Second solo cross country

After a week of really lousy weather (lousy here is clouds and light rain), I got a GREAT day for another cross country – this one to Tehachapi (TSP), almost directly north of Van Nuys. Feeling very confident and having everything planned, I figured this would be a very routine flight. As with most things in aviation, it wasn’t nearly routine.

After preflight and quick top off on the gas, I headed out and departed. Just as I was turning crosswind, the tower asked me to check that my transponder was on. It was, and with the right code, but no light (indicating it was being interrogated by radar) was flashing. I recycled the transponder, and set it back to altitude squawk. Downwind abeam the tower they again reported no transponder, and it was still dark. Checked the circuit breakers – all fine. The tower told me to remain clear of the Burbank Class C airspace until I had it resolved. I decided to head back and check it out. I landed and taxied back home, called Kent and told him the situation. He suggested I take it to an avionics shop on the field to have it checked out. Able Avionics was open, and was more than happy to help. They determined that the transponder was indeed bad, and they gave me a loaner.

All ready to go again, I taxied to the run-up area and did my thing. I then requested clearance, and was told to “Stand by – we have an emergency on the field.” Turns out that a plane had it’s gear collapse on landing, effectively shutting down the longer runway. No problem – the small one is plenty long for me. Turns out there was about a 10 minute wait before I finally got airborne.

After that I was just a bit disorganized. I flew too far east after the top of my climb, and ended up a bit off course. Corrected quickly, and made it to Tehachapi about 1 minute late. Just like Palm Springs, there were hundreds of windmills just south of the airport – and where there are windmills, there is WIND. 280@12 reported at the field for runway 29, so not too bad. Tied it down and walked into town for a bite to eat.

Got a new weather briefing and headed back to the airport. The wind was gusting now – up to 22 knots when I looked at the weather equipment inside the airport office. Just get it up, and no problem. Everything went fine, and the ride back was MOSTLY uneventful. I say mostly because I flew the wrong initial heading coming HOME too! I reversed the headings on my flight log, but read the FIRST one on the list instead of the last one for my trip home. I realized the mistake as soon as I saw how far west I was of my first checkpoint, corrected and came home no problem.

One more cross country and some maneuver practice, and I’m ready to go. I’ll take the written this week, and have Kent prep me for the oral. PP-ASEL – here I come!