Flight School: Day 13

It was 7 AM and I was learning how to plan cross country flights (50 nm or more) by getting TAF's, METAR's and weather briefs from Flight Service Stations (FSS) to calculate wind correction angle and ground speed for each leg of the journey. After visibility delays, we left at 9:45 for Hernando County airfield just north of Tampa. I was only two minutes fast for my calculated time of flight as we performed a touch and go, and two minutes fast for my return trip. There wasn't anything interesting along the way except for my waypoints I found by dead reckoning.

After that I planned another CC flight to Ocala International (whoever gave it an international designation was on crack; there's no tower and.. it's OCALA, redneck capital of central Florida). Not only was I on point for every checkpoint, I was exact for my planned time of arrival (although, there was no forecast wind, so the calculations were nothing more than simple multiplication and division, no vector analysis yet). We had awesome bacon cheeseburgers in the airport restaurant that we've heard so much about from other instructors, and we went back to Kissimmee. I was one minute early on my times.

Just remember, if you ever fly cross country with someone who files a flight plan with a FSS, make sure they close it, otherwise they pay the price for the search and rescue team that comes after you an hour after your scheduled arrival time.