My First Cross Country
Flight
September
12, 2011, Monday, 6:40 am, I take-off on my first cross country flight to the
nearby airstrip of the Angeles Flying Club (AFC)--just shy of 55 kilometers
south of Nampicuan as the crow flies. I have flown farther than that in
the past (e.g., Nampicuan to Fort
Magsaysay
As
it happens, I set my alarm clock incorrectly and instead of waking-up at 5
a.m., I open my eyes to see the light of day at about 6:20 am. So, I rush
to the airstrip, where my trusted crew is wondering why I am unusually late,
fill-up the tank with gasoline, conduct my pre-flight checks and off I
go--immediately banking to the left for a 180 degree turn to the south for
Magalang, Pampanga. There are plenty of low altitude clouds, which can be
a bit threatening when it's the first time you are visiting a place and you are
entirely dependent on a pocket-size GPS to reach your destination. I
thought about changing the batteries of my GPS for this cross country flight
but I didn't. Murphy's Law got the better of me when the GPS flashed a
"low battery" reading about half of the way to AFC. Turned off
the GPS and turned it back on about 5 minutes to my destination. It
should have at least that much juice left for a safe landing. Distance to
destination on the GPS read 755 meters yet I did not have a visual of the AFC
airstrip. For a second, I thought I might have inputted the wrong
coordinates in my GPS until I looked straight down and realized I was right on
top of my destination. Whew! Touched down at about 7:20 am and the
staff of the AFC was just about trickling-in for the opening at 8 am.
My
friend, Albert Mendoza (who was also my microlight instructor), invited me to
come over because GMA (the TV station) was going to feature microlights this
morning. Gordon, a seasoned microlight et al instructor from the United Kingdom
We
all hand lunch at a local carinderia (eatery), which served an exceptional
sizzling sisig and pinapaitang kambing. We filled-up and parted ways.
Albert and Gordon checked-out my wing and concluded that my wing had too
much "reflex," proceeded to make some adjustments, which slightly
improved its handling. I will need to secure a copy of the shape of the
battens of my wing from the original manufacturer, as these may need to be
flattened to correct the performance of my wing. That's homework for me.
Just
after lunch was a downpour of rain. It lasted for 2 maybe 3 hours and the
skies cleared-up with a bit of haze. With the ground cooled by the
seasonal rainfall, I was assured that there would hardly be any thermals for
the rest of the afternoon. It was also evident that the rest of the
afternoon would experience relatively calm wind conditions. And so, I
decided to return to Rancho Caridad in the afternoon. Took off at at
around 3:45 pm and arrived in Nampicuan at around 4:45 pm. The trip was
about 1 hour and unusually long for the distance. This was due to a
nearly frontal headwind, though consistent, allowed me to cruise at speeds
below 40 kph. Hence, the long ride back, which is still faster than going
by car with all the traffic. Oh . . . I did remember to change the
batteries of my GPS before returning home. So goes my first cross country
flight on September 12, 2011.
There
will be more cross-country flights to come as soon as I purchase my airband
transceiver--that is a fancy name for a walkie-talkie for aviation purposes--my
headset and the push-to-talk switch that goes along with this communication
system.
