There was only one thing for it, so I sucked it up and flew the 120+ miles to Fort Morgan and back yesterday morning. All in all, a beautiful flight. Clear, smooth air all the way there and back.
The briefer gave me winds aloft of 280@15kt from Longmont to Fort Morgan, flying at 7,500' and 270@20kt for the return at 6,500'. I spent that sleepy-eyed hour between 6:45am - 7:45am, calculating wind-corrected headings, time between checkpoints and fuel burned.
Like a good student, I got the flight plan approved and the appropriate logbook endorsement from my instructor, filed my plans with the briefer, then high-tailed it to the airport.
Nothing unusual to this point, I know. But check out the flight calculations and actual times!
Despite an obvious wind shift (noted in brackets, the actual heading I flew to get to each checkpoint), and the fact that Cessna 65440 simply refuses to cruise at anything close to 106 KIAS, my times between checkpoints and overall flight time was really close! Just 4 mins slower, getting to Fort Morgan and 2 mins faster returning to Longmont.
I recognize now, that even before coffee and being fully alert, I am capable of accurate and fairly quick flight planning. And there we have it... The silver lining to my last-minute cross country flight.
I am the proud wearer of a $144 smile!
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