From the video archives...KFHR

I finally got around to editing my video from my long solo cross-country flight, over a month ago, at the tail end of my private pilot training.

There was a lot of haze from forest fires on the evening I did the flight, so much of the video is uninteresting, to say the least.

But here is the video from my approach and landing at Friday Harbor Airport in the San Juan Islands. This is a place I plan to visit quite a lot now that I have the ticket...

Anyway, I have fond memories of this trip. I shut down at Friday Harbor for a bit, hoping to find Ernie's Cafe still open (alas, it was not). Ernie's is named for Ernest Gann, one of my favorite aviation authors, who wrote about his adventures as an early airline pilot (in the 1930s). Disappointed in the restaurant being closed for the day, but vowing to return, I left Friday Harbor and landed at Snohomish County (better known as Paine Field) near Everett, then back home via the eastside suburbs of Seattle (Bellevue, Kent, Auburn) and a transition through the McChord Air Force Base Class D. The challenge on the final leg was avoiding the Seattle Class Bravo airspace, which required flying at a low altitude to stay under the shelf.

During the taxi-back for departure at Paine, I saw the "Dream Lifter" taking a rest from hauling 787 parts around the world. What an awesome aircraft!

All in all, it was a terrific trip and is likely one I will repeat at some point...just for fun!