First solo away from the airport

Last weekend I was signed off to do solo flights out to our designated practice area. It's about 20 miles away from Manassas, with a pair of airports in the area. Since Wednesday looked like a docile weather day, I skipped out of work early and headed to the airport.

Long story short - several things slowed me down and caused frustration. Frustration leads to lack of focus. I was an hour late, and only had about 90 minutes of daylight. I did everything safely, but certainly moved at a less deliberate pace than usual.

I've flown out to this area probably 20 times, and this time it was like I had never flown before. Just never got comfortable in the plane of the surroundings. Instead of doing useful practice, I just cruised around a little and headed back in. At least the landing was solid.

Next flight should be to New Market. Then probably another solo to the practice area, and then maybe a solo to Charlottesville. And sometime soon, we'll do our first night flight.