Over the mountains and through the hills

Cross Country flight #2 for today. The plan was to leave Manassas on a NW heading and track to the Linden VOR. From there, track away from the VOR to the Shenandoah River, and follow that south to a notch in the ridge to get to airport 8W2, New Market, Va. A few odds n' ends about the route. It involved cross over the Shenandoah Mtns. It involved a small airport tucked in the middle of rolling terrain. And it involved a runway that is half as long and half as wide as I'm used to. To top it off, it was a fairly breezy day, with moderate turbulence in the air.

On the flight out, my instructor and I went over a few bad habits I've picked up. Namely, not using the correct technique in keeping the plane straight and level. We hit some pretty bumpy air as we crossed over the mountains at 5500 feet. I did an OK job of not letting it bother me and retaining control of the plane. Following the river was a piece of cake. The turn over the smaller ridge was very bumpy, but smoothed out almost immediately. And then things got interesting.

When passing over the airport, we couldn't see the wind sock. Winds were forcast for winds out of the SW, which means that using the runway that points SW would make sense. Try for a landing, everything was awful, so I powered up and went around for another try. Came in again, everything was better, but we were going really fast over the ground. Go around again. At this point, my instructor takes the plane, and tells me to take a deep breath. She noticed that the winds were giving us a tailwind. So, up we go, set up for the *other* end of the runway, and wouldn't you know it, a perfectly respectable landing. Go figure. One thing that bugged me about all of this were the many low hills around the airport.

After a short break, it was back in the air and heading home. My flying was, in general, better going home. Still bumpy, but the brisk tailwind gave us a ground speed of 140 kts. at one point. Landing into Manassas was fine, even if my cross wind work is still lacking.

When going over the flight with my instructor, she said this: Individually, the parts of my flying all range from fine to good. It's when the pieces start having to complete for brain time that things start to get sloppy. I mostly knew that, but it was good to hear it. Plenty of work still to do.