Caldwell to Carmel VOR to Waterbury to Sullivan to Huguenot VOR to Caldwell

What a beautiful day for flying. Today I completed my multi-leg solo cross country. I met bright and early with my instructor. Once he reviewed my flight plan and we double checked the weather he signed me off. The first leg was from Caldwell to Waterbury. I like flying in this direction because it takes me over the town where I used to live, pretty cool seeing it from above. I took off and maintained 2,500ft to stay under the shelf of the Bravo. I made contact with NY approach and received flight following. Once I squawked the code it was business as usual. The frequency was surprisingly quiet for such a nice day but I guess with the cold coming in and the holidays people fly less. I tracked Carmel VOR to and from to find Waterbury.

At about 10mi out I began my descent and told NY that I had the airport in sight. I called the tower and notified them I was 8mi SE of the field and they gave me a right base for 36. After thinking about it for a few seconds I realized that didn’t make sense so I called the tower back and tried to clarify. I realized I told him my position was SE when in fact I was SW. So after I told him what my ACTUAL position was he cleared me for a straight in 3mi final.

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Caldwell CDW to Sullivan County MSV via Huguenot VOR

You mean I can actually go places with this plane by myself? The other day I did my first solo cross country. It was incredible, I would definitely put it right up there with my first solo. There is just something different about leaving the pattern and heading to somewhere far away (well 54mi). I did it in a Cessna 172SP which was equipped with a KLN-94 GPS. I programmed my destination into the unit but then shut the screen off so I can rely on the VOR navigation. After taking off from Caldwell I tried to raise NY on the radio for flight following. However I could not get them. At first I thought something was wrong with my com but after tuning in the ATIS for Caldwell I was confident my systems were functioning properly. So I ended up flying there without flight following. It was a perfectly clear day so I just made sure to be extra vigilant about scanning for traffic.

I didn’t even see any other planes along my entire route there. I did have a bit of trouble tracking the VOR on the way to Huguenot but eventually locked it in. The winds aloft were also stronger then forecasted. I was only making 89kts for ground speed. I began my descent to Sullivan when I was about 10-12mi out, I also made the first call in on CTAF at that point. The AWOS radio told me surface winds were 310@4kts so I chose runway 33 for the landing. I made the approach for a downwind entry but ended up making it very short leg so I was almost immediately turning on base. Of course I was making frequent calls with my position through out the entire time in. Once I was on final I determined I was a bit high so I chopped the throttle and let it sink. This runway has a 4 light PAPI so determining my glide height was pretty simple. The landing was smooth and short. I made the first turn off but that isn’t saying much because it was quite far up, the runway is large at 6300×150.

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