The guy at Grand Forks FSS had a tough time pronouncing “Beulah” — I can’t even phonetically imitate it here for you, the way he mangled it. Repeatedly..So, I will blame him for the awful job I did in going completely off course once we started flying across Lake Sakakawea.
I have a tremendous fear of drowning, which is only topped by a fear of being eaten (either wild animals or cannibals). I think I’ll blame that drowning fear for my questionable pilotage skills, too.
For I went greatly off course. Right past Beulah.
My instructor just let me make the mistakes, which is good, since I learn very well from that.
Bummer.
My landings were OK, though. The winds were favorable, so that was nice.
Here are my nav logs and flight plan sheet from the cross-country trip today:
- KBIS to KMOT
- KMOT to 95D
- 95D to KBIS
- Flight Plan sheet (I made this form to help me in talking to the person on the other end of the phone, making sure I say everything I need to. You can get that form here.)
My instructor organized a handy list of things to do when nearing a destination airport, since the Beulah incident failed to incorporate any of them. I’ve typed that list up for you here (PDF). He also helped with suggestions on what to do immediately after taking off from an airport on the next leg of the trip, which you can get here (PDF).
He also made a cross-country radio script for me, though it didn’t stop me from muffing up the first call to Grand Forks Radio. Anyway, here’s the script (PDF). The customizable items (your N-number, for example) are in gray.
And of course, there are the five C’s if I should get lost doing a cross country:
- Climb
- Circle
- Conserve (lean mixture, reduce power)
- Confess (Mnpls. Center, GF Radio)
- Comply
“If you talk to some of the old-timers they’ll tell you they’d find a town and get down low enough to read the name on the water tower,” he said.
Oddly, I’ve already heard three such stories of a few friends who did that.
