Adventure

I absolutely love flying, even if I'm just practicing touch-and-goes or doing slow flight and stalls in our local practice area. I can't hold the controls of an airplane without having an incredible time. That being said, I'm not getting my pilot's license so I can fly in circles around the airport! I want to go places.

And the time has come! Two weeks ago, my flight instructor told me to pick somewhere and fly there. It was an easy choice; California has about 800 miles of beautiful coastline, so it seemed stupid to fly anywhere but north. I decided that my destination should be San Luis Obispo.

On the day of my flight, the air was filled with smoke from the biggest wildfire in LA history. The area around Santa Monica was not bad, but Van Nuys airport (to the North) was reporting smoke and poor visibility, and Burbank airport (to the East of Van Nuys) was reporting even worse.

Since the area around Santa Monica was not bad, my flight instructor and I decided that I could take off, but if my route of flight took me into any poor visibility, I would make an immediate 180° turn and come back home. With that stipulation in mind, I was off. And boy was I glad I decided not to cancel the flight. All the smoke was staying over the valley, and my coastal route was nowhere near it. In fact, as soon as I left the LA basin, the weather was absolutely beautiful. I could not have asked for better flying conditions for my first long solo.

Once I was at my cruising altitude of 6,500 feet, things were quiet. There weren't any other planes around, so I didn't have much to do except make sure the plane was still pointed in the right direction (it was), and enjoy the scenery.

Somewhere around the Santa Ynez valley, it really sunk in. I was flying! I felt an incredible amount of freedom and adventure. I don't know exactly how to describe it. I took a lot of pictures.

As I got closer to San Luis Obispo, I put down the camera and began to prepare the plane for landing. I got on the radio and called into the control tower. They told me I was number two to land behind a Cessna, and that I should watch out for another Cessna that would be landing behind me. I spotted both planes and lined up for landing. In no time at all, I touched down on the runway and taxiied the plane to a parking spot in front of the restaurant. The Cessna that landed behind me pulled up next to me, and it was being flown by another student pilot, Lisa, also doing a solo long-distance flight! We signed each other's log books, and I got her to take a picture of me in front of my plane:

Lisa couldn't stay, so I headed into the restaurant by myself and sat down. I ordered a hamburger, served with fries and an incredible sense of accomplishment.

BONUS! Google Map of my route, with pictures!