My Aviators - My Journey as a Woman Pilot

Location: KDVN - KOQW - KDVN
Weather: KDVN 241852Z AUTO 33005KT 10SM OVC037 20/12 A2986 RMK AO2 SLP110 T02000117
Runway in Use: 33

I really wanted to get in the air today. The weather was supposed to be beautiful, but it wasn't. I postponed this morning because the clouds were at about 3500 MSL and I wanted them to be a bit higher. Well 1pm rolled around and I had a plane scheduled and wouldn't you know it, the clouds were lower. I stood on my deck and looked around a bit and decided that they weren't going anywhere and they were high enough for me to putz around like I wanted so I decided to go. I had wanted a nicer day, but you can't always get what you want!

I preflighted. I started her up. I listened for weather and then I went to radio in my taxi intentions and the radio wasn't working. I flipped all the switches off and back on and I still wasn't getting anything on my headset. I pulled out the input jacks and put them back in and still nothing. I messed with the jack input for the in-plane speaker and still nothing. So I picked up the hand mic and radioed my intentions. I headed out figuring I could trouble shoot the headset on the way.

I took off, and it was beautiful. She practically leaped from the runway today since it was pretty cool out. I grabbed 75kts on the climb and turned to my heading. Maquoketa airport is only about 25nm to the north north west so it was a short hop. I had the field in sight and went to radio my landing intentions and the hand mic didn't work. So I pressed the button for the headset and it worked. Hooray! So I set up to land and did a poor job of it. I was high coming in and I was fast and I wasn't lined up well. Instead of pushing it to get everything in order to get her on the ground I did a go around. Came back and made a very pretty full-stall landing. I was a bit fast so I had a bit of float but it was still a really nice landing.

A back taxi was required since I landed super long. On the way back down the runway there was a deer standing on the side of the runway. I halted and played chicken with him to see if I could get him to get off the runway. Eventually he left and I turned around and took off again. It was a quick flight back to davenport where I made a terrible landing. It was much more of a thump than a chirp.

I learned a few more things today. I need to get in the air a bit more frequently because my skills are getting a bit rusty. When the A/FD says wildlife on and in vicinity of the airport they actually mean it. And lastly I still really love to fly!

Duration of Flight:.9
Total Flight Hours:89.9