Pilot Life: Cross Country to Olympia and Bringing the Skyhawk Home

It's been well-over a week now since I ferried my uncle's Cessna 172 up to Aurora for the scheduled avionics work and ADS-B installment upgrade; we didn't expect that it would take this long! But as of yesterday afternoon, my uncle received word that the work was complete, so we both headed up to Aurora this morning to pick the airplane up!

Good old N5174E has some new equipment for us to utilize!

After finalizing paperwork and going over everything that's been done to the airplane, we did our pre-flight and walk-around before hopping in and starting the engine. After picking up taxi clearance and instruction from the ground controller, we taxied over to Runway 35. After a quick run-up, we departed Aurora via Runway 35 and headed north to Olympia. After picking up VFR Flight Following with Portland Approach and getting up to desired cruise altitude, my uncle went under the hood and I acted as his safety pilot. We also got out our iPads and utilized ForeFlight to get live information, including weather and traffic advisories. We were definitely loving the upgrades! The plane's other avionics were re-calibrated as well.

As we approached Olympia however, I noticed that the aircraft Hobbs meter (the meter that we use to determine how much flight time we log) wasn't working! Thankfully, the transponder box as a timer that keeps track, so we were able to determine flight time with a little math work (but still a bit of pain!)! After picking up the weather, I called Olympia Tower and they had us come in on the left downwind for Runway 17. After landing, we contacted the ground controller and we headed over to transient parking. We shut the engine down and hopped out to stretch our legs and make a pit stop. We then discussed what we should do; the original plan was to head straight back to Aurora, where my uncle would grab take his car to meet me in Albany while I would ferry the plane solo. Now, we were gonna head back to Aurora and tell the guys at the avionics shop that the Hobbs meter wasn't working and the plane would have to go in again! Either way, we had to go back to Aurora.

We hopped back in the plane and got out of Olympia to return to Aurora. Once again, my uncle went under the hood to build up his simulated instrument time while I acted as his safety pilot. We also played around a little bit with the real-time information coming out of ForeFlight as well as the volume controls of our coms (which was another problem we had!). We made our back to Aurora after an uneventful return-trip. Upon contact with the tower controller there, we were instructed to enter left downwind for Runway 35. Upon landing, we cleared the runway and taxied back to the avionics shop and parked in front of their hangar. There, we gave them our report on the performance we got from the new ADS-B compliant transponder (which was good news!) and then gave them the bad news about the Hobbs meter. The technician went straight to work on it to fix the new problem and make it right!

Of course, this was going to take just a little time, so the avionics technician looking after my uncle's plane recommended a place to go get some lunch. My uncle and I followed said recommendation and had a great lunch at the Langdon Farms Golf Course just north of the Aurora State Airport! After lunch, we went back to the airport and work was just about done. My uncle and the technician did an engine run to verify that the Hobbs meter was working, which they confirmed. With that squared away, the Skyhawk was finally ready to go back to Albany! Shout-out to Pacific Coast Avionics for the good work they've done overall!

My uncle handed me the keys to the airplane and he took off in his car. I of course hopped in the airplane and got the engine started up. I did my run-ups in an isolated part of the transient parking area and then picked up my ground clearance to taxi to Runway 35. I taxied and then called up tower letting them know I was ready to go at the end. I was cleared for takeoff and I wasted no time in getting airborne. After making a right crosswind departure, I left the pattern on the downwind and headed south.

It was a quick, half-hour flight to Albany. Like when I ferried the plane up to Aurora, I transitioned through Salem's Class Delta Airspace after receiving approval from the tower controller there. Once clear of Salem's Delta Airspace, Albany soon came into view. After checking the AWOS report out of Corvallis (which reported winds variable), I opted for a straight-in landing approach to Runway 16. Following a smooth, uneventful landing, I cleared the runway and taxied over to the ramp to top off the fuel tanks. Albany Municipal Airport has been under construction for the past several weeks with work being done on the ramp area, which unfortunately for me, meant no self-serve fuel available. So I called up the FBO guys over at Infinite Air Center on the UNICOM frequency and requested a fuel truck, which was prompt!

After topping off the fuel tanks and squaring away the fuel bill, my uncle made it down to Albany soon after. He drove over to his hangar while I hopped back in the plane and taxied over there. After shutting down the engine for the fifth time today, I hopped out and we put the airplane back into the hangar. We called it a day and drove back to Salem, looking forward to many more flights to come with the newly-installed equipment!