To Columbus and Back – A $400 sandwich

Now that I’m allowed to fly solo, the next step in the process is to take my first cross country flight. Flying gets a lot better from here since you actually get to go somewhere in particular instead of just flying around in circles. My two options were to either go down to Lexington and then come back up to Cincinnati, or to fly out to Columbus. I heard Bolton Field south of Columbus had some great BBQ, so the decision was made!

Instead of taking up the tiny BE-77 that I usually practice in, we took the nicer Piper Cherokee. With GPS navigation, leather seats, and a bit more horsepower, the extra $30/hour is easily worth it.

The flight was going well until the minor complication that I didn’t correctly predict the altitude where the clouds would be. Also, adjusting to a different plane made my reaction times slightly slower as I tried to figure out what I was doing. We ended up flying over the clouds instead of under them though, which made for one beautiful flight. Sorry but I was too busy flying to take any pictures…

The flight up there was extremely quick due to a 30 knot tail wind but we had that working against us on the way back. In the future I might just take the bus back since the traffic on I71 South was going about the same speed.

Anyways… It was a great experience all in all that left me plenty of things to learn from. Up next will be my local and cross country solo followed by some night and IFR flying. I can’t wait!