Why would anyone fly to Wautoma municipal Airport (Y50) ? As any great philosopher might say, Why Not? Recently the AOPA proposed a challenge to its members to log 5 hours visiting 5 different airports over 50NM apart. In addition to this challenge, Rose Dorcey recently shared her story with my local EAA Chapter of visiting 60 airports in 60 different counties within the state of Wisconsin. Her story was inspiring and I knew I needed to set my own goal.
With the AOPA challenge in mind, I decided to visit 5 airports I have never landed at, in the next 3 months, and take a non-pilot with me on every trip. It will not be hard to find 5 airports I have not landed at as I am still under 100 total hours. The difficulty actually lies in finding non-pilots who are available and willing to fly with me when the weather is good. Maybe they are nervous of my limited experience? Safety is always my number one priority and I do not take unnecessary risks. None-the-less it is difficult to convince someone who has never been in a small airplane to fly with me. Fortunately for me, my wife Kim is comfortable with my skills as a pilot and is not afraid to fly!
The weather cooperated with us for the trip. The ceiling over West Bend was scattered clouds at 1200 feet so we would need to climb between the clouds to relieve ourselves from the turbulence. After reaching 4500 feet, the air smoothed out and within 20 minutes we were in clear skies.
Wautoma airport was visible from over 15 nautical miles arriving from the southeast and the wind was variable at 6 knots. My final approach was high and I used the full 40 degrees of flaps in our Cessna 172N to get down a little faster than I should have. A last second gust of wind along with the extra airspeed caused us to bounce and float but I managed to finish the landing smoothly using a little extra power.
We stopped in to use the restrooms and chat with the gentleman running the airport. It always amazes me how receptive and supportive everyone is to new pilots at these small local airports. After a few minutes we walked around outside for a photo opportunity and sat under a tree to enjoy refreshments.
The flight home was bumpy but fairly uneventful. As we approached the north side of the Horicon Marsh the clear skies became scattered with a ceiling of 3300 feet. We descended under the clouds and tolerated a few bumps for the last 20 minutes of our trip home. The landing at West Bend proved routine and we were both pleased with the successful flight.
One airport down, four more to go……. Stay tuned
