Today I flew with my instructor to Lac du Bonnet (short cross country trip) and Brandon (long cross country trip). Well, we actually didn’t make it to Brandon, but more about that later.
The flight to Lac du Bonnet took less than one hour, but took over three hours to plan! There are scores of calculations and factors that have to be taken into consideration before a pilot leaves the ground. You have to pick a destination and plot your course on a map. Your charted headings need to be corrected for wind direction and speed at the specific altitude you expect to fly at. As wind will also determine your speed (tail wind vs. head wind), times en-route and estimated arrivals must calculated. The weight and balance of your aircraft must be computed for safety. Too much weight on either side of the centre of gravity (balance) can have catastrophic results. Then you have to file a flight plan and ensure you have all the appropriate documentation on board the aircraft, as well as all the frequencies you will need to communicate with other aircraft and ATC. Once in the air, winds are never exactly as predicted, so you need to be able to recalculate and update all your information based on the actual conditions as encountered. There sure wasn’t much time for sightseeing, but I’m told that it should take much less time as I gain more experience.
The trip to Brandon was far less successful. Hazy conditions from stubble fires, combined with late afternoon sun low to the horizon made it extremely difficult to navigate visually. We would have made it without any problems, but it would have been of little value to me as a training exercise so we decided to call it a day and return to St. Andrews. On the way back, though, we did stop briefly in Gladstone where I made my first soft field landing on an actual grass strip! We’ll try again on Thursday.
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