cross-country to Houma

route: HDC-1L0-HUM (link to cool online sectional chart)

My second cross-country flight today, to Houma, via the St. John the Baptist parish airport's VOR.

The summer has begun to heat up for real in southern Louisiana, so after a sweltering drive to the airport (my a/c is broke!) it was particularly welcome to get up in the air.

Ryan had me do all of the radio communications this time, and I think I did pretty well. It's a bit exciting to hear, "zero seven bravo, we have radar contact." And, "clear for Bravo," permission to transit through a piece of the New Orleans controlled airspace. The radio is kind of crazy at times, bursting with fast sequences of numbers and letters, and you have to be on guard, ready to respond if the air traffic control addresses your callsign. Like, "zero seven bravo, vector three sixty for traffic." You say it right back to them so they know you got the information: "vector three-sixty, zero seven bravo." When there's a pause in the action, there's always something to tend to. Loading the next frequencies into the radio, checking the navigation. And flying the plane.

This was a very scenic flight, over Lake Maurepas and Lac des Allemands and the Mississippi river (its banks flanked with ships and barges down by Houma). Due to clouds we were flying at only 2000 feet, giving an even better view of the swamps and waterways below.

Next we are doing night flight. Minimum training requirements are ten night takeoffs and landings, and three hours of night-time cross-country. So we will fly around the Hammond traffic pattern doing some touch-and-goes, and then do cross-country out to False River, visiting the Baton Rouge (BTR) municipal airport on the return for a touch-and-go (). Sounds exciting!

By the way, the red outlines on the map above designate the "temporary flight restrictions" (TFR's) due to the oil spill. We're not allowed to fly over the gulf.