11/10/14: Cross Country Flight Test (Dual): Inglewood

Cross country endorsement flight test!  :-)

I was originally booked to do my Cross Country flight test on 4th October, however there were a couple of little setbacks.  First there was a delay with the refuel truck... after waiting for him to arrive and fill up the aircraft, he finally arrived saying he'd run out of fuel.  We could wait a while longer or as we decided, to just taxi to the fuel bowsers. 

So the CFI and I jumped in Cessna 24-8511 ready for my flight test return to Inglewood, but the engine sputted and wouldn't start?  After a few attempts we couldn't get it started.  A couple of the other Instructors joined us and had multiple attempts without any luck.  They opened the cowling exposing the engine to have a look for anything obviously wrong... looked fine.  By this time it was getting late in the afternoon so even if we got it started, it may be a struggle to get back before end of daylight.  Plus we both were not comfortable flying the aircraft with the engine in this condition, even if we could have got the engine started.

No big drama... I'd rather be on the ground wishing I were up in the sky than the other way round  :-)  Cross Country Flight Test re-booked for next Saturday 11th October.

Saturday 11th October came around quickly.  Cessna 24-8511 had been repaired and was ready to go  :-)  The issue was basically an incomplete seal in the carburettor that had been there since factory.

All flight planning done with a saved flight plan on NAIPS completed in previous days leading up to the flight test.  So on arriving to Archerfield, all I had to do was my pre-flight inspection, complete and submit my flight plan and head off  :-)

My flight plan today:  YBAF - LOGAN - Boonah (YBOA) - Inglewood (YILW) - Boonah (YBOA) - PKR - YBAF

Cross Country Flight Test (Dual): YBAF - LOGAN - YBOA - YILW - YBOA - PKR - YBAF

WAC chart showing nav route

I selected Boonah as a heading change point on the LOGAN - YILW leg to avoid active Amberley restricted airspace.  I knew with prior planning R620B was active during my planned flight time however R620D may or may not be active.  Checking NOTAM told me R620D was de-active for the duration of my flight.

The active today was runway 04R (grass/dirt strip) for my Southern departure off downwind leg tracking to Logan Village.

Coming off crosswind leg and mid-way on my downwind leg, Archer Tower called to advise I should have departed off crosswind leg tracking 135 degrees.  Whoops!... I know the 135 track is taken from the centre of the aerodrome so was planning to pickup the 135 track mid to late downwind leg runway 04R.  I should have come off crosswind leg, flown to the Logan Motorway & Mt Lindsey Highway crossing then picked up my 135 track to Logan Village.  I'd never done a Southern departure off runway 04R but that's no excuse  :-)

YBAF Southern departure (to LOGAN) and arrival (from PKR)

YBAF Southern departure & arrival - zoomed

On the way to Logan Village, I radioed Brisbane Centre to confirm R620D status - de-active.  Cool, I would fly via Boonah.  If R620D was active, I would fly to Inglewood and back via Rathdowney as you can see this contingency on my WAC chart.

Over Logan Village, I turned onto track for Boonah.

Past Boonah due to cloud level, I wasn't able to maintain my planned cruising altitude of 6500ft, so bought it down to 4500ft.

Using Boonah airstrip as my heading turning point to/from YILW

I arrived to Inglewood, checked windsock and made a mid-field crosswind join for a runway 05 touch-and-go.  I departed Inglewood off the upwind leg, turning right towards my track outside the circuit at over-fly height.  Whoops! I made the same departure mistake I did at Archerfield.  I flew back with Inglewood airstrip on my right wing planning to turn and pickup my track from about the runway mid-point.  You can clearly see this on the Google Maps GPS track.  In hindsight, I should have turned right about another 20 degrees to my track off the upwind leg, flown that heading for a little bit then turned onto my planned heading.  Basically I'm trying to be too precise about it  :-)

Arrival and departure YILW

Arrival and departure YILW - zoomed

Flying back to Park Ridge via Boonah, I needed to do a 1-in-60 as was just left of track at Lake Moogerah.  Past Boonah I picked up the Mt Lindsey Highway and spotted Park Ridge tower, my South inbound reporting point for YBAF.  Past Boonah was largely a visual part of the leg.

Archer Tower gave me instructions to join final runway 04R.  Landed, parked and flight done!  :-)  Feedback from the CFI was all my navigation, checklists, briefs and radio work were great.  My revised estimates and ATA were within a minute so happy with that.

Passed my Cross Country endorsement flight test!!  yay!  :-)

Passed!!  :-)

There's always room for improvement and lessons learned, so a couple of things I take-away from this flight:

- In flight, maintain altitude better
- Don't over complicate departures to pickup track
- With flight planning, use two time checks per leg which only works on straight legs.  In this instance I was lucky it worked ok as it was a short distance between Logan Village/Park Ridge and Boonah.

So where to from here?  Enjoy my new RA-Aus endorsement and look to transition to the CASA Recreational Pilot Licence (RPL)... stay tuned in the coming weeks...

Until next time, have fun and fly safe!  :-)