Went up with Andrew yesterday afternoon to do my diversions lesson. It was a good time. We headed east of the airport (where I’ve never flown before) and went from little town to little town. On take off we even got to pick our heading and stick with it without getting vectored all over the place. Kind of crazy.
I can’t remember the names of the little towns we flew over right now, but they are all circled on my map. The first ‘diversion’ we did at an altitude of around 1500 feet (ASL). The next one was at around 1200 feet, and the last one was at around 800 feet (around 500 feet AGL)! As you get lower, things get more difficult.
I did an ok job, although as usual I was having a bit of trouble holding my heading. Andrew told me to pick a point on the horizon and fly to it…that actually helped a lot.
On our way back, we got a straight in clearance for a long landing on 32. That was pretty cool! We touched down past the intersection of what I think was the Delta taxiway. We kind of zipped along above the runway for the first six thousand feet or so before pulling back the power and touching down.
Andrew signed me off to do my solo cross country this weekend. Now I’m just hoping and praying that the weather will hold. As of today it’s looking good.
He also told me about Flight Test Standards Guide which is available in PDF format…here. I’ll be studying that in depth for the next little while.
So, what is a diversion exactly?
You plan to fly from point A to point B. Unfortunately, due to some circumstance beyond your control (weather, seriously ill passenger, etc), it becomes impossible or perhaps just not wise to complete the flight to point B. You then pick an alernate landing spot, lets call it C, and divert to there. You need to make up a plan (new heading, time it will take you) on the go, without any of the tools you would normally have with you when planning a flight on the ground.
It was fun to practice, and I’m sure can be quite challenging, especially when you’re dealing with adverse weather and time constraints.
My buddy had to fly a real diversion this summer — got caught in bad weather on the way to Toronto, flew into a cloud, and came out all confused. Fortunately he was able to divert to Peterborough, rent a car, and press on…
Good luck with the solo cross country! Where are you off to?
Supposed to go to Kingston again. So far the weather is looking good so I may actually get to do it! I’m anxious – to say the least.