First solo XC DONE!

Skyscraper

Skyscraper

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Skyscraper
Finally got to take my first solo XC a week back!

Got absolutely perfect weather: clear skies, no wind (3 kts mostly head on), big temp/dew point spread, just perfect.

Flew the Cessna 150 from Santa Rosa to Stockton, not a looong one, but a XC all the same.

As I drove to the airport I felt what seemed like the perfect balance of caution and confidence, I was in good spirits.

Happy to say everything went almost exactly as planned: All my waypoints were right where I expected and within 1-3 minutes of plan or right on target. Used FF for the first time, got passed off from Oakland to Travis to Norcal etc. with no big surprises. My VOR use went smoothly and knew right where I was both ways. Saw some great sights over the delta, saw the pillars of the golden gate poking through the fog over San Francisco, tanker ships, cool aircraft near Travis AFB etc. stuck some of my best landings yet and really enjoyed the FBO at Stockton and chatted with some Italian pilots studying for CPL.

Made it back to KSTS without a hitch and felt great about the whole thing. It set me up perfectly to go head on into some night and IFR instruction with my CFI (which was awesome!)

Knocking out PPL requirements left and right!

Knowledge test and Checkride should be coming up fast!
 
marcoseddi said:
Sounds great! It goes real fast after this! Get that written test done.
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+1. Best part of flight training. Don't forget your VOR crosscheck and pilotage rather than just depending on Foreflight, and don't let that written hang over your head!
 
ChrisK said:
+1. Best part of flight training. Don't forget your VOR crosscheck and pilotage rather than just depending on Foreflight, and don't let that written hang over your head!
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Woops, I meant for my "FF" to mean flight following, not foreflight. My CFI will not allow me (which I agree with completely) to use GPS until I've proven my skills using pilotage, VOR and dead reckoning. He's an old school guy who doesn't like GPS, hell, he barely likes the radio :D
 
Skyscraper said:
Woops, I meant for my "FF" to mean flight following, not foreflight. My CFI will not allow me (which I agree with completely) to use GPS until I've proven my skills using pilotage, VOR and dead reckoning. He's an old school guy who doesn't like GPS, hell, he barely likes the radio :D
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Haha. That's better. Flight following. Too much dumb on the brain - I'm getting old =)

I miss my first XC days. When I made it back to my home airport after my first XC I was - literally - shouting in the cockpit.
 
Congrats, I know just how exciting that is... I just finished my PPL in August.

My first X-C didn't go as well as yours... I, too, had Flight Following, and they vectored me so far off course that I got lost! With only a paper chart (no GPS on the plane, even if I were allowed to use it!) I did a 2- VOR triangulation and finally got my position fixed. After that, it was no problem.

Keep on with the great progress! The rest is just as much of an achievement and you'll be very proud after that checkride, believe me!
 
NICE JOB! yeah, solo xc, that's where it's at!

Got my long xc (re)scheduled for Saturday, then it's practice, study and hopefully pass checkride!
 
Congrats!! First cross country starts to show you why you fly. The Stockton FBO is nice they have a crew carl However there's not much to see in Stockton.
 
Conditions have been fabulous around the bay up until a few days ago. But, no wind (even up to 12000) and inverted temperatures. That's why your planning was so perfect....

Nevertheless, congratulations. Flying over the Delta is fun -- WAY better than driving through it -- though I couldn't use KSCK because it's less than 50 miles away (KMOD worked, though -- and I used it for a dual). Where are you going for your "long" XC?
 
Congrats ,the first cross country is always fun. Get the written out of the way sooner than later,and the flying will be even better.
 
MAKG1 said:
Where are you going for your "long" XC?
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Not quite sure yet. Now that I've got most of my PPL requirements out of the way I'm trying my best to keep my face buried in the books to get that written out of the way. Thinking somewhere in the foothills, or possibly the Central Coast. So much good flying to be done!
 
Congrats on the XC! Sounds like you did a great job.
 
Skyscraper said:
Not quite sure yet. Now that I've got most of my PPL requirements out of the way I'm trying my best to keep my face buried in the books to get that written out of the way. Thinking somewhere in the foothills, or possibly the Central Coast. So much good flying to be done!
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It's kinda hard to get to the Central Coast from KSTS without flying through Class B, or really, really high (though 10500 over KSFO is kinda fun).

There aren't many airports in the Central Coast anyway. At least on the charts. :) KWVI, KOAR, KSNS, KMRY, KKIC and KPRB (plus a few more further south) are about it. KKIC is often recommended against for students because there is an aerobatics school there, run by Sean Tucker.

The foothills have their own issues, often related to weird winds. But you can probably handle it if you can do KDVO on a windy day. You may run afoul of student solo limitations.
 
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MAKG1 said:
It's kinda hard to get to the Central Coast from KSTS without flying through Class B, or really, really high (though 10500 over KSFO is kinda fun).

There aren't many airports in the Central Coast anyway. At least on the charts. :) KWVI, KOAR, KSNS, KMRY, KKIC and KPRB (plus a few more further south) are about it. KKIC is often recommended against for students because there is an aerobatics school there, run by Sean Tucker.

The foothills have their own issues, often related to weird winds. But you can probably handle it if you can do KDVO on a windy day. You may run afoul of student solo limitations.
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Thanks for the tips! Like I said , I haven't given it much thought. KDVO can be hairy (as you know), but also a place where I've gotten some good practice in when the cross winds are pushing but still within limits. I seem to do okay crabbing it in when the winds are steady but the gustiness at the surface can still screw up my approaches (and therefore touchdowns) quite a bit. All the more reason to head to a moderately windy airport!
 
I don't know how your instructor feels about Class B. There isn't much to it, but it seems to scare the bejeebers out of some instructors. KSFO is quite accommodating most of the time, but they will throw curve balls at you on occasion, so you have to be prepared to do something else. Last weekend, I gave a bay tour through there, and Tower was not accepting transitions, but NorCal was. That meant I could transition above 2000 feet (convention is 3500, either direction, northeast of the mountains), but not at 1500 where I wanted to. You have to be able to hold altitude, as you will almost certainly have one assigned. Headings are unlikely, but it happens (most often, you get told to stay south/west of 101).

To deal with winds, it helps a lot to go early.

Why not go to Willows and get some pie?
 
I don't know about anyone else, but the peculiar form of joy I felt when I first caught sight of the runway at each stop on my first solo cross-country was completely unique.
 
PW_Plack said:
I don't know about anyone else, but the peculiar form of joy I felt when I first caught sight of the runway at each stop on my first solo cross-country was completely unique.
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yup, being able to say "....I have my airport in sight" was quite satisfying!
 
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