Last Friday I flew a short cross country flight from Addison to Durant, Oklahoma. Land lubbers know these cities are about 86 miles apart and would take about 90 minutes to drive there. For pilots, this is a mere 61 nautical miles taking about 40 minutes or less- in a Piper LightSport.

My Type

We had a stiff south wind that pushed us there in record time (ground speed 125+ knots) but made coming back home torturous (ground speed <85 knots).

I wore my "foggles" most of the way. There are a variety of vision limiting devices to help IFR pilots train.

Mine are comfortable and I'm convinced they didn't contribute to feeling nauseous like these type:

My CFI's Loaner

Of course, I didn't have to go fancy with my own frosted shades. I just choose to be somewhat stylish and comfortable, unlike these alternatives:

Duct Tape, mate?	Literally a hood

Ground school is tomorrow evening when we discuss navigation and radio calls. I'm looking forward to it like any good aviation junky.

Speaking of, there was another accident this week at Northwest Regional. This time it was the fault of an SUV driver driving in front of a landing airplane that caused the accident. Luckily, nobody got seriously hurt, although the student pilot is calling it quits for flying.

What gets my goat is the SUV drivers are frequent visitors to the airport, so they should know better! The husband and wife in the vehicle claim they didn't see anything, but video also shows they didn't stop to LOOK UP before crossing right by the end of the runway.

Situation awareness people!

And read a bit down how nasty the wife is right afterwards.
</ my soap box>