Flying yesterday

The last time that I went flying on a scenic ride with a pilot (Mike) was just after Christmas. I was grounded, so to speak, for much of January into early February recovering from a sinus infection. Then I had two flights canceled because of windy conditions. So, I finally went up yesterday with and had a great flight. I had to learn navigation and pilotage when I was studying for the FAA private pilot exam last year. I wanted to do a little more work on navigation and pilotage by plotting a course for this scenic ride. Of course, the pilot, and not I, would normally do the navigation and pilotage. Simply, I plotted a course on an aeronautical chart, and picked out visual reference points along my route. The good news is that we found our way to our destination.

I did not choose the best visual reference points, Mike and I talked about this on the flight back. We talked about why my reference points were not good, and he suggested reference points that I could look for on the same flight in the future. For example, he pointed out a very large lake near the interstate that is an excellent visual reference point.

Part of the problem, according to Mike, could have been that the winds at our altitude (5,500 ft) may have been blowing a little stronger than forecast in the winds aloft charts I used. When planning a flight under visual flight rules, there are ways that you work the effects of winds into your flight planning, and I thought that I had done this. But we were a little to the right of my plotted course, possibly due to stronger winds aloft.

If I had used better visual reference points such as the large lake near the interstate, then this might not have happened. Fortunately, Mike is a good pilot (just to clarify that he was flying the plane). It was very clear and we could see for miles, so he was able to spot a good visual reference point near our destination.
I hope that on future scenic rides, that I will be better able to follow along by identifying a visual reference points and then finding these reference points on my sectional.