My Aviators - My Journey as a Woman Pilot

Location: KDVN - 8C4 - KDVN
Weather: KDVN 012252Z AUTO 24006KT 10SM CLR 27/08 A3017 RMK AO2 SLP212 T02720083
Runway in Use: 21

Today was beautiful and it has been forever since I got to fly (ok only 26 days, but again, who is counting), so I headed to the airport. When I arrived my plane reservation was no where to be found. Luckily 547CA was on its way back so I waited for it to come back and I was on my way.

The AWOS was reading 230@09 when I was ready to taxi. Someone was coming in on 33 for a full stop so I decided to head out to 21 since the winds favored that a bit more. Once he was cleared of 33 I departed on 21, turned out to the north and was on my way. I decided to just take a leisurely flight up to Tipton (about 27 miles Northwest). Since I didn't really have an agenda and had plenty of time to spare to I spent some time playing around. I climbed a bit, descended, did some s-turns and just took in the sights and generally enjoyed myself. When I had Tipton in sight I decided I would land. I could have done a straight in, and I wish I would have, but headed off to the south and entered on a 45 to the left downwind. As I was turning base someone on the ground asked if I was a full stop or a touch and go. I said touch in go. Well it ended up that it was a full stop. I landed a bit long and chose to back taxi instead of trying to get it off the ground in too short of a space. I apologized to the waiting plane and they were very understanding. We had a quick conversation about the weather and they seemed very nice. I love meeting really nice people when I am out flying. In fact I love the flying community!!



I headed back to davenport. I just followed the road that goes from Tipton straight back to davenport. As I was flying it I realized I have never flown into Davenport from the west before. I had flown out to Cedar Rapids plenty of times on cross countries during training but I always went somewhere else and came back to Davenport from either the North or South. Anyway everything looked a bit different coming in from a new direction but nothing to worry about, just something I noted. There was a Baron Beechcraft landing and he was much faster than me so I took my time going to the south a bit so i could cross midfield for left downwind on 21. Another plane took off as I was on downwind then I was all alone in the pattern. My landing was a bit flat, but I was still proud of it. I taxied in and shutdown. Even my parking job, which is often my weakest point, was awesome. All in all, my day was awesome.

There were tons of pilots in the air today. It kept me on my toes but I loved it. Hearing all the radio chatter makes me remember how much I love to fly. In fact everything about today made me remember how much I love to fly. Chatting with the folks at the airport. Soaring in the smooth air. Chirping the tires on the landing. All awesome, now I am just counting the minutes until I can do it again.

Duration of Flight: 0.9 hrs
Total Flight Hours: 89 hrs