Today was a ground day. The next major part of my flight training is cross country trips. However, in order to do this, I need to learn a lot of things I haven’t yet learned. I can’t just hop in a plane and go to some airport 100 miles (Nautical) away. Something I don’t know yet is how to open and close a flight plan. In fact, I didn’t even know how to fill out a flight plan, or what it looked like before today. Basically, a flight plan is opened when a pilot starts a leg of a trip. The length of the trip is irrelevant. I can open a flight plan for a trip off only 20 miles if I wanted to. In order to make sure pilots are where they’re supposed to be at the correct time, or close to it, flight plans are submitted to an FSS (flight service station). These let the FSS know where, when, what plane, cargo, and any other important things about the flight they would need to know. Upon reaching the destination, the pilot closes the flight plan to affirm his arrival at the destined airport. If a flight plan is not closed within a certain amount of time of the expected arrival, a search and rescue operation is dispatched.
Another thing I learned today, which I only had limited knowledge of prior to today’s lesson, was VOR navigation. VOR stands for VHF (very high frequency) Omni-directional Radial. A VOR is a station on the ground which emits signals in all directions (360. However, it’s more like infinite directions, since there can be decimals of degrees of a circle. ) and a plane flying in the air can tune in to the signal. Based on the time it takes the signal to get to the plane and back, the VOR and plane know where it is in relation to the station. VORs help pilots travel from one VOR to the next, in order to get to a destination without getting lost.
VORs are complicated (or at least too complicated for a blog post) and need practice using. I haven’t ever used the VOR in the plane while in flight, so I need to get practice first. This is why my next “flight” will be in the simulator we have at the flight center.
Something I’m still concerned, or uncertain about, is what happens when I get to the airport I’m traveling to? How am I going to know where to get fuel, or where I’m allowed to park my plane? I’m excited to get started on my cross countries. My instructor describes it as real flying. No one gets on airplanes to fly around for a little and land at the same airport. They want to go places. Cross country flying will get me ready for the rest of my career.
Another thing I learned today, which I only had limited knowledge of prior to today’s lesson, was VOR navigation. VOR stands for VHF (very high frequency) Omni-directional Radial. A VOR is a station on the ground which emits signals in all directions (360. However, it’s more like infinite directions, since there can be decimals of degrees of a circle. ) and a plane flying in the air can tune in to the signal. Based on the time it takes the signal to get to the plane and back, the VOR and plane know where it is in relation to the station. VORs help pilots travel from one VOR to the next, in order to get to a destination without getting lost.
VORs are complicated (or at least too complicated for a blog post) and need practice using. I haven’t ever used the VOR in the plane while in flight, so I need to get practice first. This is why my next “flight” will be in the simulator we have at the flight center.
Something I’m still concerned, or uncertain about, is what happens when I get to the airport I’m traveling to? How am I going to know where to get fuel, or where I’m allowed to park my plane? I’m excited to get started on my cross countries. My instructor describes it as real flying. No one gets on airplanes to fly around for a little and land at the same airport. They want to go places. Cross country flying will get me ready for the rest of my career.
