An Early Morning Cross Country Flight
Weather here has been too hot to enjoy. Last night it was cool, so I got up early this morning (05:30 IS early) and flew a small cross country (XC) in southern Michigan. Visibility was over 10 miles, looked like about 15. Ceiling was unlimited. I was off the ground at 08:00, and flew over a couple of sod strips as checkpoints, then back home to Mason KTEW. Winds were so calm that I took off heading east, and landed heading west.
Southern Michigan is a checkerboard of green fields, golden ones where wheat has ripened, streams and rivers, ponds and lakes, small towns, and a city with a federal prison. They don't like us to overfly a prison at lower altitudes, and I was about 2,500 feet above ground level, so I flew about 5 miles of E'ly of it. A few major highways serve as landmarks, confirming what the iPad and GPS tell me. It's reassuring to look out and see a highway, lake, or city where it's actually supposed to be by watching the charts.
I have a new toy, a GPS. I used it to back up the iPad for navigation, and to track our flightpath. Kinda neat to put that flightpath on a topo map, and also see it overlain on aerial photos. I can see the lakes that I saw from the air - towns and rivers too.
The air was smooth and clean. Landing was even easy, and I was off at the first exit from the runway. Put the Duck to bed in the hangar, "Thanks, Lady. Nice flight." And off for coffee with some friends.
Weather here has been too hot to enjoy. Last night it was cool, so I got up early this morning (05:30 IS early) and flew a small cross country (XC) in southern Michigan. Visibility was over 10 miles, looked like about 15. Ceiling was unlimited. I was off the ground at 08:00, and flew over a couple of sod strips as checkpoints, then back home to Mason KTEW. Winds were so calm that I took off heading east, and landed heading west.
Southern Michigan is a checkerboard of green fields, golden ones where wheat has ripened, streams and rivers, ponds and lakes, small towns, and a city with a federal prison. They don't like us to overfly a prison at lower altitudes, and I was about 2,500 feet above ground level, so I flew about 5 miles of E'ly of it. A few major highways serve as landmarks, confirming what the iPad and GPS tell me. It's reassuring to look out and see a highway, lake, or city where it's actually supposed to be by watching the charts.
I have a new toy, a GPS. I used it to back up the iPad for navigation, and to track our flightpath. Kinda neat to put that flightpath on a topo map, and also see it overlain on aerial photos. I can see the lakes that I saw from the air - towns and rivers too.
The air was smooth and clean. Landing was even easy, and I was off at the first exit from the runway. Put the Duck to bed in the hangar, "Thanks, Lady. Nice flight." And off for coffee with some friends.
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