Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Beatty - Tonopah / Piper Dakota (N9702W) / VFR

I almost got it right on this flight, which was a very simple flight, difficult to mess up.

I proceeded to LIDAT after take-off. I used the GPS and HSI to aim for it, in addition to the heading I had calculated from the chart (I couldn't fly direct to TPH because of restricted airspace). At LIDAT, I turned to 350 to go north. From there, I planned to intercept the 206 radial inbound to the Tonopah VOR.

I messed up as I headed north. I was going north, all right, but I had the VORs mistuned—again. So I was chasing needles that were pointing the wrong way, again. I finally discovered that I had not swapped frequencies for VOR1 just as I crossed the radial that was supposed to lead me to TPH. Fortunately, I was only about twelve miles from the field by then, and I actually had it in sight, just north of the VOR. I was well positioned for a left base, so I made that into the airport.

Tonopah had fuel, which was good because I was running low after hopping from one tiny airport to the next. This was also one of the rare airports in the area with instrument approaches, although fortunately I didn't need those.

Another job not-so-well done.

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