Solo cross-country navigations

Time for my first solo cross-country; unfortunately I had to cancel my first one. Everyone has their own wind limits, mine was 7 knots crosswind and 12 knots total so you cannot be signed off for a solo if the wind is reported above this. I rescheduled and was a little apprehensive about going; staying in the pattern at Falcon is one thing solo but doing a navigation route is a completely different one, it also gets really turbulent in the afternoons here so I definitely wanted to go in the morning.

The navigation part was easy enough, the problem I had was the cloud! I had to cut my route a bit short as it was coming lower and lower and I was getting rained on, this is no problem to the plane but reduces visibility. I ended up descending to about 3000 feet because of the cloud base which in mountainous terrain isn’t ideal and I was questioning whether I’d be able to make it back to Falcon or would have to divert to Chandler (my favourite).  However, I felt a huge sense of achievement as I landed and felt more like a real pilot being able to go places by myself (it was a two hour mission after all).

To get signed off for a cross-country solo is a little different, there’s much more prep work to be done before the flight and then you present your work to a duty instructor (not your own) to authorise the flight.

1. (At home) Draw the route on the map and fill in distances, true track headings and VOR radials for the points on the route.
2. Check in with Operations
3. Get the weather and work out winds aloft and calculate headings on nav log to compensate for drift then apply the deviation from the map to get magnetic headings which is what I’d set my heading bug to for the route legs. I work out my drift and ground speeds using the compass face of my CRP-5 (thank you gen nav in ground school!) to give me ETAs for each turning point.
4. Mass & balance sheet
5. Pre-flight plane
6. Get fuel – Solo students must take off with full tanks (48USG)
7. File a VFR flight plan – This is a CAE policy for students going solo and is something I’d never done before. The plan needs to be filed on the ground and then opened in the air by contacting Prescott radio, you have to close it within 30 minutes of your ETA otherwise they’ll be calling dispatch or sending search and rescue to find you! So far, I’ve not forgotten to close one but I know a few students have.
8. Make copies of everything and take to the duty instructor – explain your route and give a weather briefing to show you’re ready for the flight. 

During the flight I keep a track of my ETAs, revising any times as necessary and write down any observations such as what the winds are doing and which tank I'm on. Here's an example nav log post-flight. 

I have 6 cross country solos to complete (as well as other duals) before my PT3 and the only place I’m endorsed to land is Falcon Field until after the next check ride.