Flying the Bumps

Some of you know I have been learning to fly an airplane. Heck, I have been trying to get my private pilot license for years and there is always something keeping me from finishing. First, I bought a house. Then it was teenagers. Yes, teenagers. No matter what you do a house or teenagers, sometimes both, will cost you all of your available money. But that is another story. (Hey, a topic!)

I experienced some of the worst turbulence in an airplane that I have ever experienced when I did my first cross-country solo flight a couple of months ago. I have flown in a small airplane with bouncy weather before but this was the worst I had ever experienced. But I am a student pilot and this was my first cross country. I wanted everything to go well. Ok, I was stubborn.

About 20 minutes into a one hour flight the turbulence started. Ok, I have been bounced around before so I checked my speed to make sure I was below maneuvering speed (maximum speed for an aircraft in turbulent weather) and even slowed down a little more which I hoped might slow the bumps. The bumps continued. I was flying at 3,500 feet so I decided to move up to 5,500 feet and maybe get above this bounce.

I started to climb and thought, “What are the procedures to climb to a new altitude on a Victor Airway? Victor Airways, for those that don’t know, are highways in the sky. You stay at certain altitudes heading different directions between two given points. My next safe altitude for my direction was 5,500 feet. I didn’t know what those procedures were and I did not remember any procedures from my ground school so I decided to moved right of the Victor Airways a mile or so, climbed up, and returned to the highway in the sky. While I did this maneuver I kept my eyes out for any other aircraft. I later found out that this was the right procedure to do as I climbed to my new flight altitude. Or, I could have done some S-turns to check for traffic as I climbed.

I got up to 5,500 feet and no change in the bounce. After several minutes I even experienced some severe bounce, some of which tilted the airplane more that 20 degrees to a side and sometimes nose up or down 10-15 degrees. Boy this was getting bad.

After a while I had to decide whether to turn around, return to my starting point and abort this cross country attempt or continue on. Would the bounce get worse? Since I was more that halfway to my destination I decided to continue.

I arrived at my destination, Burlington, IA, about 10 minutes later than planned. I landed, parked the plane, closed my flight plan and walked into the terminal. I sat down and had a soda and contemplated my trip. It was bumpy. I thought about the trip and decided that I had endured the flight, managed the airplane properly and successfully navigated to a strange airport. Now for the return trip home.

My return trip was just as bumpy but I was prepared for it. I learned that if I slowed down even more the bounce was not that bad. I realized that I had worked the problem (handling the turbulence), came to a solution, and worked the solution. I slowed the plane and change altitude to find smoother air.

Coming home I felt rather proud of myself. I handled the trip. I flew from one airport to a strange airport more that 100 miles away, landed and safely flew back. My flight was at least 10 minutes longer on each direction due to my slower that normal flight because of the bumps but other than that the trip was a success.

So, look out world. I almost have my private pilot’s license.