Not wanting to end the day on a sour note, I started over in Dalton, but this time decided to fly to the Cherokee County Airport, which is a bit closer, and which is a larger airport. I did my research, or thought I did, determining that the runway was 75 feet wide x 5011 feet long, so just a bit shorter than Dalton, and at an elevation of 677 feet, a little lower than Dalton. I would take off, head south-east to Carter's Lake and continue south-east until I found the airport, about twice as far from Carter's Lake as Dalton. As I passed the lake, I noticed this odd feature. Looks like a river that ends in a culdesac with an island in the middle:
From looking at Google maps, I think it's actually a hairpin turn in the river but the river gets smaller at that point and FSX stops modeling it, so it just seems to end.It took 6 minutes to get from Dalton to Carter's Lake, so another 12 minutes or so past that and I found Cherokee County. I circled the airport and determined two things. First, the airport was not at 677 feet, but at over 1000 feet, and second, the runway was at a different heading than I expected. Hmmmm? Anyway, the sun was going down so I flew the pattern and turned on final approach:
Another nice sunset shot. As I lined up on the runway, I noticed something else. There's a big bunch of rather tall trees right at the end of the runway! They are just off to the right of center though, so I lined up to the left of the runway and just slipped over after I had cleared the trees. (oh, and that's I-575 on the left):
Landing was pretty good, although I was a bit left of center. That was not due to any cross wind. In fact, if anything the cross wind should have pushed me to the right a bit. The problem was having to dodge around those trees. I'm pretty sure they are not like that at the real airport.
Anyway, after landing and recording the flight details, I went back to look at the Cherokee County Airport to see why I had my elevation and other information wrong. Turns out I was looking at Cherokee County Airport in Jacksonville, Texas! D'oh!
Another nice sunset shot. As I lined up on the runway, I noticed something else. There's a big bunch of rather tall trees right at the end of the runway! They are just off to the right of center though, so I lined up to the left of the runway and just slipped over after I had cleared the trees. (oh, and that's I-575 on the left):
Landing was pretty good, although I was a bit left of center. That was not due to any cross wind. In fact, if anything the cross wind should have pushed me to the right a bit. The problem was having to dodge around those trees. I'm pretty sure they are not like that at the real airport.
Anyway, after landing and recording the flight details, I went back to look at the Cherokee County Airport to see why I had my elevation and other information wrong. Turns out I was looking at Cherokee County Airport in Jacksonville, Texas! D'oh! The Cherokee County Airport in Georgia is at 1219 feet elevation and the runway is only 3414 feet long. Long enough, but not as long as I thought. So as an addendum to the "do your homework" rule, make sure you do your homework correctly!
I'm hanging it up for the night now. I think tomorrow I may take the little Champ down to that Mathis airport though and see if I can land it on that little strip.
No comments:
Post a Comment