Long Cross country 51.8nm straight line without landing at airport?

midlifeflyer said:
Going back to the original post, looks like the plan may have been OK but the decision not to land at one of the airports due to conditions cut it short.

It happens. I diverted on two of my student solo cross countries, but I landed at another airport instead of giving up.
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I agree the plan would have worked if the entire thing was flown. I just don't see value in doing two short legs first before the key one. Seemed natural to me to want to get the most important and challenging part over with up front.
 
I just looked up my student solo xc.

Leg 1) 63 NM
Leg 2) 76 NM
Leg 3) 113 NM

I’m pretty sure that last leg was technically longer because I think I used a VOR or airway on the way back so there was a dogleg. The two stops were at first-time-to-me airports. I stopped at the 2nd stop for a break and chatted with the line guy at the desk. He had a business card calling himself a “Fuel Delivery Engineer”.

I hope I will always remember that flight: middle of the day, middle of the week, middle of nowhere KS. No GPS so all pilotage and the frequency was so quiet I thought my radio wasn’t working. It was awesome and I felt like a real pilot.

To the OP: you did part of it, do it for real. Don’t stress over it, have fun. And try a different set of airports. You can do it, there’s no doubt in your CFIs mind. You already showed good decision making by your diversion, so there should be no doubt in your mind either. This is supposed to be the best experience of your training, you get to put the whole package together. Yeah, it sucks it might affect your checkride schedule, but one thing flying has taught me is patience.

Keep us posted.
 
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