Reach for the Sky!

It was a cold day, with temps around 15-20 F this morning. Pre-flight was cold, cold, cold! But it all worked out. Flew a long cross-country flight today from Flying Cloud (KFCM) to Brainerd, MN (KBRD, then to Osceola, WI (KOEO), then back to Flying Cloud.  A little light chop here and there, but otherwise the air was pretty smooth for the most part.

With the landing at Osceola, I have now added Wisconsin to my “States I’ve Landed In” map!!  Hope to add a few more this spring. Also added another 3.5 hours of Cross-Country Pilot-In-Command time, as I get a little bit closer to the 50 hours XC PIC time I need so I can work on getting an Instrument Rating.

Here are a couple of photo’s I took of a frozen Lake Mille Lacs in northern Minnesota. I’m happy that I had heat in the plane, it was a bit nippy out there. 8 to 10+ inches of snow expected tomorrow! Oh well..

A view of a frozen Lake Mille Lacs in northern Minnesota, from 5500ft.

Another view of a frozen Lake Mille Lacs in northern Minnesota, from 5500ft.

Route of Flight - 2/19/2011 - FCM-BRD-OEO-FCM

Well, after a crazy winter full of snow, snow, and little more snow, I finally managed to squeeze in a flight.  I have had the worst luck with scheduling this winter. It seems every time I have one of the planes booked, it snows that day. The weather is starting to turn nice now, so hopefully I will be able to get up in the air more.

Today, the weather was a little gloomy early on, with occasional light sprinkles, cloudy, with some icing conditions above 3000ft. I decided not to try a cross-country flight, and just stayed in the pattern for some landing practice. While on my 3rd round in the pattern, I noticed the skies were clearing up nicely, so I decided that the next take-off would be a departure to the north/northwest. After take-off I was vectored south, then west for traffic, then cleared to the northwest. I went out over Lake Minnetonka then north towards Maple Grove. I stayed just west of I-494 to avoid the Crystal Class-D airspace. I circled a friend’s house a couple times before heading southwest towards Lake Waconia. There I flew over the lake, then turned east back to Flying Cloud Airport.

So overall, not too adventurous, but I got 4 landings in, and did a little sight seeing. It was nice just to get up in the air again.

I’m back on the schedule for next Saturday as well, and the weather forecast is good, so hopefully it works out.

Another 1.5 hours in the logbook, and Total Time is up to 52.0 hours.

Today, I took one of my Nephew’s up for his first flight. We went on a cross country flight to Mason City, IA. It was a nice trip. The sky was clear when we started, though as we got closer to Mason City it started to cloud up a little bit. Then on the return trip, we had a long line of clouds following us. They were still high enough though that I was able to get to 6500ft on the return trip, which was a good thing because Minneapolis Center (I was on flight following) was advising of several aircraft in close vicinity to me, all about 3000ft below me, and same heading. One of the aircraft was directly below me at 3600ft, and following the same course.

Only took a few photos on this flight. I was hoping to take some video, but I forgot to pull out the video camera!

Next flight will hopefully be in 2 weeks if the weather permits.

Here are some pics from this flight:

11/27/2010 Winter in Minnesota during a flight to Mason City IA

11/27/2010 Aerial view of the airport in Albert Lea MN

11/27/2010 Aerial view of one of the many wind farms in southern Minnesota

Went up this morning for some exploration. Started by departing Flying Cloud airport to the northwest. Headed to the west end of Lake Minnetonka, then back northeast around the north side of the lake. Then just west of I-494, turned north. Flew over Plymouth, then to Maple Grove, and turned northeast towards Champlin (home!).  Once over Champlin, I circled the house a couple of times.

Next I headed northwest toward the city of Elk River, following the Mississippi River. At Elk River, turned westbound, flying south of Monticello, with the nuclear power plant visible in the distance to the north. Then turned southwest towards Maple Lake, MN. Went in for a landing at Maple Lake Municipal Airport (KMGG), then departed again heading southbound towards Winsted, MN. Flew over Winsted, then to Glencoe.

At Glencoe, turned east, then northeast, around the north side of Lake Waconia, then back towards Lake Minnetonka. Once over Lake Minnetonka again, I turned southeast and head back towards Flying Cloud Airport. I was cleared for straight-in approach to runway 10L.

I had a passenger with me who was operating my video camera. Here are some videos:

Departing Flying Cloud (KFCM) – Runway 10L

Landing at Maple Lake Muni (KMGG) – Runway 10

Departing Maple Lake Muni (KMGG) – Runway 10

Back to Flying Cloud (KFCM) – Straight-In Approach/Landing Runway 10L