Pilot's logbook

10/8 C-152 N89933 LOU-BAK-LOU 1st Solo Cross-Country Landings:2 2.1hours

I met Todd right at 12:00 with my weather and planning all done. He was topping off the tanks. We went in and he checked my plans carefully and filled out the necessary endorsements in my logbook.

I promised not to break anything, but actually, I wasn't anxious about the trip, other than to be on my toes. I had radio frequencies and notes on altitude on the front of my checkpoint sheet, and a post-it note to help me keep a scanning pattern going, which is actually easier to do if I'm the only one in the plane.
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.................*Airspeed
TRAFFIC.....*Heading ........TRAFFIC
..LEFT......*Altitude.........RIGHT
.................*VOR

Compass-->RPM
...Ammeter-->Suction gauge
......Oil Press/Temp-->Fuel

!!!!!MIXTURE!!!!!
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The ideas were right, but the note was too big. I need to make one less than 2" wide by 1 1/2". I also need to add "best landing."

The trip there was totally positive. Starting the plane is occasionally a problem, but not this time. Takeoff was smooth. Setting course and following it was fine. Altitudes were good, and I kept them within close range. There wasn't a lot of traffic, but anyone I heard on the radio, I kept track of, and there were no surprises.

The air was only a little bumpy. Having I-65 and a VOR heading FROM Bowman Field practically all the way to Columbus probably seems like a no-brainer, but there's still plenty to be on top of, partly because there's nobody else there making suggestions, and partly because I'm using a different set of stuff: map, clipboard, diagrams, notes, all in different places than I am used to keeping them.

I did keep track of checkpoints and time. I can see how Pirsig's "Cleveland Harbor Effect" can really come into play, here. It would be really easy to see something and convince yourself that it was what you were looking for, and be totally wrong. (More on that later.) The time spacing helps.

Winds were calm, even at 4,500 ft. altitude. Somewhere near Clark County Airport, as I was beginning to climb to altitude, I looked for I-65, and was confused by the roads under me, since the biggest one looked to be going the wrong way. What I did, instead of worrying or even trying too hard to figure it out, was clear the area around me and then just start a 360º climbing turn. In the first place, it was just an enjoyable thing to do, and in the second, by the time I came around I had my bearings and could see which road was the correct one. It also made sense as in following Mom's directions to us children: "If you're lost, stay in one place."

933 and I puttered along just fine. Eventually, Seymour Airport and the white tanks showed up right where they were supposed to be. I started thinking about descent and looking for the airport. The air was hazy and nothing distant was showing up sharply. I started coming down before I spotted the airport. When I saw it, I think I was surprised to still be up at maybe 3000 feet. But there it was. I contacted tower and they asked me to call final for runway 23. Good. 23 meant I could enter midfield downwind and do the pattern instead of some other approach which is harder to get right.

As I got closer, I couldn't figure which runways were which. I was checking my diagram, and checking my compass and heading indicator, and bouncing around as we got lower, too.

Eventually I determined it was the wrong airport, not just me not thinking straight. So, I did the circle upward thing again and found another airport that looked right and headed toward it. About the time I was ready to call tower and explain why I wasn't there, they called me and said they had me on radar, and I was cleared to land.

Landing wasn't great, but it was gentle. Maybe the super-wide runway. I must have been fast, because the plane floated when I flared, enough that I added power and started to go around. Then I recognized that I still had a mile of runway ahead of me, and just brought us back down nicely.

I taxied and parked, called Todd to tell him I'd made it, ate some dried mango and took pictures, and then headed back. The tower guys were pleasant. My taxi instructions, after I said I could see G and H, but not A, were "be careful of the workers, and turn right, the way their truck is pointed." I had to hold short a long time at the runway for someone to land, so I figured I'd better lean out the engine, and I was afraid I'd forget to put it back in. I kept my finger on it and kept chanting under my breath, "Mixture, mixture, mixture," but even so, I pulled out onto the the runway and was ready to go full power before I realized with surprise that I hadn't reset the mixture. That's one item to watch seriously.

Going back, I was careful about being aware of the restricted area to my right, and watching for everything on the ground and the air near those airports. I didn't have the VOR safety net at that end of the course, and there were a lot of bumps and a funky layer of scattered clouds above me. Still, not a biggie, until I tried to contact Seymour traffic about transitioning the area and couldn't get the radio to the frequency. This made no sense to me, since I had talked to them on the way there. (clue! but I didn't get it). I kept trying to turn the com radio down to 112, which it wouldn't go past 118, jumped to 132 or something.

I never figured it out, but I did figure out why it was harder to keep my altitude steady on the way back (I had the same trouble flying with Todd). Most of my checkpoints and I-65 were to the right since I used the same ones going as coming. I was always moving the nose down to look for something, and there we were, at 2600 instead of 3500. (Dane told me later that the radio problem was that I'd written the wrong frequency on my plan sheet. That's why they have us memorize the frequency ranges of the com equipment.)

I'm going into great detail on the things I want to correct. They were only a little part of the whole trip, but everything is major in this game, so I'm harping on them.

Eventually I gave up on the radio issue, tuned to Clark County and listened for traffic on that one. Then it was time to choose my island to cross. I took 12-mile island this time, and tower gave me a right base for 24, which I should be really used to, except I haven't done it but once in the last month. Again, it's the last thing that sticks in your head. VASI wasn't working, but that's no excuse. My base was too close (to the right of KT) but for some reason I put us there, figured out when I turned final what I'd done, and I should have just redone the whole thing. Isn't this what I promised myself to do? I've put myself on notice about that. No harm done, but no more. Ye gods.

My evaluation/ list of stuff also includes:

Make space on the flight plan sheet to write landing ATIS and ATC instructions. I think I'll just cut and paste the PIREP box to the back instead of the front. I don't need that equipment chart that's on the back.

PS. (Writing this up a day later) I just talked to Mike B., first time since he's been gone, and he asked me whether I was going to fly to Columbus again. Makes sense to me.

It really was a good first trip. The landing took the wind out of my sails, or maybe just the natural letdown of the trip being over. It was a good day. Todd was more nervous than I was. Hmmm....