Pilot Life: Local Solo Flight in the Cherokee

I did a local flight out of Salem today, and this time, I got to do it in the Valley Flyers club's Piper Cherokee; after making some inquiries with some of the higher-ups, I was given approval with a club checkout by them without having to do another checkout flight (which is the usual procedure) given that I already have over 40 hours logged in the type and I demonstrated competence during my initial club checkout in one of the Skyhawks, a privilege I certainly don't take lightly! The purpose of today's flight was to go out and practice some basic attitude instrument flying (standard rate/timed turns), staying at altitude, and working on my instrument scan, all things that I've been struggling on in my recent flights with my instructor. Plus, I haven't been done a solo flight in a Piper Cherokee since my days in Utah, so I figured I could use the flight club's plane to help me practice and "rehearse" so to speak in preparation for getting back into the Albany-based Cherokee.

Valley Flyers Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee Cruiser (N1636H), the third Cherokee airframe to add my logbook. This Cherokee is the flight club's only non-Cessna aircraft in their fleet.

After taking a second to figure out which hangar the Cherokee was housed in, I went straight to work and got the pre-flight done before pulling the plane out of the hangar. I hopped in, got the engine started, got my taxi clearance after getting the ATIS information, and taxied the Cherokee out to the run-up pad. After a successful run-up on the engine, I got my takeoff clearance from the tower and got airborne with and departed to the south on the left downwind. I leveled off at 2,500 feet and headed to an area just east of Albany to practice the maneuvers I wanted to do. I mainly practiced timed turns, compass turns, as well as standard rate turns all while maintaining altitude; I also took the time to get a feel for this particular Cherokee.

Satisfied, I proceeded towards Albany Airport to practice some landings. Approaching from the east, I crossed over at midfield and made a direct pattern entry, left-traffic for Runway 34. From there it was like any other day of flying, as I executed two smooth touch-and-go landings, followed by a full-stop on the third landing I did. I rolled off at the end of the runway and taxied back to Runway 34, where I made a straight-out departure northwards back to Salem. After getting the ATIS information, I called up tower and requested a straight-in approach for Runway 34 there. Once again, winds were variable and they offered me Runway 31 when I was about four miles out; I accepted my new landing clearance for Runway 31 and made an uneventful landing.

I taxied off and got my ground clearance to go to the fuel pumps, where I topped off the tanks to tabs. After I got done refueling, I put the plane back in the hangar. Hopefully this flight will help me overcome the struggles I've been having recently. It was also nice to fly solo in a Cherokee for the first time in a year!