To Richmond and Beyond!

My parents used to think I would only not listen to them.  Tonight, I would like to proclaim that I have finally proved them wrong.  Despite the warnings from my doctor about the effects of pressure on my poor sinuses, I couldn't wait to get back in a plane.  And since my night cross-country has been delayed for nearly two weeks now, I decided that if I didn't do it as scheduled tonight, it was never going to happen.

So, off I went into the darkness to Richmond International Airport.  I flew the big bad super plane, the new C-172.  Used VOR to get there, GPS back.  Was pretty nerve-wrecking at some points, totally calm in others.

Nerve-wrecking parts
-never flown to this airport, much less a major city
-never flown to an airport in major city with lots of lights...at night
      -because of above, the runway is EXTREMELY hard to find
-lots of frequencies to chat up with, can't understand any of them
-did I mention it's a night flight?
-Richmond control had us fly wayy around to line up for a landing

Calm/cool parts
-my take offs and landings were near perfect
-we flew over a high school football field and saw a marching band practicing
-night flying is really peaceful
-I found my way around pretty easily
-the approach controls (who I talk to in between airports) are really, really helpful.  They give you headings to fly on and if I'm ever lost, I can ask them to give me a heading to the nearest airport

Things I learned
-having all of your frequencies, VOR frequencies and headings, and other info ready/written down before the flight makes it all easier
-red/blue flashlights in a cockpit are smart
-cross-country flying isn't that difficult, just keep the talking straight and stay on-course
-flying into Class-C airspace to a medium-sized international airport isn't as difficult/nerve-wrecking as I excepted...quite easy in fact, just the runways are soo confusing and there's soo many of them
-a runway's lights at night seem dimmer than the lights surrounding the runway...go figure

All in all, cool flight.  Glad I did it, and my sinuses weren't very painful (thank you gum!) and opened up entirely on the return trip at 4500 ft.  They feel pretty stellar right now in fact!

Next flight: Thursday.  This one is a BIG one too.  I solo again, only I solo a cross-country flight.  I'll fly CHO to Lynchburg to Farmville and back to CHO.  All by myself.  I'm pretty nervous, but I was before my first solo too, and I did just fine, so I keep telling myself I'm good.  I'll plan it out and make sure the weather is ok, then my instructor will sign me off to do the trip, make last minute preps, and I'm off.  My instructor believes I'm ready and I think I am too.  Should make for an interesting post Thursday night for sure...

Fun fact: the "911" frequency of the skies is 121.5  I was told to memorize that, ASAP.
Fun fact #2: the transponder has three emergency "squawks", or codes to signal emergencies as well
          1) 7500 = hijacking
          2) 7600 = no communication
          3) 7700 = emergency
Fun fact #3: CHO is a military refueling post, so lots of military aircraft hang around.  Tonight I got to watch a cargo plane do touch-and-gos.  Very cool, but turned up a lot of wake turbulence for me.  Thanks dudes!