December 1st, 2007
Well I just finished up another requirement for the commercial license. I did my LOOOOOONG Cross country. San Antonio to Gladwater TX about 260ish miles. 6.6 hours in a 172 is a lot of flying. It was however just a wonderful day to fly! Vis was great, and the air was amazingly smooth. Traffic into SAT was coming almost directly inbound my outbound course. after checking the plane, it was time to climb in and get ready to go. everything went smooth on the ground. simple taxi to 12R at Kilo quick run up and all is good. Tower gives me the takeoff clearance (fly rnwy hdg and cleared for t/o 12R) and off I go. I’m thinking after i start my roll that its unusual to get a fly runway hdg when you have an airliner coming in behind you. Usually they want you to turn north or south real quick, but if that’s what they want, ok. Shortly after takeoff I’m settling in for a short climb up to 5500. They keep me on the runway hdg for awhile as they let a couple takeoff from the crossing rnwy, then finally I get a turn to the north. It’s then that I realize why they took me before turning NE. As I already mention the inbound traffic was coming right down my outbound course.
I was really amazed that they turned me as soon as they did. I had three airliners pass me by very very close. It was very cool Finally i get out of the SAT area and I get turned over to Austin approach. My flight path was directly over AUS.
I figured they would circle me around but they didn’t. It was a great view of the new AUS/burgstrom airport. Once again I was intermingling with the big guys. They had a SWA take off and fly below me and up along side me. Again it was very neat. A few min later An American MD80 come right at me, It was so close. closer then I had ever come to one in flight! After passing Austin the flight became much quieter. There was not much activity out there.Finally it was time to play a little, pull out the sectional, mark some ground reference point time them check ground speeds winds etc. Not that I had to do it the “old fashioned way” The moving map gps was giving me all that info too, Figured I had the time so might as well keep myself busy! I was really surprised even a couple hours into the flight and the heat of the day coming it was still very smooth. I didn’t even need an auto pilot. Trimmed her up and she flew great. I finally made it to the glade water area, had just passed over Taylor TX at 16 out began a descent. Over flew the field made left traffic to runway 14 and had an uneventful landing into Gladewater. Now it’s time for a short break, a ham sandwich and fuel.
Fueled up and ready to go. I decide to take 17 to make it a short turn to on-course heading. It’s funny. My PPL training was done on a field in Missouri. The field was 2200X49 (FES). Never gave it a second though about the length, But when you start flying out of a 8000X150 all of a sudden 2200 seems REAL SHORT! It was obviously long enough.The flight back was pretty much the same. Climbed up to 6500 the air was smooth as could be. Settled in for the long ride back at 96kts ground speed!
Finally made it back to the San Antonio Area. Decided to make my second stop at a local field with cheap fuel (if you can call $3.45 cheap) I had never landed there, so I didn’t know what to expect. Had an RV in the pattern so I just followed him around. Then while on downwind I seen the runway, this thing had a huge downward slope to it. They built this rnwy on a hill. I crossed the number and flared and the runway just kept dropping away from me. Strangest landing I have ever made.
Got my fuel and headed home, got back at dusk pushed her into the hanger and called it a day! Sometime you just feel fortunate that you can fly, that we have the ability…Some days you just really love to fly! This was one of them!
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