Flying Everywhere
I think I've finally bored myself with my solo endorsement limitations. Today's flight was 2.4 hours and I landed at literally every airport I'm allowed to land at. I mean look at this flight path:
I also climbed to 10,000 feet for the first time. To do this, I had to get out from under any Class B shelves, and those things are everywhere up here! There is a narrow strip between Livermore Airport and the windmills just to the west of Altamont Pass which removes all Class B shelves and also remains within the 25nm range limit of my solo endorsement, so I went there and spiraled my way up to just above 10,000.
I've actually been higher than 10,000 before when I flew as part of a club flyout to Mt. Rushmore... but that was with a CFI and I didn't know what I was doing back then. Technically, I should be able to go up to 14,500 feet... but I didn't want to risk a heart attack if the engine quit.
One of my biggest difficulties with flying was sharply illustrated when I was so far up today.
That's Livermore Airport down at the bottom above the window latch. It looks like it's right below the airplane but it's actually 5 miles away. It's taken me forever to know where to point my eyes when looking for things in "the distance." A few weeks ago, if you'd told me that Livermore Airport was 5 miles away I'd have probably looked somewhere where Dublin and Walnut Creek are in the above pic, which is waaaay off. This is why I had trouble finding airports in the past during cross country flights, but I think I finally get it...
Boredom will hopefully inspire me to finally push through the remainder of my private license work and Docusign's stock price will hopefully push my finances up so I can buy my Sling TSi then I'll finally be able to begin the airport hopping life that I think I want to live.
