Chasing Flight Hours: A Pilot’s Excursion to the North-West of Prague

Every pilot should have a minimum flight time before taking an exam. For the modular commercial pilot program in Europe, it should be 200 hours of total time. I am currently continuing to gain these flight hours.

Today, I decided to fly to the North-West, where I found a nice aerodrome with a concrete runway. As I’ve mentioned before, I prefer concrete runways over grass runways.

My plan was to fly in a sort of circle, to the West of Prague on the way forward and to the East on the way back. It would be more interesting, and the route distance is almost the same.

I am still a little nervous about controlled airspaces and talking to air traffic control (ATC). So, for now, it’s better to avoid crowded Control Zones (CTR) and practice somewhere else, like in Karlovy Vary.

During the summer, there are usually some thunderstorms around. I spotted a cell to the west of my route, but it wasn’t close enough to be dangerous, so I just took some photos.

The Czech Republic is beautiful for sightseeing, especially from the air. I took pictures of a nice golf club and an old windmill along the route.

Usually, the aerodromes I fly to are empty. Small aerodromes in Czech Republic are usually uncontrolled, and nobody is there, especially after 6 pm. However, today was different, and somebody answered on the radio. It was some unexpected communication practice 🙂

On the way back, some clouds started to form. They weren’t turbulent, but it’s still not ideal if they are low. Of course, I checked the weather before departure, and nothing seemed wrong. But it’s always better to double-check if necessary. I asked the controller, and he confirmed that nothing special was expected enroute. This was really good news because I am not allowed to fly at night yet. If the weather became bad, I could have gotten stuck until morning.

I landed about an hour before sunset. It was another outstanding day!

Sorry for the rubbish on the windshield 🙂

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Milestones

04/09/2017: My First Flight
04/25/2017: EASA PPL written exam (6 exams passed)
05/21/2017: Radio Operator Certificate (Europe VFR)
05/22/2017: EASA PPL written exam (all passed)
05/26/2017: The First Solo!
05/28/2017: Solo cross-country >270 km
05/31/2017: EASA PPL check-ride
07/22/2017: EASA IFR English
08/03/2017: 100 hours TT
12/04/2017: The first IFR flight
12/28/2017: FAA IR written
02/16/2018: FAA IR check-ride
05/28/2018: FAA Tailwheel endorsement
06/04/2018: FAA CPL long cross-country
06/07/2018: FAA CPL written
07/16/2018: FAA CPL check-ride
07/28/2018: FAA CPL ME rating
08/03/2018: FAA HP endorsement
06/03/2019: EASA ATPL theory (6/14)
07/03/2019: EASA ATPL theory (11/14)
07/15/2019: FAA IR IPC
07/18/2019: FAA CPL SES rating
08/07/2019: EASA ATPL theory (done)
10/10/2019: EASA NVFR
10/13/2019: EASA IR/PBN SE
11/19/2019: Solo XC > 540 km
12/06/2019: EASA CPL
12/10/2019: EASA AMEL
02/20/2020: Cessna 210 endorsement
08/30/2021: FAVT validation
05/27/2022: TCCA CPL/IR written
05/31/2022: Radio Operator Certificate Canada