First Few Solo Cross Country Flights and Written Test

Hello Everyone!

Since I have began flight training again in June, a lot has happened! I have ‘flown’ through the Private pilot syllabus, and am nearing my check ride. My plan has me taking my check ride right at 40 hours of flight time, and I currently have around 30.

In the meantime, the biggest things that have happened are my first two solo cross country flights. The first one I did about a week and a half ago. I flew from Carlisle to Reading to Lancaster to Carlisle (N94-KRDG-KLNS-N94 117nm). I just finished the second one yesterday, which was my long cross country (160nm). I went from Carlisle to University Park at Penn State to Williamsport to Carlisle (N94-KUNV-KIPT-N94). I also took my written test, which I passed with a 90%, so I’m pretty proud of that. All my cross country flights went really well, although yesterdays was a little stressful, as it was quite turbulent, and KUNV had gusting 20 knot winds with about a 10 knot crosswind component, which is a lot for the airplane I fly, the Bristell NG5, which only weighs about 1100lbs or so with one person and fuel. But I handled it well, and had a safe landing…maybe not a very good one, but a safe one! Next time you hear from me, I should be a brand new Private Pilot!!! I’m excited, and it has been a pleasure to share this journey with you all.

Also, I have been using my Sennheiser headset, and I absolutely love it (https://en-us.sennheiser.com/). The sound cancelling works great, which is awesome because as a musician, I of course don’t want the constant sound of the engine to damage my ears. It is also extremely comfortable, and is great for long flights, much more comfortable than my David Clark headset, especially in the summer, as the gel pads on the David Clark headset tend to get a bit sticky when it is hot. Thanks so much for sending it out for me John! I really love it, and I’ve been using them on every flight since I got them.

Special thanks to our sponsors Gleim (https://www.gleimaviation.com/), My Go Flight (https://mygoflight.com/), Sporty’s Pilot Shop (https://www.sportys.com/), Graphtech/TUSQ (https://graphtech.com/pages/tusq-nuts), Bose Aviation (https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/headphones/aviation_headsets.html), and all our other sponsors and donors for making the FMA Solo Program possible.

Have a wonderful July everyone!

Jake Myers

Also, Here’s few pictures from my first solo xc and a maneuver review flight I had with my instructor the other day (I know it looks like I’m flying from the right seat but don’t worry, I’m not, my selfie camera just reverses the picture and I’m not sure how to fix it):