New Plane New Place

Today was my first flight here in North Dakota in the UND Cessna 172. I had been scheduled to fly this Monday but the blizzard conditions cancled the flight. I don't think my face could have told the difference from the blizzard and the negative temps and gusty winds tonight. It was kind of comical, my instructor Alyssa trying to run through all the pre-flight checklists with me for the first time, and the both of us chattering teeth trying to get it over with and back into the plane. Well we got in and got it started, anxiously awaiting the heat to kick in. One thing I learned about the 172 is that the seat belt has an airbag on it. Alyssa told me to be sure that the seam end was facing out, so that in the unlikely chance that we'd need it it would not deploy into my chest. (yikes) Note: she said that these airbags saved one of the China Air student's life.

The controller rattled off our clearance and we were off on a standard taxi to runway 35L. A new term to me around here is breaking action. This basically indicates how much you're going to slide on the ice at that time. (I thought driving on ice was a challenge)

We took off and made a practice approach to the municipal airport in Crookston MN, just a short jump across the river (30 nautical miles). The Cessna is much more responsive to control inputs than the Warrior I'm used to. It also has a glass cockpit. Which is an LCD screen representation of all the flight instruments, run by this supercomputer. This Garmin g1000, its called, does just about everything except make you a cup of hot cocoa.

After our practice approach we came back to Grand Forks airport and got radar vectors (controller directions) to the VOR approach for runway 35L.
We made the approach and transitions to landing. I made a bit of an error in closing the throttle too much over the end of the runway. It made Alyssa a bit nervous, as she took over the controls. Apparently the Cessna sinks a bit to much with the throttle fully closed, and can't be handled the same way as the Warrior.

I do feel overwhelmed having changed near everything I was used to: the plane, the airport, the instructor, the type of flights. However, a good challenge is always the way to grow and develop more piloting skill and experience.

My aviation safety instructor asked the class a good question. It was along the lines, "do you have 100 hrs. of experience, or 10 hrs. of experience doing the same thing ten times?" Lesson learned- its good to get out of the routine and be challenged with something a bit unfamiliar.

Overall it was a good flight, and motivation to make myself more prepared for the next one. It's amazing how much more you pick up on the second and third time around.