My First Cross Country Flight Lesson - St. Augustine FL - March 15, 2015© Photos Posted by Mark Miller © Hi-Res Source
I started my flight lessons in October of 2012 and this was my first cross country flight. Usually these trips go to Hattiesburg, New Orleans, or Pensacola, but my engineering brain wanted to be efficient and productive. I had been wanting to see my son Ben (21) in St. Augustine Florida where he has been working to put himself through Flagler College there. My CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) Troy Million helped me plan a trip consisting of four segments. Segment one was to Pensacola because he said I would be making a Solo cross country there later and it would help me get familiar with that airport. Then we would go on to St. Augustine to meet up with Ben for a couple hours. Then we would fly to Destin and wait till an hour past dark so I could make a 100 mile night time cross country. This trip would knock out 3 of my required cross country flights and help get me finished on my Private Pilot License. Anyway, foul weather crept in during the days prior to our original trip date of March 14 and we scapped the trip. Then things cleared up really nice and allowed us to go on March 15. It was in the air (Pun intended) if Ben was going to be able to get off work, but in the end it all worked out as they let him off for about 3 hours to give us the tour. He took us through the gated community of Marsh Creek and showed us the Country Club where he works. He then took us to Flagler College and showed us where he studies. He said most of his classes were in Kenan Hall. We walked through there and the historical area around it see all the shops and resaurants. We also saw the Gourmet Hut Restaurant which is where he worked when he first got there. Then finally we ate a meal at Harry's Seafood where Ben and I split our plates of Crab Cakes and Fish Tacos and Troy had fish. It was then back to the Airport for our trip back home by way of Destin. I actually made my first go-around as I had never been to the airport, it was night, had been flying a long time and I was used to a very long runway. I probably could have made it, but I didn't want to chance anything. I think I made Troy a little nervous as I climbed up over the Condos at the end of runway 14. The second attempt went just fine. It was then back to Trent Lott International in Mississippi to complete our journey. During some of the flight I had to wear Foggles which is meant to allow me to only see the instruments, simulating clouds (I didn't like that part). It was a long day for us, starting at 7:30am and ending at almost 10:30pm. The trip log was PQL-PNS(1.2hrs), PNS-SGJ(3.1hrs), SGJ-DTS(3.4hrs), and DTS-PQL(1.5hrs) for a total flight time of 9.2 hours.
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