Flight 63

01-09-97

1986 C-172P
TEB-N07-TEB
1.6 solo
2 landings

"Transit MMU/CDW airspaces, radio nav, pilotage, norm/short to/lndg, go-around"

High overcast; wind calm

It was wise indeed to plan a local flight before setting out on another solo cross-country... it has been five weeks now since my last flight. I had hoped to knock off this short hop on the same day as my planned X-C to Wilkes-Barre, but today I've had to cancel that longer trip for a second time: Nature has seen to it that no matter how fine the local weather is, it will be overcast and snowing in eastern Pennsylvania, with high winds thrown in for good measure. Hoping to snatch some small victory from the jaws of this layest defeat, I decide to make my brush-up flight today (as conditions are within limits), then come back to do the X-C as soon as the weather allows.

I recieve takeoff clearance quickly, and after a good takeoff I'm chugging out to familiar old Lincoln Park to practice landings. But I've chosen a route that will first take me through both the CDW and MMU airspaces, just to practice doing that, then follow a radial from the SAX VOR northward until I intercept a radial from the BWZ VOR. The trouble with this plan is that I see the COM 2 radio's display is missing a digit, as is the NAV 2 display. While still on the ground, I'd managed to tune in Tower on COM 2 by trial and error, but this won't do for the rapid transition of two Class Deltas while, so I must abandon that radio once aloft.

Approaching Caldwell, I call in my position. The controller asks me again where I am... I suspect that my description of the town below me as "Montclair" may not be completely accurate; could actually be part of Passaic. By the time I'm abeam the field, three miles south, she has me. The transition through Morristown's airspace goes more smoothly, and as soon as I am clear of the Class D, I turn immediately to follow my chosen radial. I am soon to be faced with a small problem, as I cannot use the second nav radio, and will have to get my fix over the town of Dover by switching back and forth between two frequencies and two different CDI settings. The town itself would be an adequate visual landmark for a position fix, but I'm trying to practice navigation by the VORs alone, with the town as a backup.

Looking back, I will laugh at how predictably this little scheme goes awry: while fiddlingwith the radio, I wind up flying right past Dover without noticing it, and of course without succeeding in getting a fix on the VOR intersection. I know I'm still on the radial from SAX, but how far north...? I see a small lake, and circle back to identify it. Is it... this one, I wonder, looking at the chart, this other one nearby...? Moments earlier, I saw a quarry, with its telltale plume of dust. But there's no quarry shown nearby on the chart. I do not realize yet that I am looking at the wrong area on the chart, but at least I'm looking around, trying to find something useful. Aha! A heliport, right beneath me! I find a big "H" on the chart, and confirm that's where I am. It also explains the quarry...

I salvage this bungle pretty neatly, selecting a radial from the STW VOR that will take me straight to N07. Ever prudent, I announce that I'm descending to enter the pattern for 01. I make a fair arrival there (after a go-around for reasons I don't recall), and realizing my time slot is closing soon, I wait until I am ready to take the runway again before quickly reviewing the plan for the return flight. My habit lately is to flip up the chart on the kneeboard to reveal the navlog, to read the mag heading I will take upon departure. Pretty smart, but my bext move is not so smart- I neglect to look again at the navlog after establishing that heading.

My departure is smooth and easy... I settle 6FR on 150 degrees, which I know will take me straight home. A fine idea, if one is planning to call CDW Tower to transition the CLass D...
At the moment, I have no such plan- not in my head, anyway- it's all carefully written down on the piece of paper, hidden under the chart on my lap.
  It slowly dawns on me that the water towers I always see departing N07 for TEB are not where they should be, and a chill washes over me. I haul the yoke left, forcing myselfto just concentrate on turning smoothly. Levelling the wings, I see a lake on my right. It closely resembles a lake on the chart... a lake with a dam at one end that's about half a mile inside the Caldwell airspace! I turn again, steeply, adding power. Once I think I'm clear, I switch over to the CDW frequency, expecting to hear a reprimand. I hear no mention of my error, and breathe a sigh of relief.

I track the Paterson NDB from there, and TEB Tower has me hold there for a few turns. The circling costs me, but it provides a good cooling-down period before making my approach. Tower tells me to fly left traffic for 06, and I obey.

Fair pattern, better landing... and I feel, despite my mistakes, that I'm ready for that flight to Wilkes-Barre.