Solo in the newish C172

The weather was calling me to the airport today, so after learning how to use the online scheduling system I reserved the newer Cessna 172 at the local airport and decided to pay a visit to nearby Spartanburg airport.

I did the preflight and had to take a little extra time to remember where all of the 13 fuel test points are on the airplane. I found the 5 under each wing with no trouble, but 2 of the 3 under the cowling took some time to locate. I also double-checked the tires since I didn't want to blow one out like last time. :)

The airplane was in great condition so I taxied out and took off to the north in front of a turboprop that was practicing the ILS. I was turning crosswind before he was within a mile of the airport so I stayed out of his way easily.

A straight shot to the west started my course as I started re-learning the autopilot. It all came back to me pretty quick from my IFR training days in a similar plane so before long old "Otto" was in charge of the yoke.

It was a little bumpy (as it always seems to be around this area) but I enjoyed the sites. I tried to pick out landmarks to test my pilotage skills and did fairly well until I was out of the Rock Hill area. Then I was overflying unknown territory and didn't bother to continue the pilotage practice by referencing the sectional.

I stayed under 3000' the entire time so that I could avoid the CLT class B airspace.

I reached SPA in about 30 minutes and landed in front of another trainer aircraft that was waiting to depart. The landing was OK but I think I flared 6-8 inches too high. A taxi down the taxiway to the departure end had my running a quick before takeoff checklist before returning to the air.

Pointing due East got me setup to return to Rock Hill and Otto did his thing again as I setup for a practice ILS. As I neared the airport I decided the ILS was too boring and that a practice engine out in the pattern would be a better use of my time. I pulled the power just past mid field on the downwind leg and made a fairly good choice of when to start a 180 turn to line up on the runway. I landed a little long but that was certainly preferred to coming up short in this situation.

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