As part of my flight training, I must do a cross country to Golden, British Columbia. The whole flight took 4.4 hours of Hobbs time and was quite an experience for me as it was my longest flight yet. My planned route was Castlegar → Cranbrook → Invermere → Golden → through Rogers Pass → Kootenay Bay → Castlegar.When I landed in Cranbrook, I also had to fuel the plane myself – I didn’t know there was such a thing as self-serve fuel stations for aircraft, especially one with an automated payment system. I obviously then thought the whole pumping system was pretty cool then. The other thing that amazed me was the seemingly random flat area between the two mountain ranges; I just couldn’t get over the views while in the area. After refuelling, it was time to make my way to Golden with a quick stop and go in Invermere along the way.
Once I had reached Golden, the last few legs of my flight would take me through Rogers Pass; a place I had only driven through before. The weather was quite lovely the whole way; however, it was a bit turbulent and cloudy in the valley which made the flight even more exciting. After taking in the beautiful sights and nearing my last few waypoints, my flight was over. This will definitely be one of ‘those flights’ that I’ll remember forever: my first real cross country.
