Flight 101

08-06-00

C172 

N07-N37-N30-N07

2.2 solo; 3 landings

"cruise @ 6500; proper leaning proc.; pilotage & DR; 2 good landings at unfam. airports"


SCT 8000, wind SW @7kts, warm

After that last flight it rained and/or threatened to, for about a week. Then, the weekend after, I had to work. Then...

A fair flying day at last, and 06G is available. I plan a 4-leg trip: north to Monticello, west to Cherry Ridge, then back home with a stop at Sussex if time permits.

This time I track the Hugenot VOR to Monticello and have no difficulty finding it. But my plan to cruise at 8500, to get a feel for the 172's time-to-climb performance for such a higher altitude, is dashed when I discover the fuzzy bottoms of the clouds are at 7000. I settle for 6500. It's still nice up here; about 60F as opposed to 80 on the ground.

Never been this high as I recall, and the climb upstairs was no trouble for 06G.The view is pretty, despite the blotches of cloud.

As I approach the area north of Port Jervis, where the Delaware makes a sharp turn from SE to SW as it meanders to the sea, I notice a curious new phenomenon. There is a ridge along the river that continues NE beyond where the river bends, and from a few miles away, it appears to have low, dense, very white clouds just beyond it. This field of white belies the true scale of the ridge, and I can also see the great squiggle of the Delaware can be seen glinting in the early morning sun just beyond... what the..?

For a moment, I'm bemused. Does the land rise again beyond the ridge? No... isn't the ridge my horizon? If the land is rising, why does the river look like it's in a lazy, flat stretch? I blink and think, think and blink, then it dawns on me. I've been this way before, at 3000 or less, and from that height and this distance, the ridge is, in fact, the horizon. But I'm more than twice as high today, and the ridge is also a bit closer than it had appeared at first. The clouds? Those strange, bright clouds are in fact a blanket of fog. Great snowy patches of it, clinging to the shallow valley bottom along the ridge.

  I check to make sure I won't be over it long, then I continue, secure in the knowledge that I can glide to unobscured ground beyond it if necessary. How about that? My first sighting of ground fog from the air.

Feels good, droning along up here. Once NW of the valley, I pass over wooded hills. My emergency plan is to use the road running a few miles west of my course, with powerlines just beyond it. Easy to find, and once I'm within 10 nm of the airport, totally unnecessary because 06G should glide about 12 nm from this height, power-off. By eye I can see that this is a fair estimate. Even with this wind, I know I can squeeze 10 miles out of the glide if I'm careful.

  My landing at N37 must've been perfect, because I don't remember it. It's a long runway, free of interesting obstructions. I stop to use the restroom at the FBO then blast off into the teeth of the breeze towards N30.

On this leg I keep it a bit lower to save time. The Cessna carries me over the NW reaches of the Delaware, and my earlier guess is confirmed: the shining water really does meander lazily through higher, flatter country. The fog is already burning off.

Soon Cherry Ridge crawls into view. This will be interesting: a narrow 2400-foot runway, running slightly uphill, trees at either end, and the wind, though weak, is blowing at a right angle to the runway. On final, I can see that the approach end has a pronounced slope, and the pavement is pretty rough-looking, like a newly-added section laid on heave-prone soil.

Using full flaps, I make a damn good landing, then, checking the sock, I decide to take off the other way. The wind's too weak and too square to the runway to be called a tailwind- besides, I know I can get 06G's wheels off the runway in less than half its length. Especially while rolling downhill... I make it a soft-field takeoff, holding her in ground effect as I calmly wait a moment, with the trees rushing towards the nose... I pull back a little as 06G passes 70 knots. She swoops away from the runway in a most satisfying manner, and I bank towards Sussex.

But time is running out- no landing there today. I trim 06G for the best possible IAS at 3500 and use pilotage to find my way back home, getting very slightly lost near Sussex until I recognize the cluster of lakes near Greenwood Lake.

My slightly-hurried landing at N07 is not perfect. As I walk to the hangar to grab a towbar, some lady I don't know greets me:
"Landing was a bit long, wasn't it?"

I think I smiled as I answered; not sure now:

"Yeah... I started final a bit high..."

I want to add that I kept the roll short without abusing the brakes despite touching down long, but I don't.

The landing was long because the approach was no good.

I find out later that she is the chief instructor at the school I rent 06G from...terrific.