It was the closest I have been to another aircraft while flying one. ∼Vesa

Aircraft Experience 4 – Cessna 172

I did my flight training in a flight school called North American Institute of Aviation (also called NAIA). The school was located in small town called Conway in South Carolina, United States.

I spent about a year there starting with private pilot training, then instrument rating training, followed by commercial pilot, multi-engine, and flight instructor license training.

Private pilot training was done in a two seat Cessna 152. Once I received my private pilot license I moved on to a slightly bigger Cessna 172. It had a more powerful engine and could carry four people instead of two. Unlike most of the C152’s that we had, the C172’s were approved for instrument flying; meaning we could find our way to different airports just by using different navigational instruments instead of looking at ground references for navigation.

I did most of my instrument training and part of my commercial flight training in the Cessna 172.

In this post I am going to talk about one particular day I was flying the aircraft. It is one of the most memorable flights I have done. And coincidentally, after looking at my logbook, I noticed  it was exactly one year before the events of my Aircraft Experience 1 post. The flight was on September 11, 2000.

This is a photo of a Cessna 172 model SP. In this aircraft I  did a trip from Florida to  Bahamas back in 2005. It has a slightly bigger, 180 horsepower, engine compared to the 160 hp engine that was in the 172 N model I used for my training. 

Commercial Pilot Training

I was past the half way point of my commercial pilot license (CPL) training. Just had to finish some solo cross country flights, then do some more complex aircraft training, and finally do a practical check with an FAA examiner.

For the CPL certificate the pilots need to do minimum of ten hours solo cross country flying. Cross country flight, for certification purposes, is a flight that includes navigating and landing to a different airport that is 50 nautical miles or more from the original point of departure. I completed the requirements by doing two three point cross countries meaning I landed in two different airports in one trip before returning back to Conway.

Kill Devil Hills

My first commercial solo cross country flight took me from Conway, South Carolina to Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Yes, Kill Devil Hills is a name of a small town with less than 7000 habitants. And they have an airport called First Flight Airport. It is a small airport where every pilot and aviation enthusiast should visit at least once in their lives. Why? Because it is located at the site where the first heavier-than-air flight took place in December 3, 1903, by the Wright brothers. And that is why it’s called First Flight Airport.

Three point cross country flight from Conway to Kill Devil Hills  to Kinston and back to Conway

First Flight Airport

The First Flight airport is a general aviation airport with a 3000 foot runway (about 900 meters), so only small airplanes can land there. I was very lucky that our flight school arranged the solo cross countries to visit that particular airport.

It was an uncontrolled airport meaning there was no control tower on the field. The pilots flying in and out would just broadcast their intentions on a Common Traffic Advisory (CTAF) radio frequency in order to avoid collisions with other airplanes. This frequency could be found from flight maps and airport directories that pilot’s use.

A small parking area was provided at the south end of the field.

First Time at the First Flight

It was my  first time visiting the First Flight Airport. I landed there around 11:00 in the morning of 9.11.2000. The wind was from the north that day so I decided to land on runway 3 facing northeast. Yes, I was in charge to decide which runway I wanted to use because there was no-one else around. After landing I stopped on the runway, made 180 degree turn, and taxied back on the runway to the parking area; there was no taxiway, just the single runway.

I couldn’t believe here I was; a young Finnish guy, who year before didn’t know a thing about aviation, landing solo to the site of the first powered airplane flights ever!

Not Alone After All

During my flight there I had heard a familiar voice in the radios; my classmate, Mark, was about 20 minutes behind me.

Mark again.. I just wrote about a flight with a student called Mark in my last aircraft experience post, but this once was a different Mark. I also had a colleague called Mark couple years ago, and I did my first Challenger 605 flight with him. Going to write another Aircraft Experience story with the third Mark someday…

So, since I had heard Mark talking on the radios earlier I decided to wait for him after shutting down my aircraft. Once he arrived I walked to his aircraft.

V: ‘Hey, man! How was your flight?’

M: ‘Great, yours?’

V: ‘It was good. What do you say we go check out that Wright Brother Memorial, and I hear there is some kind of museum also.’

M: ‘Sounds good. No one is using your plane after you a right?’

V: ‘Yep, I got the plane for myself all day. You?

M: ‘Same with me. No rush to head back.’

V: ‘Sweet.’

And off we walked.

Wright Brothers Memorial

A short walk from the parking area there was a Wright Brothers National Memorial, an area commemorating the first sustained, powered, heavier-than-air machine flights.

Dominating the view was a 60-foot granite monument on top of a 90-foot Kill Devil Hill; the hill where the Wright brothers conducted many of their glider experiments, and from where the town got it’s name.

It was an amazing feeling walking up the hill and thinking about these guys experimenting there less than a hundred years ago, making it possible for us to become pilots! It is truly unbelievable how fast aviation had progressed after the Wright brothers proved flight was possible.

The Visitor Center

After walking around the monument we continued down the hill to a field that the Wright brothers used for their powered aircraft flights. There was a walkway and along the way there were placards introducing the history of the area. At the end of the walkway there was a visitor center.

Inside the visitor center there was a museum and an exhibition of the actual tools that the Wright brothers used for designing and building their flyers. There was also a life sized replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer.

We spent maybe 45 minutes inside reading about the early days of aviation. The visit really gave me some new found respect to all innovators such as Wilbur and Orville Wright.

Full size replica of the Wright Flyer

Formation Flying 101

After the visit we walked back to our airplanes.

Mark: ‘So, you remember those guys talking about formation fly the other day?’

Some more experienced, about six months more experienced, pilots had been talking about formation flying to us few days earlier.

Vesa: ‘Sure, why’?

Mark: ‘Wanna try it?’

Vesa: ‘Yeah, why not. Sounds like a great idea. How do we do it?’

Mark: ‘Well, how about you takeoff and fly slowly at first. I will catch you up and we can talk and coordinate it on 123.45 MHz.’

123.45 MHz is an air-to-air radio frequency where pilot’s can talk to each other. We were flying under visual flight rules (VFR) so we didn’t need a flight plan and didn’t have to contact air traffic control as long as we stayed away from controlled airspace around airports. We were free to chat with each other without worrying about talking to anyone else while navigating by ground references.

In the Air

After taking off I heard Mark announcing he is “departing runway 03”. Cool, right behind me. We switched of to 123.45 and both started heading southwest to our next destination. Before returning to Conway we would stop in Kinston, North Carolina, which was about 100 miles away.

We climbed up to 7000 feet and leveled off.

Vesa: ‘Hey, Mark. You see me?’

Mark: ‘Yes, I’m just behind you. Keep your current heading, slow down a bit, and I’ll come to your right.’

Vesa: ‘Ok, slowing down to 80 knots.’

Shortly after I saw Mark about 1000 feet away on my right.

Mark: ‘Just keep it steady. I will slowly move closer.’

I kept my aircraft steady and watched him move closer. The key was to communicate constantly, keep your eyes on the other aircraft, and don’t make any sudden movements. Although I took a short video with my DV camera while I was flying, I had my left hand on the controls all the time, so I could turn left anytime if Mark got too close.

After few minutes of our formation flight experiments we continued the flight keeping safe distance from each other.

I don’t know how close he got. You be the judge?

About the Formation Flying

Was it legal?

• Yes, Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) 91.111 says: “No person may operate an aircraft in formation flight except by arrangement with the pilot in command of each aircraft in the formation.” We talked to each other about this before flight so we got this covered.

Should we have done it?

• Absolutely not! It can be very dangerous and can be a cause to midair collision. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to do it without proper training.

Was it worth it?

• Sure, gave me something to write about and a cool video. But again, don’t do it without proper training. We were idiots at the time!

In the End

In the end it was a great day and it was the closest I have been to another aircraft while flying one.

See how much fun it can be a student?? Especially a flight student. You get to fly your own airplane around and have fun while learning. It was fun doing our little “formation flying” experiment, although I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone without proper training.

Visiting the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devils Hills was amazing experience especially because I was a flight student. When you are learning to fly you can better appreciate the history of aviation. This visit made it more interesting for me to actually take a course in aviation history couple years later when I went to study in Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Thanks for reading!

∼ FunkyPilot Vesa