Once again, these updates have been overcome by events. Back on the 11th, Michael and I did a cross-country night flight. We flew from Santa Fe to Santa Rosa (SXU) to Las Vegas, NM (LVS) and back to Santa Fe. The first and second legs were dead reckoning, which is considerably more difficult at night. Initially, we had I-25 in view and could sort of make out the towns along the sides. Once the interstate turned to the north, it was all inky blackness. We choose this route intentionally, because it would be difficult for dead reckoning. Regardless, the first leg went very well and I managed to stay pretty much on track.
The second leg, between SXU and LVS, passes over exactly nothing. Until we got up to cruise at 10,500' and could see Las Vegas in the distance, it was like flying into a black hole. Based on the chart, the LVS entry in the AFD, and experience from having driven by the airport in the past, I knew where to look for the airport lights and couldn't see them. I kept trying to use the radio to turn on the lights but was getting nothing. It wasn't until we were within a few miles that I actually got the airport to light up, which was a relief. The landing was a bit high but otherwise good.
The last leg we did VOR and GPS navigation to avoid the terrain hazard presented by the southern foot of the Sangre de Christo mountains. Saw the only traffic in the air of the entire trip as we were leaving the Las Vegas area—an air ambulence coming in and landing at the Las Vegas hospital. As we made the turn at TAFOY, we started to get into some light snow. Couldn't see the cloud it was coming from, and had no problems with visibility of the ground, but every time the strobe went off, there was a bunch of small white dots all around the plane. I got to turn on the pitot heat for the first time. Other than some minor novelty, the snow presented no problems for this flight. We used the GPS to set up for the ILS approach to runway 2 at SAF. Instruments make everything easier. I can't wait to start working on my instrument ticket.
This flight put me over 40 hours total time, 10 night takeoffs and landings, and three total hours of night flight. These are three of the requirements for a private pilot's license, so I'm getting close now. GPS track log for this flight.
I was supposed to do my long solo a couple days later, but (predictably) a huge storm rolled through the area, dumping 15 inches of snow on Los Alamos. We postponed the flight for a week, and when the 20th rolled around, the weather turned out to be perfect.
I had worked out a flight plan that took me north to Espanola, then northwest towards Farmington by way of all the small airports in the area. From there, I would visit Ship Rock, then travel south to Window Rock, AZ, over to Gallup, NM for a fuel stop, then back to Santa Fe by way of a flyby of Cabezon Peak.
The snow was still covering everything at the higher elevations, which made the first third of the flight very pretty. The airports I wanted to familiarize myself with were all plowed, though some of them had no plowed access road. Heron Reservoir was difficult to use as a waypoint because it was covered in a low ground fog, so I couldn't see the water as I approached. I had GPS backup, so I didn't have to rely on dead reckoning.
Coming into Farmington, there was a bit of traffic and the tower controller sounded sorta pissed off, so I just did a stop-and-go and continued on my way, rather than stay for a couple rotations of the pattern as I thought I might. Just west of Farmington is the Ship Rock Airstrip (5V5), which is a short strip with no accoutrements. There was a Cessna twin sitting on the taxiway as I entered the pattern, and he called for me to land before he would take the runway. I think knowing he was waiting for me combined with complete unfamiliarity with the airfield made me biff the approach pretty badly, ending up way too high for such a short strip. I tried to slip in, but it wasn't enough and I had to go around. I sheepishly called back on the radio announcing my plan to go around and told him he should go ahead and take off.
On the second try I pulled off a touch-and-go, then turned towards the Ship Rock mountain that is just a few miles to the west. I flew around it for a bit and took a bunch of pictures. Ship Rock is incredible, especially from close up and nearby. Highly recommended.
The 60nm flight south to Window Rock was uneventful. Had an interesting traffic event with a King Air coming out of RQE. We were in touch on the radio and he had me in sight so there was no problem, but I didn't see him until he was abeam me at the same altitude and reasonably close range. Quite exciting.
After checking out RQE, I turned back to the east and headed in to nearby Gallup for landing and refueling. No problems getting onto the ground, though I had no idea how to get to the fuel. A call to UNICOM informed me that a line guy would show me where to park. I drove down to the east end of the field and tooled around for a bit, with no line guy in sight. Only after I had pulled into a marked parking spot did some guy come running out and indicate I should park in a different spot. Whatever. Had a free donut at the FBO, checked the weather, paid my $109 for fuel, and took back off. From GUP I went over the Crowne Point uranium mining facility and on to Cabezon. The mountain looked interesting from nearby and above. There were no cars at the trailhead and I saw no one on the summit, so no wing-waving for me.
From there, it was a straight-line in to SAF over more or less familiar terrain. No problems getting back into home base, good landing on runway 33. 4.6 hours of total flight time. This puts me over the necessary cross country time for the private license. Now I just need 2.7 more hours of solo flight time, 1.7 more hours of simulated instrument time, and three hours of preparation for the practical exam. Should be wrapping up pretty soon! GPS track for this flight.
