Almost "home".... over Pascagoula again. The band of clouds had edged a little closer from the west, forcing me down a little lower than I had planned, and as soon as I crossed the river, somebody turned on the bump machine. 

Because of the tall pines, 5R2 is nearly impossible to see from the east until you're on top of it, but all one has to do is follow Rte. 90. I did so, and turned around west of the field for a crosswind entry for 18.

     


Landing sequence: Short final... had to put in a pretty aggressive sideslip here to get back on the centerline...

     


Approaching the threshold: in a bit of a pickle here because a gust has lifted the plane up but I am carrying a little extra airspeed for the gusts and really can't drop the nose to descend or I'll almost certainly get too "hot" and land too long. Thought about slipping a little, then thought better of it. 3500 feet of runway, and a 172 can easily land and roll within less than 1500. Just got to ease into it... into a hole, sort of- the tall trees close to the east side of the runway act like a cliff; the thermal bumps on final will be replaced by turbulence as the wind spills over the trees.

     

Here comes the 1000-foot marker, after my first attempt to round out has only got 2KB to balloon and float like crazy in ground effect. Come on girl, slow down....

     


Finally... just after the 1000-foot mark. Not too bad, but I did better on my first "warmup" landing before flying east...



A good flight overall: landed at a totally unfamiliar airport, worked on my VOR nav, did very well maintaining altitude, particularly during my turns, and didn't do anything stupid other than (very briefly!) pulling the mixture instead of the carb heat in the pattern at 4R9.   

Willit Run wrote on May 28^th, 2007 at 10:10am:

I'll admit I was a little hesitant, even after sh*t-canning the longer, more elaborate route... but once I had her trimmed for cruise and noticed the landscape actually resembled the chart, it was business as usual.

I still get the jitters, even just a little, before I fly. But once you're committed to takeoff, there's simply no point in worrying.

Sean I enjoy reading about your flying adventures but what I really enjoy is seeing the wonderful time YOU are having.   

You have a marvellous way of telling about your flight which is educational and inspiring to the reader whether they are licenced aviators or not.

You ride well in the saddle my friend and am looking forward to your next aerial adventure. 

I was hoping to take in several airshows down your way this summer but we are going to Comox, British Columbia, Canada for two weeks shortly and then I am going to Great Britain for a month while the old girl goes down to Boston in your country for four weeks.

It is funny, most of the rest of this year is planned and we still have not seen any warm weather, just rain.  Oh well they say behind every cloud there is a silver lining.   

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug