Lesson 75 was kinda interesting.
All the Skyhawks were unavailable and the one I had been booked in was down for maintenance so we took the 172RG Cutlass, the retractable gear, constant-speed propped version of the Skyhawk.
Since the handling characteristics are different enough from the Skyhawks, and you can't do touch and goes in it, pattern work was right out. So was all the required maneuvers that we had originally planned to fly this lesson as the handling is different enough that Ray didn't want it interfering with how I've been doing them.
So it was pilotage time.
One nice thing about the Cutlass is the speed so you can get to where you want to go quicker than in a Skyhawk. We were doing 120 knots easily. Good taxi and takeoff and off we went.
Ray had me fly him to Marlette with map in hand. Then just before Marlette he announced the airport was closed and we should divert to Y83. Oh, and no using the GPS. This simulates a diversion that will take place on the check ride somewhere along your planned cross country route.
No diverting to Linden which was really nice and visible airpport that we had passed by on the way to Marlette, nah we had to go to Y83.
Y83? Oh, that's Sandusky, home of the best grass field in Michigan.
So with plotter in hand I figured out the course to Sandusky and verily flew us there. I found the town of Sandusky but it certainly took me awhile to find Sandusky airport itself, but at least I did find it, right at 12 o'clock where it was supposed to be and I didn't miss it, which made Ray happy.
We did not use the grass field as that's really not a great idea in the RG, but landed on runway 9 and then turned around and took back off for Pontiac.
It was a successful pilotage flight.
So, I got to work the landing gear, adjust the constant speed prop and manifold pressure, and had a pretty relaxing and successful pilotage flight.
Hopefully there will be a Skyhawk available for use at my next lesson.
1.3 Hours and 2 landings.
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