the visibility of my maps and flight plan. That is when my GPS caught the corner of my eye. The digital map that was typically displayed was replaced with a set of coordinates. Shuffling through the features, I could not understand why
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If I turned back now to try and fix the digital map, I would run out of time for my flight and forced to attempt the flight another day. However, it was not my main source of navigation; I had paper maps. Without the GPS, I could get horrible lost or worse in my mind, fly through the wrong airspace. I finally determined my training and knowledge of the area would enable me to safely fly without violating any rules or running into a mountain. Furthermore, my destination was clearly marked by a major river and highway that cross through the peninsula. As long as I kept my eyes open, finding either the river or highway was laughably …show more content…
Although I had used deadhead pilotage method many times, this was the first time without a GPS. I was nervous before taking off, but once I was in the air I relaxed as I relied on my knowledge to careful navigate to my destination. I was confident throughout the flight, so much so that once I found my airport, I decided to continue on 40 miles to a glacier fed lake my instructor had informed me about and made it optional to visit. The whole flight was a confidence booster and it made clear how the time and effort I placed into flying were paying
If I turned back now to try and fix the digital map, I would run out of time for my flight and forced to attempt the flight another day. However, it was not my main source of navigation; I had paper maps. Without the GPS, I could get horrible lost or worse in my mind, fly through the wrong airspace. I finally determined my training and knowledge of the area would enable me to safely fly without violating any rules or running into a mountain. Furthermore, my destination was clearly marked by a major river and highway that cross through the peninsula. As long as I kept my eyes open, finding either the river or highway was laughably …show more content…
Although I had used deadhead pilotage method many times, this was the first time without a GPS. I was nervous before taking off, but once I was in the air I relaxed as I relied on my knowledge to careful navigate to my destination. I was confident throughout the flight, so much so that once I found my airport, I decided to continue on 40 miles to a glacier fed lake my instructor had informed me about and made it optional to visit. The whole flight was a confidence booster and it made clear how the time and effort I placed into flying were paying