Go WEST (flying) I started my journey on May, 18th from Munich, Germany on a Delta Airlines flight to Phoenix, Arizona stopping at JFK, New York. The route from Munich was via Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Newcastle and Glasgow crossing the Atlantic at FL310 and a GS of 530 mph. At Goose Bay we climbed to FL370 passing Presque Island and Boston before landing at JFK on Rwy 22L after 8 hours flying time having covered 4000 miles. At JFK we departed from Runway 22R westbound and arrived at Phoenix Skyharbour after a 4.5 hours flight at FL310 and a ground speed of 500 mph. In Phoenix I met my friend Robert who is a 1st Officer flying DC9s with Austrian Airlines. Together with him I wanted to visit the south western part of the US.   Looking for an appropriate air plane The next day (Sunday,19th) we went by car to Falcon Field (FFZ) to the flight school "Prism Aviation" where we chartered a Cessna 177 Cardinale with retractable gear. Having checked out the Cessna we flew to Scottsdale (SDL) in the NE of PHX where we faced a problem during approach: the flaps didn't work! Our flight instructor put her down on the runway with app. 80 knots - it was a very 'postive' landing.  As you can imagine we lost our confidence in that plane after such a serious malfunction. Back at Prism Aviation we were lucky that there was another plane available for our trip, a Cessna 172. Although this plane had no retractable gear and was therefore about 20 knots slower than the 177 it was fully IFR equipped and apparently in a good condition. In addition to this, it was a real bargain costing only USD 48 per hour including fuel.