prepping for cross country

i flew again today, this time from jyo to okv and then mrb and then back to jyo, full stops at each. there was some crosswind which wasn't bad but the gusts were pretty good. i've still got a ways to go to handle gusts without having to stop and think about it. one thing to note if you fly in this area, mrb's runway is being worked on and has been shortened to 2,300 ft i think. that is a heads up for you for when your instructor asks if you have checked the notams for mrb and you say yes and then you answer his question about runway length incorrectly... i expected all of the airports to be busy being a fri afternoon but they weren't at all.

(another duh moment)

I meant to pass along a lesson learned on my first night flight. When you're clicking on the pilot controlled lighting, don't count the clicks aloud because anyone on the CTAF can hear you.
My instructor pointed this out to me (as i was doing it), duh.

FAA Safety presentation at HEF

I went to an interesting faasafety.gov presentation at HEF (Manassas) a couple of days ago. While there I heard about this site:
http://www.seeandavoid.org/

Using that, you can find military and related airspaces and also see various other things. I think it was put up by the National Guard but I'm not sure. During the presentations there was also some discussion on military activities around Patuxent which was interesting to listen to.

second night flight and a friend overflies

Had my second night flight last night. This time I stayed in the pattern and worked on landings. There was a little crosswind and it was hot so it was a tiring experience (but neat). Also, while working touch and goes we got a radio call on the CTAF from an instructor that left a little while back and went to the airlines. He was in a Dash 8 in the area. That was also pretty neat. I wish there had been more time to find out what it's like making that kind of change.
On crosswind, particularly at night, I'm having trouble keeping a crab angle in once I start it. It seems that as soon as I do something else (like turn in the pattern) I tend to forget about it and have to work out the wind direction again. I also had a little aggravation last night in that I didn't adjust my seat correctly. Being somewhat tallish, it's easy to have the yoke touch my knee which I find very distracting.

night flying (and the adiz)

just got back from my first night flight, it was neat (more later). i did hear that a student flying a cross country out of JYO got lost on the way back and busted the ADIZ. they were intercepted by two F-16s and sent to MRB. i suspect all instructors in the area will be reviewing lost procedures with their students soon.

whew...

This morning's lesson was tough and long. It was lost procedures, divert, VOR use, autopilot use (first time) and soft field landing. A note, if you haven't reviewed doing a full flight plan (with legs, endurance, fuel consumption, heading calculations and so on) then do it. It's been a while since I had done one (ground school specifically) and I defnitely showed it. I had forgotten how much goes into a plan. My instructor had to review a fair amount with me before we left. We flew to to KMRB using MRB VOR then to KOKV. Back at KJYO my "soft field" landing was more like a "at least the plane is on the ground now" type one. Maybe next time...
It is fun though Next lesson: night flying.

firsts... and seconds...

This was my second solo but the first time I left the field and went out to our practice area. The plane was a bit older/beat up than my usual one which was interesting. My new(ish) instructor cycles me through all of the 172Rs where previously I tended to stick with one. My landing could have been better (as usual). I suffixed my ATC calls with "student pilot" and I noticed that on the way back into the ADIZ they were keeping outbound traffic a bit higher than usual...
Maybe that was just my imagination.