So… I went flying last night… solo. I was supposed to do a 'night flight' with my instructor Tina, but she was on a charter flight and said, "Why don't you go alone up to the practice area!" Well… I've never flown far enough from the airport where it was lost from view, so there was some hesitation… but I was pretty excited to get it done. I mapped it out, checked out the landmarks I would look for, prepped the plane, got my clearance, and off I went. It was great. I was planning to fly towards Prairie du Sac when some traffic was going to be in my way (the benefits of having a Tower in the airspace to let you know you're about to run into someone), so I headed north along the highway until Lake Wisconsin and then turned west right towards the sun while I did some practice maneuvers. First maneuver… slow flight… dropped the power, pitched the nose up, put out full flaps and flew at around 50 knots, and did some turns… sort of a boring but important aspect in your ability to control an airplane. I then cranked the power back up, pulled the flaps back in, and did some steep turns… which are fun, because you bank the thing at about 40-45 degrees and do a 360… it's awesome to feel some G's in a Cessna. I did two of those to the left, and one to the right. I'm not as good at the ones to the right. Gotta work on 'em. I then cranked the power up and went up to 100 knots cruising speed towards 'Sauk Prarie' (that's what the airport is called at Prairie du Sac), before turning around and calling Madison approach for a return to the airport. Once I crossed into MSN airspace (around Dane), I went over to the tower frequency and asked for some 'touch & go's' to practice landing. I did two of them on Runway 21, then one on runway 18 for some 'crosswind' practice (wind was about 5kts from 220 degrees), and finally a full stop as the sun set on 21 before heading back to the East Ramp to tie ol' N91HL down. Overall, it was a great experience, as I was doing maneuvers and utilizing charts all on my own, which is a milestone in my book.

Good times!