Pilot Life: Bingeing on Approaches!

Today, my uncle and I executed our plan that we were supposed to do yesterday! We practiced shooting several instrument approaches into three different airports; I'm coining today's flight as "the approach binge!"

We binged on several instrument approaches in N5174E!

After departing Albany, we set first set up for the RNAV 17 approach into Corvallis like how we did yesterday; I let my uncle get most of the hood time on today's flight and acted as his safety pilot while he got some practice getting used to flying these approaches. For me personally, it has been very beneficial to have the two of us working on our instrument rating together. My uncle shot the approach really well; the only thing he really needs to refine is his radio work, but that will come with practice.

We went missed on the RNAV 17 in Corvallis and we headed south to Eugene. We got in touch with Cascade Approach and we were given radar vectors for the RNAV 16L approach for Eugene Airport. Once again, my uncle shot this approach while I kept my eyes outside the cockpit looking for air traffic. We were cleared for the RNAV 16L approach and were instructed to call up Eugene Tower, which my uncle did. After another well-done approach, we went missed again and we departed southbound. We got back in touch with Cascade Approach and we picked up VFR Flight Following down to Roseburg. We were eventually handed off to Seattle Center and Roseburg Airport came into sight (at least for me!) soon after. I informed Center that we intended to shoot the RNAV approach into Roseburg and they eventually cut us loose.

My uncle shot the approach and we landed on Runway 34 at Roseburg. Since it was a short runway, we cleared off and taxied back for takeoff. After getting airborne, we got back in contact with Seattle Center and we tracked all the way back to Albany; I also logged simple hood time for myself on the return leg, navigating solely by instruments. By the time we got back to Albany, winds were favoring Runway 16, so we landed in that direction!

After landing, we taxied to fuel pumps and topped off the fuel tanks. Once that was done, we taxied the Cessna back to my uncle's hangar and we called it a successful flight and secured the airplane. I'd say that was a fun binge!

Pilot Life: Shooting Approaches at Corvallis

Well, today's original plan didn't go as expected due to smoke from wildfires down south, but we still got some worthwhile flying in today. The original plan was head south and shoot practice instrument approaches in Corvallis, Eugene, and do a round-robin at Roseburg, but smoke from all the wildfires happening in southern Oregon and northern California ended up confining us to stay rather local. Either way, my uncle and I got the practice we wanted to get.

Another round of approaches in N5174E!

After the pre-flight, engine start-up and run-ups, we took off from Runway 34 at Albany and departed to the north to get set up for the RNAV 17 approach into Corvallis. My uncle went under the hood and I maintained vigil looking for other aircraft as his safety pilot. My uncle shot the approaches pretty well and we did four laps doing the RNAV 17 flying the missed-approach profile each time; my uncle logged three of them, and I logged the fourth one, allowing both of us to act as each other's safety pilot and getting some hood time. We also learned how to work the Garmin 430 GPS my uncle has in his plane that we've been using for all the approaches we've been shooting a little more effectively. After the fourth approach, we returned to Albany, where we landed, topped off the fuel tanks, and secured the airplane in my uncle's hangar, calling it a morning well-spent.

Gallery Update: Chasing a Giant in Portland!

Futbol Club Barcelona from Spain has been in Portland since this past Tuesday evening, and they happened to fly in on an Iberia Airbus A340-600; THAT would've been a great catch had I known about it sooner! The soccer club was in Portland for a few days and they're touring around the country. After making a few inquiries on the web, I found out that they were scheduled to depart Portland today on a charter flight by Atlas Air on one of their 747-400s. Of course, I decided to chase after this one! In addition to my main objective, I managed to photograph a few new sights and notable highlights for me as well on this spotting trip. I kept this spotting trip short and didn't photograph as much compared to a normal spotting trip to PDX because I was fairly busy; good thing too, because the commute to and from Portland was absolutely horrible today! And it was so stinkin' hot outside too!

Portland (PDX) 33

Preview:

United Parcel Service - UPS Airlines Boeing 757-24APF (N419UP) arriving on 28L as UPS2972 from Los Angeles/Ontario. I finally get a good shot of one UPS's 757s!

Arizona Air National Guard General Dynamics F-16DM Fighting Falcon (89-2163) from the 162nd Fighter Wing out of Tuscon, Arizona arriving on 28L following a sortie part of America's Aerospace Control Alert CrossTell 2018 live-fly exercises, which includes practice intercepts. I can't remember the last time I photographed a D-model of the F-16!

Arizona Air National Guard General Dynamics F-16D Fighting Falcon (84-1325) of the 162nd Fighter Wing out of Tuscon, Arizona arriving on 28L following sortie as part of Aerospace Control Alert 2018.

Atlas Air Boeing 747-481 (N322SG) arriving on 28R as GTI8515 from Victorville-Southern California Logistics. Only my third time seeing a 747-400 overall, and my second passenger-version photographed! It's also my first time photographing a variant of the Atlas Air livery and logo!

Chartered by FC Barcelona and scheduled to depart Portland for Los Angeles as GTI8516 with the soccer club later in the day.

Formerly B-LFD with Oasis Hong Kong Airlines. Also formerly operated by Atlas Air on the behalf of SonAir for thrice-weekly services between Houston-Intercontinental and Luanda, Angola for the Angolan national petroleum company Sonangol Group.

Delta Air Lines Airbus A321-211 (N330DX) taxiing for departure as DAL2544 for Minneapolis/St. Paul. My first time photographing a Delta A321!

JetBlue Airways Airbus A320-232 (N606JB) "Idlewild Blue" departing on 28R as JBU1521 for Long Beach.

GTI8515 taxiing on Taxiway A to the Atlantic Aviation FBO.

This is definitely another plane-spotting highlight of the year for me!

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-76N (N7884G) taxiing for departure to Kansas City as SWA248. Formerly with Kenya Airways.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-990 (N302AS) taxiing for departure to San Francisco as ASA400. This airframe is the prototype 737-900, the first ever built!

GTI8515 taxiing onto the FBO ramp.

DAL2544 departing on 28R for Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Two Oregon Air National Guard F-15C Eagles arriving in style as part of Aerospace Control Alert 2018!

Oregon Air National Guard McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle (85-0100) from the local 142nd Fighter Wing arriving on 28L.

Oregon Air National Guard McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle (78-0470) of the 142nd Fighter Wing arriving on 28L.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-8H4 (N8308K) departing on 28L for Baltimore as SWA347.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-8H4 (N8529Z) arriving on 28R from Denver as SWA2109.

Pilot Life: Pattern Work at Albany

This morning, my uncle and I stayed local to allow me to practice some landings in his Cessna 172. This flight was a nice change of pace after the two cross-country flights we've been doing the past two days. As usual, following a pre-flight at the hangar, we hopped in, got the engine started, and taxied over to Runway 34. After doing the run-ups, we took off from Runway 34 flew the traffic pattern.

Pattern work in N5174E!

My uncle walked me through his flows and routines and surprisingly, I was able to pick up on them rather quickly! In the past, I struggled a little bit with landings in a new airplane. I like to think that even though I still have less than 200 flight hours logged, I've gained quite a bit more experience within the past year and learned a few tips and tricks that I can generally apply. I've also found how easy it is handle a Cessna 172, which definitely helps! All in all, my landings were pretty decent as I logged ten of them! The third landing was full-stop with a taxi-back because I ended up floating over the relatively short runway at Albany Municipal Airport. Otherwise, most of my touch-and-go landings were spot on.

I got the routine down and my uncle's confidence in me handling his airplane increased so we called it a good flight. My uncle took the eleventh landing to a full-stop from the right seat and landed us back on Runway 34. We taxied over the fuel pumps and topped off the tanks before taxiing the plane back to the hangar and securing it inside.

Tomorrow we'll have a long cross-country flight, so it was a good thing that we were able to get today's flight squeezed in.

Pilot Life: Yakima Round-Trip in My Uncle's Cessna!

I am finally back home in Oregon after making the drive yesterday morning. After a good night's sleep, my uncle and Alan and I went immediately to work and made a round-trip cross country flight in his Cessna 172 Skyhawk II to start building up flight time together. After arriving at the airport, we drove up to the hangar where my uncle stores his airplane in and opened it up to get the pre-flight inspections going. After the pre-flight, we pulled the airplane out of his hangar, hopped in, got the engine started up, and we taxied over to the fuel pumps to top off the fuel tanks.

I finally get to log time in my uncle's Cessna 172N Skyhawk II (N5174E)!

After fueling up, we hopped back in and got the engine started. My uncle even allowed me to fly from the left seat! We taxied over to the run-up pad by Runway 34 and my uncle walked me through the run-ups. Engine gauges looked good and the engine sounded good, so we were ready to go. I taxied us onto Runway 34, began takeoff roll, and we were airborne. We made a straight-out departure northbound and climbed to our cruise altitude; we also called up Flight Service in McMinnville to open our flight plan. Once we reached cruising altitude and got the plane configured, I went under the hood while my uncle Alan acted as my safety pilot with eyes outside the cockpit. We also called up Portland Approach and picked up VFR Flight Following to get traffic advisories en route; we were handed off quite a few times between various controllers along the way.

It was all a matter of maintaining altitude and heading as we made our way towards Yakima. Personally, I could've done a little better, especially when I ended up deviating a little bit during radio calls. But I made corrections to my course and altitude and stayed focused on monitoring the instruments and engine gauges. Eventually, Yakima came into sight. We called up Flight Service up in Seattle and closed our flight plan. We were eventually in contact with Chinook Approach and that's when I requested radar vectors to shoot the practice ILS 27 Approach, which was granted. We flew the approach profile until we were established on the final approach course. We were then eventually handed off to the tower controller in Yakima and they cleared us to land. I removed my foggles at the decision altitude prescribed on the approach plate and handed control of the airplane to my uncle since he was experienced at landing it. We made the landing on 27 and tower directed us over to transient parking, where we shut the engine down and hopped out.

After a moment to make a pit-stop and stretch our legs, we walked around a bit before we decided to amend our flight plan with a earlier departure time. After my uncle made the phone call to Flight Service, we headed back to the airplane and did a quick, expedited pre-flight before hopping in. My uncle and I also switched seats for this leg. After getting the engine started, I picked up local weather and called up the ground controller to request taxi clearance to Runway 27, which was granted. My uncle then taxied us over to the runway, where we did our run-ups. Everything looked and sounded good, so I called up tower and informed them we were ready for departure. We were asked to hold short for landing traffic, a FedEx Cessna 208B Super Cargomaster.

Once the arriving traffic cleared off the runway, we were cleared for immediate takeoff. My uncle taxied us onto the runway and we were on our way! Once airborne, tower handed us off Chinook Approach. I first called up Flight Service up in Seattle to open our flight plan. Once that was done, I picked up VFR flight following from the approach controller. Once leveled off at cruise altitude, my uncle decided to go under the hood and it was my turn to act as a safety pilot!

A view of Mt. Adams as we made our way southwest bound.

A view of Mt. Hood, Hood River, and the Columbia River Gorge as we made our way southwest bound.

After aviating, navigating, and communicating as needed, we eventually made our way back to Albany, where we landed. After clearing the runway, we taxied to the local fuel pumps and shut the engine down. My uncle and I then topped off the Skyhawk's fuel tanks. After refueling, we hopped back in, re-started the engine, and taxied to the hangar, where we put the airplane away and called it a successful cross-country flight, and the first of many flights with my uncle in the Cessna 172!

Pilot Life: Buzzing Around in the Emeraude!

I will be leaving eastern Idaho within the next day or two; it has certainly been a nice mini-vacation in between moving out of Provo and returning home to Oregon! But before I leave, my uncle and I did one more flight together this evening. And we got to fly in the CP-301 Emeraude, which means I logged some tailwheel time!

Fun to fly, but a bit of a b***h to land and taxi, my uncle and I logged some time together once again in N5TX!

My uncle and the owner of the Emeraude first had a score to settle between the two of them; it was for bragging rights to see who is better at landing the squirrelly tailwheel airplane! So they first went up and had me take video on my smartphone and be the official/unofficial judge of the competition! In my observation, it was a draw! After the landing competition, it was my turn to hop into the airplane. My uncle re-started the engine and we taxied out to Runway 22. We did a quick engine run-up just short of the runway before lining up and beginning our takeoff roll. Once the tailwheel got of the ground, I rotated and we got airborne.

After a left crosswind turn, we departed the traffic pattern on the downwind and headed north towards Ashton. My uncle had me fly the airplane (and log the time!) while he looked out for elk to get an idea where they might be when hunting season officially opens; always killing two birds with one stone, my uncle is! We spotted a bunch of them grazing in and around a forested area in the middle of a field! Afterwards, we buzzed around Ashton for a bit. My uncle took the controls and we flew over the Snake River (my uncle says the jet skiers needed to be buzzed). We then headed over to a private grass airstrip (that my uncle has permission to use!) up on the Ashton Hill. Using a modified approach to landing, my uncle made a sweet touch-and-go landing on the grass strip! This was my first time landing on grass!

After the touch-and-go, my uncle handed the controls back to me and we flew over the town of Ashton. I suggested we fly over the Pineview Cemetery, where my late-grandfather was laid to rest earlier this year. We did our dedicatory fly-by of the cemetery and "woke up" my grandfather; love ya gramps!

After the fly-by, we headed back to St. Anthony to do some touch-and-go landings. We navigated via GPS and we were in position to make a modified left-base turn for Runway 22. I took these landings and made an alright touchdown on the runway; the squirrelly nature of the tailwheel airplane became evident once again. I throttled forward and we got back up in the air for one final circuit around the pattern, since we were running low on fuel. After flying a modified pattern (because the Emeraude has an under-powered engine, so getting up to pattern altitude would take forever!), we made our full-stop landing on Runway 22; my second landing was much better, by the way! After rolling out, we made a 180 on the runway and back-taxied until we cleared off. My uncle taxied us back to the hangar; he even shut the engine while we were still taxiing and then swung the plane around to line it up with the hangar so we could simply push it back! Only in a tail-dragger!

After doing our post-flight, we secured the plane and pushed it back into the hangar. We drove back to Ashton and my uncle signed my logbook once again! I am looking forward to returning to Idaho and fly again real soon!

Pilot Life: Cessna 172 Checkout Flight!

One thing I've been trying to accomplish before I return home to Oregon is to get checked out in a Cessna 172 so I can be qualified to fly in my uncle Alan's plane as soon as I got home. I've spent the past two days looking for a Cessna 172 and an instructor who could check me out. I lucked out when my inquiries led me to AvCenter in Idaho Falls; they had a Cessna 172 that they rent out and teach in. I also really lucked out when an instructor became available this afternoon and was able to do the checkout with me on short notice and within a few hours. We spent a little time doing some ground going over the Cessna 172 operating handbook as well as some of the surrounding areas around Idaho Falls Regional Airport. Once the ground school session was done, we headed out to the airplane.

I got my checkout flight done in this Cessna 172N Skyhawk II (N2207E), owned and operated by AvCenter. Ironically, the aircraft I did my checkout in is the same model and has the same paint-job as my uncle Alan's Cessna!

After a quick pre-flight, we hopped in the plane and got the engine started. I called up the Idaho Falls ground controller and requested a taxi clearance for Runway 17, which was granted. I taxied us over to the end of the runway and we did the engine run-ups; everything looked good and the Skyhawk's stellar reputation really started to grow on me! I called up tower and informed them we were ready for departure. We were promptly clear for takeoff with approval for a right crosswind departure to the west so I taxied us onto Runway 17 and we got airborne. We made the right crosswind departure and we flew westbound, a practice area outside of Idaho Falls' Class Delta airspace parameters.

My instructor for the day started me off with some slow flight. I brought the power back and lowered the flaps down to 40 degrees (the Cessna's flaps goes down in 10 degree increments) and maintained altitude at around 60 knots indicated airspeed while my instructor called out headings for me to fly to. It's worth noting that the Skyhawk handles differently compared to a Katana, but a lot easier to control than the Mooney!

Next, we went into some stalls. After doing some quick clearing turns, we started with a power-on stall. I first decreased engine power and then pitched up before applying full power. Stall warning horn eventually went off and I anticipated the full stall, which ended up being a nose-drop. I recovered the departure stall with minimal altitude lost. We then did a power-off stall, with engine power all the way out (and carburetor heat turned on) and flaps deployed. I descended us a little bit to simulate an approach to landing before pulling back to maintain altitude as airspeed plummeted. The stall warning horn went off and the nose again dropped; I immediately applied full throttle and began stall recovery, taking the flaps out in increments (that's something I'm gonna have to get used to!).

Before going back to the airport, the last thing we did out in the practice area were steep turns. We started with one to the right and again turning to the left, all while maintaining altitude, airspeed, and a 45 degree bank angle. After a satisfactory execution of the basic performance maneuvers, we headed back to the airport.

I called up Idaho Falls tower and requested touch-and-go landings for Runway 17 and we were cleared for straight-in approach for the first lap (because we were northwest of the airport in a perfect position to do so!), asking that we report a three-mile final. I made a less than stellar soft-field landing on the first go; it was off center line because I allowed the winds to mess with me, but it was still satisfactory. I gunned the engine to full power and we got back up in the air again. The second landing we did was a standard touch-and-go, no-flaps landing which I executed a lot better. We got back up in the air and my instructor asked me if I've ever done a simulated engine-out landing; I knew where this was going! He told me to anticipate it! Tower cleared me for touch-and-go and I informed him that we would be doing a simulated engine-out, to which he replied, "roger."

My instructor pulled the power and carburetor heat out and we simulated an engine failure. It was a power-off 180 degree turn for the runway. It was really windy too, so I turned for the runway as close as possible and slightly high to account for a rapid loss of airspeed while maintaining best glide speed. The power-off landing was successful and for me personally, a major confidence boost. We got back up in the air for one final lap around the pattern for Runway 17. My instructor wanted me to do a short-field landing and touchdown on the 1,000 foot markers. Once again, I called tower and informed them of our intentions. We were cleared to land and I made my final approach. It got a little squirrelly, but I managed to land where I was instructed and we came to a full-stop on the runway, conveniently right next to the taxiway we were going to vacate at!

We cleared the runway and taxied back to the AvCenter ramp. After parking, we shut the engine down and secured the airplane as part of the post-flight. My instructor mentioned that most of his students are new and inexperienced and said it was a nice change of pace to fly with someone who knows what was going on! My instructor for the day signed me off in my logbook and I was officially checked out to fly a Cessna 172! That means I'm ready to go home and fly my uncle Alan's 172!

I want to take a moment to give a shout-out to AvCenter at Idaho Falls Regional Airport for accommodating me on such short notice and getting me into the air the same day I showed up. And of course I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge Tom Herbert, the flight instructor who took the time with me to go over the Cessna 172 and fly with me to get me checked out. I will definitely be happy to do more business with the good folks at AvCenter the next time I'm in eastern Idaho!

For now, I proudly take this new little milestone of getting checked out in one of my bucket-list airplanes, a General Aviation classic, the Cessna 172 Skyhawk with stride as I can now look forward to logging time with my uncle in his airplane back home in Oregon.

Gallery Update: A Visit to Driggs

I took a day for myself today and made a drive through the eastern Idaho countryside by the Tetons to Driggs and the Driggs-Reed Memorial Airport, which is home to the Teton Aviation Center. This FBO has a well-known cafe, as well as a rotating warbird collection that's open to the public. I made this drive to Driggs to check out the warbirds. Afterwards, I sat at the Warbirds Cafe patio and enjoyed some drinks while plane-spotting!

Teton Aviation Center Warbirds Collection

Driggs (DIJ) 1

Preview:

PZL-Mielec SBLim-2 MiG-15UTI (N515MG) on display; the same MiG-15 that flies in the Mig Fury Fighters air show routine.

Aero L-39C Albatros (N439RS) on display. Previously flew in the Jet Class at the Reno Air Races as Race #9, "Eddie Bird."

PZL-Mielec Lim-5 MiG-17F (NX717MG) on display; the same MiG-17 that flies in the MiG Fury Fighters air show routine.

Naval Aircraft Factory N3N-3 (N112D) on display.

McDonnell Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk (N234LT) on display. I don't think I've ever photographed a trainer variant of the A-4 before!

Teton Aviation Center Cessna 172N Skyhawk II (N8089E) airborne after departing on 22 for a training flight.

Gallery Update: Crop Duster Action at St. Anthony

Before and after my cross-country flight with my uncle this afternoon, we were able to observe some crop duster action at the St. Anthony Airport, courtesy of Shupe Flying Service; these guys have been in and out throughout the day. Aside from my uncle and his flying buddies, these crop duster pilots are probably the most active (at least during the summer season that is!) at this tiny, podunk airport!

St. Anthony (U12) 12

Preview:

Shupe Flying Service Ayers S-2R-G10 Turbo Thrush (N40261) departing on 22 for an aerial application run.

Shupe Flying Service Ayers S-2R-G10 Turbo Thrush (N440AT) departing on 22 for an aerial application run.

Pilot Life: Doing Yellowstone in Style!

After getting some lunch in St. Anthony, my uncle and I hopped in his Mooney once again and we flew up to West Yellowstone. This ended up being one of the more memorable flights we've done because we flew over Yellowstone National Park as part of this cross-country and beheld some of the most incredible sights from the air!

A memorable flight on N9716M!

As usual, after arriving at the airport, we did our pre-flight, hopped in and got the engine started. We also did our run-ups right where we started up before taxiing over to Runway 22. We just held short for an Ayers Thrush coming in to land in the opposite direction on the adjacent dirt runway. Once the Thrush was clear, we got rolling and got airborne.

We held short for this Ayers S-2-G10 Turbo Thrush (N440AT).

After getting airborne, we cleaned up the airplane for climb out, made our crosswind turn and departed the St. Anthony pattern to the north via the downwind leg. Like last night's cross-country flight, it was now a matter of maintaining proper management of the engine, flight controls, and instruments as we made our way to West Yellowstone and Yellowstone National Park.

We stayed 2,000 feet above the ground as per special airspace rules over the National Park. Once over Yellowstone, my uncle took the controls and I grabbed my camera. First we flew over the famed cone geyser, Old Faithful. And we timed it right because she went off while we were circling! And of course, I got some incredible shots!

Old Faithful going off!

Note the Old Faithful Inn in the bottom of the photo.

No doubt, my uncle and I had the best seat for this iconic geyser!

We knew we timed it right because of the large crowd gathered on the main boardwalk.

Seeing Old Faithful from the air brought back childhood memories from when my parents took me here all those years ago...

My uncle told me that he's circled over Old Faithful a number of times and he's never seen it go off from the air until today. I for one am grateful that he and I got to share this incredible moment as pilots! After seeing Old Faithful, we set off to look for the Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest hot spring in the United States and third largest in the world. And it didn't take us long to find it! I was absolutely blown away from what I saw!

The Grand Prismatic Spring from the air!

It's one thing to look at this on the ground, but it's truly a different perspective from the air! Views like this just goes to show what one can see as a pilot!

The vivid colors in the spring are the result of microbial mats around the edges of the mineral-rich water. The mats produce colors ranging from green to red and the amount of color in the microbial mats depends on the ratio of chlorophyll to carotenoids and on the temperature gradient in the runoff. In the summer, the mats tend to be orange and red, whereas in the winter the mats are usually dark green.

The Grand Prismatic Spring discharges 560 gallons of water per minute!

The contrast of the varying colors makes Grand Prismatic absolutely beautiful.

Seeing this reminded me that flying as a pilot is not about the destination, but the adventure that lies in between.

After the sight-seeing, it was back to the business of flying. After a quick touch-and-go at West Yellowstone Airport, we headed back to St. Anthony; we followed the Snake River before entering the left downwind for Runway 4, where we landed. After clearing off the runway, we taxied the Mooney back to the hangar and shut the engine down. We then did our post-flight and secured the airplane in the hangar, calling it a successful flight; my third logged-flight in a complex airplane!

I give this flight an astounding thumbs-up!

Pilot Life: A Quick Cross-Country in the Mooney!

After taking the evening off yesterday, my uncle Sam and I hopped back in the Mooney and we embarked on a quick, round-robin cross-country flight up north to West Yellowstone, Montana and back! This was by far one of the fastest cross-country flights I've ever flown! Then again, that shouldn't surprise me since the Mooney is one fast son of gun!

This time, we logged a solid hour in N9716M!

After arriving at the airport, we pulled the plane out of the hangar and towed it over to the fuel pumps. My uncle added fuel to each wing tank while I did the pre-flight walk-around. Afterwards, we hopped in and got the engine started. We did the run-ups at the same spot before taxiing over to the runway. We got on Runway 22, started takeoff roll, and we were airborne. After a left crosswind turn, we headed north towards West Yellowstone and continued to climb out to our cruise altitude.

As we flew northward, my uncle taught me proper engine management for a complex aircraft on a cross-country and walked me through much of it. Eventually, the runway for Yellowstone Airport came into view so we started descending down to pattern altitude; again, a quick cross-country! Winds were favoring Runway 19 according to the AWOS and we were already on an extended left downwind so we just entered the traffic pattern that way. Once again, I went through the flow process of getting the complex airplane configured for landing. I first pulled the power and engine manifold pressure back to slow down. I then extended the gear and flaps soon after. I then went through the mental GUMPS checklist during the base turn and final approach.

After making a decent touchdown on Runway 19, I advanced the throttles once again and we got airborne, completing the touch-and-go landing. After cleaning up and configuring the airplane yet again, we climbed out on a straight-out departure south back towards St. Anthony. It usually takes a little over an hour or so to get to West Yellowstone, Montana by car; my uncle and I did it in 30 minutes in the good old Mooney!

We flew southbound and made a quick detour by buzzing over Ashton before continuing on to St. Anthony, where we would land to complete the flight. Airport in sight, we entered the left downwind for Runway 4 and I once again, went through the same process in preparing the complex aircraft for landing configuration; and I had to do it fast too, since St. Anthony Airport is much smaller than what I'm used to. According to my uncle, I didn't do too bad. After going through the GUMPS checks, during the pattern leg, we made a successful touchdown on Runway 4 and rolled out to the end, since this airport doesn't have parallel taxiways.

After clearing the runway, we taxied back to the hangar and shut the engine down. Following post-flight procedures, we rolled the Mooney back into the hangar and secured it for the night and drove back up to Ashton, where we once again filled out our respective logbooks, and getting my uncle's signature for this evening's cross-country flight. We had a good time!