Arizona, 2012 DutchPilotGirl
So scared as I was I entered the airplane for my first solo flight ever… I would not lie if I said that I had wet hands and that I was ready to shit in my pants… I did not feel confident at all to fly this Piper Archer, alone! As part of the program I went solo and before I knew it I was in the air not thinking about anything else than: WOW I AM FLYING THIS AIRPLANE:O!!! It is incredibly funny how quick a person can get used to this.. Some 40 hours extra and flying the piper felt like I was driving in my car on a regular day. Nothing special. We flew so often in the desert that sometimes we were like ‘Ooh noo we have to fly tomorrow again :(‘ and immediately realizing how bad it was we had that thought in the first place. That is one of my lessons in life… It doesn’t matter how amazing and incredible something is, you will get used to everything. 🙂
Trip to the South, 2012 DutchPilotGirl
So one time I flew to the south to some airport I had never been before. Imagine.. 20 years old, flying in the desert of Arizona with no experience except for the few flights before during the flight training. Anyway… I did my preparation and planned a flight towards the south. The instructor signed me off to go. The route was from Mesa airport to Ryan airport. In the beginning of the route I recognized the points I had to be at a specific time but the further I went to the south the less I recognized because I simply never went there. Luckily I chose reference points like mountains so I stayed on the route…until the last part of the trip. I timed at Marana and knew the way back in case I could not find the airport. Flying next to the mountain ridge Ryan airport should have been somewhere on the left… My VFR navlog gave me something competely different though. I followed my DG, which I updated some 15 minutes ago or so, but nothing led me to this airport. Before I knew it I went further and further on to a random track, made some 360’s and tried to figure out where I was and why I could not find that airport. I watched my fuel and calculated how long I could be flying there before I had to turn back to my alternate. 20 minutes left… Alright, not too much. Here is where the stress enters the party. I looked outside and did not see anything which looked like an airport… Or maybe I did? So I thought I saw something which could be an airport… Flew there and found out that it was not an airport but some campground… WOW, as you can imagine now I was really in a hurry…! I decided to request vectors to the field instead of going back to the alternate. N1433K, 10nm east from Ryan airport… Turn left 280. Not according to the navlog, but alright. I was saved! So guys, update that DG regulary and think about any wind changes.