X/C Solo - Total Success!

Flight #: 055
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N7526S
Duration: 1.4hrs
As PIC: 1.4hrs
Cumulative Time: 62.5hrs

Well, I did it. A fantastic solo cross country flight in the "Triangle of Death". Since I was not with Kristie for this, I typed up a debrief for her... so rather than re-typing it all... here it is.

From: Chris
Subject: X/C Solo - Triangle of Death
Date: April 2, 2008 10:58:10 PM PDT
To: Kristie

Kristie-

Wanted to give you the full details of the flight today. In general, it was a great flight, but I really did not have the time to tell you all the details - coming back so late and all and stepping on your next flight.

So, here are all the details:

• Preflight. No issues, although I want to have you run me through the transponder in 7526S. It is different than the others and I want to make sure I know how to flip it over in case I need to squawk 7600. I'm sure I could muddle through it, but I did not want to screw around this time.
• Lift off. No issues, all good.
• Hover at cone. No issues, all good.
• Takeoff. Glad we talked about this the other day, since it was the exact situation we discussed. Wind from the north and I wanted to head south. So, crossed 30, got to 700ft and then looped around to my heading once I was out of the airspace.
• Return to HAI. It was exactly at this point where I noticed I had the old flight plan in my kneeboard, and the one you "cleared" was in my folder under the chair seat. So, got to be honest here, I really thought about flying on the old one as it really had all the details that I needed for the flight. Stupid mistake, I know. But hey... I ended up doing the right thing. Actually, it was a good experience in and of itself. I contacted the tower and requested an approach to HAI. Immediately the controller asked "Is this a return back to the airport?". I said yes, and then a prompt, "Do you need any assistance?". That was kinda nice... since it was clear he was ready to help if there was an issue. I didn't tell him I was just a retard and forgot to take my new flightplan out from under my seat. Approach was normal, no issues at all on the way in. Thanks for checking in tho to make sure it was not a big deal.
• Takeoff - Take 2. Same as before, same wind, same north departure.
• 1st Leg. Stayed at pattern altitude for the 1-2 miles out, and then climbed up to 2000ft. As I crossed the ridge I flopped over to FSS and activated the flight plan. Dude was a little chatty, and I was not in the mood to have a conversation, but no issues. It was at this point where I realized I was clipping along at just under 90 knots. Man those things act differently when you are without a passenger.
• Checkpoint: 5 & 205: Came in a little to the south, but was able to correct my angle a bit so that I crossed right over. I also switched over to Aurora's CTAF. Wow, it was busy. Took a few minutes before I could get a word in.
• Checkpoint: River-bend crossing: I was keeping it between 80-90 knots for the whole flight. It was a little faster than on the flight plan, but then again, I did start a little late. I "last call"'d Aurora and checked weather one last time before switching over to Mulino CTAF.
• Checkpoint: Mulino: Pretty busy here as well. No communication issues. Came in a little low to the pattern, 700ft, but decided not to correct since I was already on a nice approach. As I was entering the downwind a F/W was just landing on 32. I announced that I was coming in for a landing on Taxiway 32. As I turned final, the F/W was taxiing at me, so I corrected announced the change and corrected to the runway. Was a bit of the "race car swerve" you hassle me about, but I was not sure what else to do in that situation. Go around would have been an option, but since it was all clear I just went for it.
• Hover Taxi @ Mulino: Rather gusty, actually, once I got down. I hovered over to the taxiway and set down to deal with the carb-heat and then immediately headed out on taxiway 32.
• Checkpoint: Aurora: It was insanely busy, as you had mentioned. Lots of traffic, and chatter, but it was rather organized actually. Crossed midfield at 2000, no issues.
• Checkpoint: St. Paul: Switched over to McMinneville and quickly heard that this was going to be the craziest part of the whole flight. People were being idiots. A number of people were making approaches to Runway 35. I heard someone ask about the active runway, and it was clear that it was Runway 4. Someone, not sure who, but someone with a very authoritative sounding voice went in to a rather long discussion about why runway 35 was not being used and that 4 was the active. Literally seconds after the woman stopped talking, some F/W said they were turning final for 35. Christ.
• Checkpoint: McMinneville: I did as we did before, got to 700 ft as soon as I could see the airport. Announced and crossed the extended centerline of runway 22. Still people were bickering about which runway to use. Some dude finally came on and said "I assume everyone understands that 4 is the active and not 35 and will be correcting their patterns so that we don't have two intersecting active runways." At this point I was about to enter the downwind for 4 and just let the rest of the world know. It is really clear when you hear HAI students and CFIs on the radio... they all speak the same way. Kind of nice where you here some dude "taking off on the runway". I came in for a hover, and since I was not in carb-heat yellow, just took right off again without a set down, knowing that time was tight.
• Checkpoint: Newberg VOR: Headed off for the VOR, way off to the west. Spotted Chehalem's barn right away... thanks for that trick. Flubbed my call here. Reported East and not South West. But, caught it right away and corrected. It was about here where I realized that I was never going to make it back on time and tried to call base on 122.85. I guess i was out of range, cause my first two calls did not get answered, so I just figured I was either doing it completely wrong and needed a different frequency, or had to wait till I crossed the ridge. As I was checking weather at HIO, I looked over the flight plan to see if there was any notation on this situation. Nope. Soon as I crossed the ridge I tried it again, and got DC. So, must have been in the radio-shadow of the ridge.
• Checkpoint: Twin Oaks: Spent some time talking to Twin Oaks, while being far off to the west. No issues, all good.
• Checkpoint; Goal Posts: As soon as I was abeam Twin Oaks, and there was not traffic on the radio / in sight, I did as you suggested and got on to HIO's Tower. Announced when I was 6 miles out... just to be safe. Hit the goal posts, dead on this time... knowing that I had to correct west a bit, followed the road up to the church.
• Approach: All good, no issues here.
• Landing: A tad skewed on the set-down, but did not bother to correct. Purely a rushed choice here. Only a few degrees, not awful; would have corrected if I had more time.

So, a pretty good flight in my mind. Felt a bit rushed... cause I was. Felt a bit stupid about the return to base thing, but really did not want to fly with the wrong flight plan. Plus I know I would have gotten hit if I tried it with you there. Surprisingly, it was not stressful at all. We'd done this a few times, and I felt pretty confident. Once I got past the forgotten flight plan, which I corrected, there was nothing else to be concerned about.

That's it... did I miss anything you want to hear about?

See you tomorrow for the night flight... 730pm. I'll have both flight plans ready and filed.

Later,

-c

Looking forward to the night flight. HIO to Albany, OR (S12)