Stage 2 Check
by Russ Knize on Aug.08, 2016, under Flight Training
After several weeks of bad weather, I took my flight school’s check for the final phase of their second training stage. It involved taking my instructor to KUES and then practicing a diversion on the way back. We got there fine, but I then had some uncertainty with my last checkpoint. While looking at the chart, I got off course. Once I figured it out, I did find the airport and landed there fine. Lesson: don’t abandon the plan, even if you think you are off course. On the way back, we diverted to Galt (K10C). My course was again a bit off and I ended up west of the airport, but I did spot as we approached. In that case, I didn’t immediately draw the course line and so my heading wasn’t very accurate to start with. I did fix it along the way, using VOR/DME to find myself, but it wasn’t enough. We then flew back to KPWK, which I mainly did with the VOR.
Overall it wasn’t a complete success, but my instructor was confident enough to let me fly it solo. So I will be making the same trip to KUES as my first cross country solo.