He soloed, twice. The pattern work and landings had improved to the point where he could fly in good weather at his home field. Now it was time to stretch those wings. We planned a simple flight down to Airport Manatee to give him a chance to experience something new and different. For this flight we would stay out of Class B, C and D airspace to concentrate on navigation.
We sat down at one of the cafe tables to spread out the Miami Sectional. The lower shelf of the Tampa Class B follows I75 so we would stay east of that until we got far enough south. Leo used his EFB to find a few waypoints to plug into the GPS that would help define the route. We took the opportunity to review some of the information on the sectional. I recommend
this link. Finally, we discussed the Nav Log. His EFB said we would use about 1.3 gallons to fly there. I gave my rule of thumb calculations and discussed "Bingo" fuel. Finally, I mentioned that there would be a lot of challenging new stuff on this flight.
After takeoff, we climbed to 1200' and finished the checklist. Leo started working with his EFB and Sally started to drift to the left. After a while, I suggested we engage the autopilot. A short brief on its operation and some cautionary comments about looking outside followed.
As we approached 48x, traffic reported using RWY25 so we prepared for that left-handed entry, but as we got closer the winds shifted more easterly so we changed to a right-hand entry to RWY07. This would be his first time using a right-hand pattern.
Turf strips usually don't have many markings, few reference points to check progress for the visual approach. It's a little disconcerting when I've been preaching to "land on the numbers" and suddenly there are no numbers.
We did soft field and short field takeoffs. Gently letting that nose come down right after the liftoff takes a lot of practice. Not bad for the first time.
Immediately after departure, I handed him the Foggles. One of the real joys of flying Sally is the fantastic view. I just took that away. Climbs, turns, speed changes and descents all take on a new meaning when you can't see the real horizon. And Sally provides a lot of cautionary distracting alerts when you approach a cell tower.
I asked for the Foggles back. It had been a good flight. I decided we had accomplished enough for the day so I canceled the emergency practice and told him to take us home.
We sat down at one of the cafe tables to spread out the Miami Sectional. The lower shelf of the Tampa Class B follows I75 so we would stay east of that until we got far enough south. Leo used his EFB to find a few waypoints to plug into the GPS that would help define the route. We took the opportunity to review some of the information on the sectional. I recommend this link. Finally, we discussed the Nav Log. His EFB said we would use about 1.3 gallons to fly there. I gave my rule of thumb calculations and discussed "Bingo" fuel. Finally, I mentioned that there would be a lot of challenging new stuff on this flight.
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