The first challenge, we need a name!  I thought we should incorporate the name Ramona uses for her trusty Cessna 182G, Sierra. After considering a few alliterations, we went with Sierra’s Sassy Sweeties.  The “sweeties” then completed registration with the hope that Sierra’s new propeller would arrive and be attached before the deadline. Registration required uploading of images of our FAA certificates and medicals, and then completion of a choice of two selected online Wings safety classes.

Time was moving on, but Ramona’s A&P was optimistic that Sierra would be ready to fly.  The next deadline was for the submission of the route. The basic plan was to fly out from KHSV (Huntsville) where she hangers her plane, pick a location that would be a good starting point, and fly the 5-leg (each at least 65 nm) route around Huntsville, ending at the starting location. One of our considerations in choosing waypoints was the resulting turn angle, as rules required no more than 7 nm be taken to get on heading for the next waypoint.  The mandatory “land” airport was to be KJFX (Jasper), as we would likely have transportation and company for lunch, Ramona’s sister-in-law, Kim Wilcox.

Just to make the planning and submission of the route more “educational,” the latitude/longitude of waypoints and the one required landing airport were to be submitted in the dd.ddd format. Of course, that is not the format that ForeFlight uses, although it was the preferred application to submit the flight record. We utilized AirNav to get the points in the correct format. We chose airports for our waypoints, but aside from the required landing airport, the waypoints could be any points.  We submitted our flight plan and waited for approval.

Sierra’s propeller arrived, and with its installation and the remainder of her annual done, she was ready to fly. 

The weather looked good for a few days, so off we went flying together for the first time. We didn’t suspect compatibility would be a problem but wanted to practice timing so that we could track and adjust our speed along the legs.  Since that went well, we decided we were ready.  The next morning the weather looked good, so Ramona emailed our flight plan with time estimated times. After a briefing, fueling, and pre-flight checks, I made the necessary calls to ATC, and we departed KHSV on our little adventure. We didn’t get as early a start as we wanted, but the weather was great!

Our route took us east to start at KBGF (Winchester, TN), then northwest to M02 (Dickson, TN) over the beautiful green hills of southern middle Tennessee. We started seeing the twists and turns of the Tennessee River on the next southwest leg to KSNH (Savannah, TN).  We continued following the river until it turned east, and we continued south to enjoy the view of more lovely green hills on our leg to KJFX (Walker County-Bevill Field). This was our required landing and we met Sara Rutland and Kim Wilcox from Shoreline Aviation Services at the airport. We enjoyed Kim’s company for lunch at a nice Mexican restaurant she recommended.  We refueled Sierra too, at Sanders Aviation, and then headed northeast for KPYP (Centre-Cherokee County Regional).  The views returned to lakes and rivers between the hills, but now the Coosa River.  We turned northwest for our last leg and another look at the Tennessee River and lush green hills.  We turned “record” off after crossing KBGF and headed back to KHSV. 

Scoring for the derby was the percentage error between estimated time and actual time flown.  Each leg, as well as the entire route, was scored.  Our best leg score was 1.13971% error and the worst, 6.44959%.  The top 10 winners all had 5 legs less than 1% error, and the top winner’s total error for all legs was 1.02036%.  Ramona promised she only wanted to participate and winning didn’t matter.  We did participate!  And had a great time flying on a beautiful day!

As for exercising my license to learn, gaining experience and confidence working with ForeFlight and the GNS 530, and making Class C radio calls were the tangible gains.  Just as important for me was the time spent flying with an experienced pilot who provides encouragement and inspiration for continued growth and learning.

The entire route had provided a birds-eye view of so much lovely countryside. That is why I learned to fly!  And since an aviation competition provided the opportunity to enjoy all that beauty, just maybe I’ll try another!