My flying is going to be winding down for a little over a week as we near the long Labor Day Break (we’ll be vacationing in Myrtle Beach), so we wanted to get in our required long cross country. Flying direct from Lebanon to Muncie, Indiana, then to Butler County (where my EAA chapter resides), then back home is just over the required 150 nautical miles. It has the benefit of having pretty good radio navigation aids along the way as well. After take-off you can track the Richmond VOR, which is nearly in line with Muncie, and then switch to the Muncie VOR shortly thereafter.
We launched at about 5:30 and requested flight following from Dayton (Columbus Approach) and began tracking the Richmond VOR. It was a nice evening for flying, and the setting sun didn’t bother me because Pete made me where the damn foggles nearly the whole flight. Sad, because I’d done so really nice pilotage preparation on my sectional chart. We started picking up the Muncie VOR almost right away at 4,500′, so we started tracking directly to the airport, and Dayton handed us off to Indy center. Arriving at Muncie about 55 minutes into the flight I was allowed to remove the foggles to make the approach. I announced I was ‘over the lake’ since, having worn the foggles the whole trip, I didn’t know which of the 2 I was really over. That wasn’t good enough for the controller, who asked “which lake?”. I didn’t have a good answer, so he just asked me to report ‘over the mall’ for a straight in to runway 32. Ignominious. Thanks Pete! We made a quick trip into the airport restaurant, Kacy J’s. We’ll make another dinner visit in the Velocity soon, I promise!
The trip back was likewise uneventful, me not seeing anything but the instruments, but tracking the 146 radial outbound from Muncie until I picked up the Richmond VOR, then flying the 150 radial to Hamilton. I did get to enjoy ‘the cone of uncertainty’ as I got close to Richmond, and we never did see Oxford (my waypoint for knowing I should descend into Hamilton), but the radial took me right to the field, and we shot our touch-n-go.
From that point on I got to enjoy the view, and found my tank farm (the universal visual cue for Warren County Airport) immediately upon departure for the 7 minute flight home. It was a good flight, and I feel pretty good about my simulated IFR and VOR skills, though I could use some practice maintaining a good centered needle.
Posted By: Brett FerrellSunday August 26th, 2012 at 8:47 PM