Today (some time ago by now) my flightmate and me had our first IFR-crosscountry navigation. Both of us were planned for 3 hours, which means that we had the opportunity to make this quite a long navigation. We decided to plan our trip to San Diego Lindbergh International Airport. Dispatch had planned me first which means I had to plan the way to go there and could fly the beautiful approach into KSAN.
Once airborne, it didn't take a very long time for us to receive the first radar vectors to intercept airway V95 to POTER. Afterwards we could resume our navigation as filed.
After 2 hours of navigating, tracking, eating and talking, it was about time to start our descent/approach preparation. This means getting the approach briefed, do the descent/approach checklist, and load the necessary arrival and approach into the G1000. In our flightplan we had filed the BARET4 arrival procedure (STAR).
After doing half of the STAR (Standard Terminal Arrival Route), we started to receive radar vectors again. We were being vectored for the Localiser Approach runway 27, which means we were approaching over the higher terrain just East of the airport. After receiving the landing clearance, it was time to slow down. We were flying at 136kts IAS (Vno), to make sure that the commercial traffic wouldn't have to wait too long for us to land. The runway was covered with remains of tires (rubber), so we could not brake too hard after touching down.
On the way back (while I was backseating) I was able to take some pictures from the city, since we were flying just South of it on the departure.
