Long VFR Cross Country in a Warrior??

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SupraPilot

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just wondering if anyone has ever done a long VFR flight 800-1000nm in an aircraft like a Piper Warrior or something close (C-172 C-182 arrow ect ect.)
Reason i ask is becasue a freind and I have our own Warrior..I am just a Private pilot not IR and he is student pilot and since we have the advantage of owning the plane we would like to take it on a long trip to say NJ-FL or NJ-Midwest just for fun and to challenge us...the farthest i have flown was about 400nm and all my flying is done VFR (for now)...
The plane Is in very good shape with a brand new engine, everything works great, and its even IFR Rated..i mostly use sectional charts and VOR's for navigation, but we do have a garmin 296 handeld in the plane that I barely use.(yeah i learned the old school way) but im sure it will be a big help on long flights........it doesnt have autopilot either :redface:

I just want to hear some feedback from people who have done this themselves, and some info on wether everything went as planned, weather delays ect ect.

I know i am going to do very extensive planning and i know we will need a few days in case the weather turns on us...this is not something i will be doing within the next week or even month, i am just trying to gather some good advice/info on taking long flights like these...in the future i plan to get IR and buy a faster airplane ect ect but for now this is what we have.:D
If we did do this with weather permitting, we would try to get the flight done in one day, for example flying to florida i can imagine with decent weather all the way we would be able to make it in one long day with stops for fuel ect ect..i know this is extremely positive thinking :) but technically it can be done..

Ok so any input would be great, stories you want to tell, or give any advice.

Thanks in advance,
Ant
 
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Adam and Dave flew Dave's warrior from Pennsylvania to Gastons a few years back. I think flying longish cross countries in planes of that capability is fun. VFR only limits you so build some flexibility into your schedule for weather. Try to land at places that have local attractions so that if you get stuck you have a little entertainment. and have fuN!
 
I'm still in that 400 mile range having been to Myrtle Beach once in the Archer II. I plan on attending the Sun-n-Fun fly in come April so that should bump up the mileage to almost 800. I am VFR only as of now but working on my IR.

Knock on wood, I have not been stranded by wx on any of our trips. I think we left one day early heading to Williamsburg, VA once to get in ahead of the wx. We had to take a room at the Hampton then move to a second room the next night that we had scheduled, it all worked out. Either way it was nice to be on the ground, driving around to our planned stops vs having to worry about getting in on the "scheduled" day.

I'll post the links to the Myrtle Beach trip....KILG-KPHF , on to Myrtle Beach KPHF-KCRE and finally heading home.... KCRE-KJGG-KILG
 
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Sounds like a blast - I'd love to be able to do that.

Just keep everyone here up-to-date on your route and your progress, you'll probably be met along the way by some of the folks here.
 
Long cross country is just 3 small cross countries put together. Plan plenty of time and you will have no problem. I flew a 172 down to FL from WI and flew a 150 back. I fly a Viking to OK and FL. We will usually have to stop for WX around TN. In FL you have to pick your times to get out just watch the weather. I have a tablet with wireless internet and use Chartcase to update my FP at each airport I stop (most have Wireless). Pick your spots and do not get in a hurry. I like flying where ever the wind blows. I would hate to do it without an EFB but I am sure it can be done. I like having all the charts I need on board.

Dan
 
SupraPilot said:
just wondering if anyone has ever done a long VFR flight 800-1000nm in an aircraft like a Piper Warrior or something close (C-172 C-182 arrow ect ect.)
Reason i ask is becasue a freind and I have our own Warrior..I am just a Private pilot not IR and he is student pilot and since we have the advantage of owning the plane we would like to take it on a long trip to say NJ-FL or NJ-Midwest just for fun and to challenge us...the farthest i have flown was about 400nm and all my flying is done VFR (for now)...

I just want to hear some feedback from people who have done this themselves, and some info on wether everything went as planned, weather delays ect ect.

I know i am going to do very extensive planning and i know we will need a few days in case the weather turns on us...this is not something i will be doing within the next week or even month, i am just trying to gather some good advice/info on taking long flights like these...in the future i plan to get IR and buy a faster airplane ect ect but for now this is what we have.:D

Ok so any input would be great, stories you want to tell, or give any advice.

Thanks in advance,
Ant
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Done lots of them, as long as you have the highlighted under control, no worries, have fun. IMO, this is what these kinds of planes are about. I will advise one thing though about your planning, don't plan too hard on a set course, find the best fuel stops 300nm either side of your planned course. Long VFR XCs rarely manage to fly their intended routing due to weather, but heck, that's half the fun, checking out places you never thought you'd get to.
 
Thanks guys ..keep it coming...I am already getting excited about this

Henning thats how i see it...I will most likely find myself somewhere that i never knew existed


ok so lets hear some stories, the routes that you took, or weather you encountered ect ect..
I wanna get the full idea of what to expect...It just happeend to be coincedence that the 300-400 miles X-C's ive taken were just clear and a million the whole way so i have never really had a major weather diversion during a longer flight, which is what i think about the most..the rest of my flights are short hops of 150 miles or less in good weather
 
Lessee...it's 2100 nm from my house to southeast AK at 100 knots in the Maule...does that count? ;)

And no, the distance doesn't change if you go faster or slower, just to point that out before you smartalecks jump in here...

Fly safe!

David
 
Mountains make weather, even the itty bitty ones in the East. The toughest part of your trip will be getting past them. I've done huge trips in my Cherokee; last one was from Ohio to Ft. Lauderdale. Just be ready to divert and possibly hop a jet back if the weather doesn't line up right. DO NOT tangle with weather or adverse conditions to get back. Jet tickets are cheap compared to pranged aircraft and pilots.
 
Ann Arbor MI to Bozeman MT and back in a Cessna 150, leaving the day after I got my PPL in 1970, three days each way. Lotta planning, lotta thought, lotta preparation, and lotta time slop in case the weather crumped. Maybe the best single trip learning experience in my 8000 hours. Since then, I've flown a 180 Cherokee from Ann Arbor to San Jose CA and to the Florida Keys, a Grumman Cheetah from Baltimore MD to Cody WY, and a Grumman Tiger from Maryland to Sacramento CA and to the Bahamas. In every case, planning and allowance for weather, even with my instrument capability.

OTOH, I would not figure on making 1000nm in a Warrior in a single day VFR. With the wrong wind, that's like 12 hours of flying time plus everything else, and that's too long a day.
 
MauleSkinner said:
Lessee...it's 2100 nm from my house to southeast AK at 100 knots in the Maule...does that count? ;)

And no, the distance doesn't change if you go faster or slower, just to point that out before you smartalecks jump in here...

Fly safe!

David
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Northwestern Montana to Fairbanks, Alaska in a Cessna 170, 2/3 of the trip was in the winter, I had to sit in Teslin BC for two nights and two days during a snowstorm, so what? The flight service woman was cute and the hotel served beer.

I guess I should also mention my plane lost a jug on final approach to an airport and after landing in a hayfield I had to leave it and ride Greyhound and Alaskan Airlines from small town Alberta back to Anchorage until repairs could be made, but that was just a speed bump in my plans and really made the experience that much more interesting ;)

I've done other multi-leg trips all over the US in Cessnas, most before I got my IR. A long cross country is simply a series of short cross countries in quick succession (weather allowing.) Your trip sounds like a blast. Life is short, experience it. Just have a credit card, a cell phone, and get weather briefings early and often.
 
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SupraPilot said:
just wondering if anyone has ever done a long VFR flight 800-1000nm in an aircraft like a Piper Warrior or something close (C-172 C-182 arrow ect ect.)
Reason i ask is becasue a freind and I have our own Warrior..I am just a Private pilot not IR and he is student pilot and since we have the advantage of owning the plane we would like to take it on a long trip to say NJ-FL or NJ-Midwest just for fun and to challenge us...the farthest i have flown was about 400nm and all my flying is done VFR (for now)...
The plane Is in very good shape with a brand new engine, everything works great, and its even IFR Rated..i mostly use sectional charts and VOR's for navigation, but we do have a garmin 296 handeld in the plane that I barely use.(yeah i learned the old school way) but im sure it will be a big help on long flights........it doesnt have autopilot either :redface:

I just want to hear some feedback from people who have done this themselves, and some info on wether everything went as planned, weather delays ect ect.

I know i am going to do very extensive planning and i know we will need a few days in case the weather turns on us...this is not something i will be doing within the next week or even month, i am just trying to gather some good advice/info on taking long flights like these...in the future i plan to get IR and buy a faster airplane ect ect but for now this is what we have.:D
If we did do this with weather permitting, we would try to get the flight done in one day, for example flying to florida i can imagine with decent weather all the way we would be able to make it in one long day with stops for fuel ect ect..i know this is extremely positive thinking :) but technically it can be done..

Ok so any input would be great, stories you want to tell, or give any advice.

Thanks in advance,
Ant
Click to expand...


Actually, I've done quite a few of them in a Cherokee 180. From KAEG-3V5 (now gone :(), from KAEG-3M0 twice, from KAEG-6Y9, KAEG-KHII, etc. Its fun, and I love doing them solo the most, because you get real time to think about things while flying.

Weather? Always a concern, thats for sure. I had to leave my plane in Crystal, MN for about 3 weeks once, flying commercially back to Albuquerque so I could keep my job. That was no fun. I also got stuck in Fort Collins for a few days, luckily no need to leave her then, because the last day the weather cleared for the 4 hour trek home.

My LONG flight plans usually follow the following steps:

Smoke breaks every 2-3 hours.
Bathroom breaks during the smoke breaks
Cheap fuel enroute
Weather planning
Friends along the way

I limit myself to 12 hours of flying per day, which will pretty much get you anywhere in the United States from Albuquerque, not counting weather. Richard and I pushed it close to 12 hours going to Minnesota, and I tell you what, I was about at the end of my stamina.

That's about it - no phenominal stories or anything. You'll love it if you're anything like I am.
 
Bahamas to Chicago VFR in a 182. Delayed a day in West Palm Beach because the visibility was too low to take off VFR in the AM, and we weren't night current. We were actually able to fly the trip as planned without any deviations.

The trip down there was VFR until central FL. We had an instrument-rated instructor aboard for that leg just in case, and he was only needed for the leg from Lakeland (where we stopped to get approach plates) to Key West. We could have probably done without him by overnighting at Lakeland or diverting to the East. Since we had him aboard, though, we didn't even try to look for ways in VFR.


As others have said, flexibility is key! Don't get caught by get-there-itis!
 
SupraPilot said:
ok so lets hear some stories, the routes that you took, or weather you encountered ect ect..
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My neice was getting married in NH from GTG I planned on up and around the lake down through MI across Canada to Buffalo NY then straight shot to Keene NH. Planned the trip on Chartcase the night before for 3 hrs getting the best fuel and such. In the morning the whole route was solid IFR. We decided to launch and go down below the lake and just get as far as we could as to not get boxed in. Around Greencastle IN things got bad quick I was just wondering what I should do when I spotted a nice big airport out to the right. I spiralled down and landed pulled up to the pumps and this little old lady came out to fill my plane. She was there before I could even get out. Turns out it was Dixie Chopper Air a private airport. They had suites above the FBO for rent and put us up. 30 min after landing it started to really come down and the owner pulled some of his planes out of the way and put my Six in the hanger for free. I have been luckier than most I'm sure in my travels because this kind of treatment is about close to what I usually find. In the morning the rest of the trip went without incident. As Ron said don't plan too much, fly with the wind so to speak you'll have more fun. If you get a chance Red Oak is another great airport as is La Grange KY.

Dan
 
I've only done one big one: New Jersey to New Orleans and back in a 172. It was about 22 hours total time, spread out over two days each trip.
I could have pushed to do each trip in one day, but I was glad I didn't. If you are in a hurry, you need something that'll do over 150 kts. Otherwise, plan to take your time.

A key factor, mentioned by others here. is to have lots of time... I had a week and two weekends. I was lucky enough to spend a full five days in NO just hanging out, but had anything gone wrong with the (club) plane or the weather I'd have had some wiggle room.
I checked the weather forecast every day that week, ready to cut my trip short if need be.

One thing I'll advise that I did not see others mention is to have at least two routes planned, once you decide where you're gonna go. This will keep you from hastily revising your plan enroute, while you're fretting about weather moving in. My Plan B ran roughly parallel to my desired course, at a distance of about 130 miles at its farthest. I could veer from some predetermined waypoint and take up a new course for which I already had a nav log filled out.

I spent a lot of time planning my trip and gathering all the relevant info- smart, and it helps take the sting off the anticipation. :D


I wound up sticking with my Plan A, but I did stop short of my expected overnight in Rome, GA (due to lowering wx)... wound up landing at Asheville for fuel then hopping up the road to Hendersonville, SC, which turned out to be precisely halfway on my route mileage-wise!:D

I could have veered east to Route B, but I was only about 1.5 hours from Rome anyway, and the detour to Route B might've taken longer than that.
Turned out to be one of those Richard Bach-like "accidents"...got to park under a good shade hangar and camp out for $10 total, met some nice people and got a wake-up and ride to Mc D's in the morning from the airport mgr. I liked it so much I made sure to stop there on the way home- even took one pilot's offer to let me sleep next to his Fly Baby in his open T-hangar. :D When I got to Rome for my one fuel stop the next day (notice I did not bother figuring a new fuel stop; this kept the confusion factor down), it didn't seem like as nice a place to camp.

So... don't fight Fate on trips like this- be flexible. It may lead to pleasant surprises.

Also: plan an alternate for each leg; preferably one behind you on your course, more than halfway along each leg in case clouds interfered or winds ended up eating into my fuel reserve. I plotted a line to each alternate from some waypoint I regarded as my "decision point" (preferably a VOR). If need be, I could veer from that point to the alternate, or double back to that point, then go to the alternate. In planning this, I tried to consider possible wind/fuel scenarios, to make sure it was do-able... it was just a little measure to lighten my workload in case my plan went all kerflooey. Not a guarantee, but better than saying "oh well I'll just figure out where to go when it happens".

Wound up not using them-LOL- but only because of the weather situation as I approached the hills SE of Asheville. seemed wiser to head for that nearby Class D; I was worried that the clear skies behind me might close up as I doubled back to my alternate at Rutherford.
Turned out Hendersonville was right under me at the time, but I wanted the security of radar and a big, well-lit runway, just in case.
I was using FF, and ATC kindly vectored me to Asheville once I explained my dilemma.

Which leads to an important lesson learned by this pilot who hadn't used FF enough: if you are confronted with clouds full of rocks across your path and decide to circle and climb to see how the tops look, be sure to advise ATC of your course and altitude change if you are on FF, especially near a Class D handling several IFR flights at the time. :redface:
They were somewhat alarmed, and too busy to ask me what I was up to initially.

In short: don't be shy!! Use the radio!!



What else did I learn that might be of use... hmmm...
Oh yes- I remember:

-Do not trust any VOR beyond 40 miles, and be sure to use good ol' pilotage even when following a radial. Someone I know-cough- almost blundered into a Class D military airspace because he forgot those two items...

-If you're good at getting lost, make sure you're also good at getting found again... quickly. :D

- Do not assume you will be able to raise Flight Watch when you are below 2,500.

- Bring something to pee in, which you will need desperately at the worst possible time, like when I was on my way back with a 40-knot tailwind skirting the Philadelphia Class B with ATC calling stuff out left and right...I use those gel-bag thingies, and they are lifesavers. Sooo happy I got some for that trip. :D

Anyway, enjoy your trip, and in the end, remember it's just a bunch of shorter XCs strung together... other than fatigue and daylight, the total hours each day doesn't matter much.:D
 
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Hagerstown MD to Phoenix AZ in a VFR-only Symphony. Took four days with good weather.

Having the IR helps with some weather, but it's quite possible to go anywhere VFR if you've got the patience.
 
During Christmas of 2005, I made three stops over three days during eleven hours of flight with four at night. During Christmas 2006, I made four stops over five days during fourteen hours of flight with nine of that at night. That was some pretty nice time even in a small plane. For me, much more so at night.

I've many other cross-country flights but not as long as those. Eventually, I hope to make a trip over a couple weeks that will take me out west with stops at a couple dozen states; all of it in a single-engine.
 
SkyHog said:
You'll love it if you're anything like I am.
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God help us all if anyone is like you. :eek::eek::eek::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

And about 3 hours of that 12 hours KAEG to 6Y9 was ground stopped for smoke breaks.
We successfully punched through a low pressure area and had some other fun.
It was a great flight.
 
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Always allow "weather days" for x/c flights. Depending on season or weather patterns, my experience is about 1 throw out day for every 1,200 nm.

I flew a C-172 in June from KSBP to KGEG and made it without any delays.

I flew a Warrior II in September from KSBP to Missoula via Spokane and made it without delays except for a faulty alternator over GEG.

I flew a Navion in January from KSBP to Ada, OK and that flight took 3 days due to weather.

I flew a PA-28 from KPOC (Los Angeles basin) heading for Las Vegas and while the flight was CAVU most of the way, there were some lines I just couldn't punch through. Mixed ice from the sfc to FL240 (in one mtn pass) or an unforecast severe line of Tstrms (at a different location many miles into the flight) made it impossible. I returned to KPOC after several hours of flight.

I flew a PA-28 in August from KPOC (Los Angeles basin) to Taos and had to divert to Albuquerque from within 50 nm to Taos. Due to afternoon Tstrms.

I then flew from Taos to Salt Lake on my way to Seattle but spent the night in Salt Lake due to weather. The next day I made it to Seattle. There were moments I might have waited out on the ground but I still felt within my capabilities.

And I flew in Nick's Cherokee from Albuquerque to KMIC in the Twin Cities area. 100 nm into the trip we had to decide what to do about the fast moving cold front. Several diversions later we made it to KTCC Tucumcari. After that it was mostly uneventful.

The point is that no matter how well you plan, you must stay open to alternates as they are forced upon you.

My wife's uncle Frank flew his non-electric Taylorcraft twice across the country. His logs show days spent on the ground, sometimes even a couple weeks going nowhere. It's not so much getting there as the going.
 
tonycondon said:
Adam and Dave flew Dave's warrior from Pennsylvania to Gastons a few years back. I think flying longish cross countries in planes of that capability is fun. VFR only limits you so build some flexibility into your schedule for weather. Try to land at places that have local attractions so that if you get stuck you have a little entertainment. and have fuN!
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Tony has it right. Dave and I flew from Wings Field KLOM just outside Philly to Gastons 3MO in north central Arkansas. I think it was like 818 miles or something like that. We flew Daves PA 28-161. A nice Warrior. We did it in one day with two stops. We only planned one in North Central Kentucky but we were getting squeeaed in by some clouds and Dave's bladder was getting small so we landed in Clarksburg WV. Trip was 9:15. Saw some amazing sites and it was an awesome trip. The trip out was VFR the entire way but Had to fly IR on the way home due to lots of goo. This will be a great trip enjoy it. One word of caution. Dave has his PPL and I have my IR so we both could be PIC. Since your buddy is still a student you won't get a rest so keep that in consideration. It was a great flight but we were really exhausted at the end of the day. GO FOR IT and post lots of photos of your trip.
 
I used to ferry a/c's for a Cessna dealer and made lots of long trips. Most of them were on ferry permits which meant day VMC only. I hit every bit of the US except for Hawaii. My longest days was when he would send me to bring back a/c's from another dealer in Tamiami, FL. During the summer I could make it back to Tulsa in daylight. 13 1/2 hours. I would try and find little towns outide of the bigger cities to land at. That way, if I had to put down for mx and needed the bigger airports I could, but I still got the small town atomosphere.

Plan and expect things to change. Just roll with them. Most of all have fun. Some of my best aviation trips are of the ones down low watching the different areas.
 
I've made several halfway across the country in a 177B, but the longest to date was a trip from Long Island to Caldwell, ID in a Grumman Tiger, following I-80 for the most part. Didn't see a cloud until Cheyenne, WY. 22 hrs total air time split over 2-1/2 days using VORs and a handheld GPS.
 
You have lots of great advice. Just remember a long cross country is a series of short flights put together. Just be patient and don't exceed your comfort zone on weather conditions.
 
We flew a C-172 VFR from NY to CA and back shortly after Hubby earned his PPL. Having 2 pilots was a great plus. We have done it several times more and eventually Hubby earned his IFR rating. I still fly from NY to OK from time to time alone & VFR. Great fun. Here is the story about that first LONG cross country. http://auntpeggy.home.att.net/CATrek/CATrek1.html
 
Following up on AuntPeggy's post I will comment that even though the other pilot is only a student pilot so you'll always be PIC, (s)he will act as that missing autopilot so that you don't have to do all the hand-flying yourself.
 
1400 nm in a Pitts in two days. I'm glad I did it, but I'd never do something like that again. 3 legs in each direction, but I did not stop longer than to pump 18 gal of gas each time. I was never so happy to be out of an airplane in my life.
 
gprellwitz said:
Following up on AuntPeggy's post I will comment that even though the other pilot is only a student pilot so you'll always be PIC, (s)he will act as that missing autopilot so that you don't have to do all the hand-flying yourself.
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Correct. I didn't log any of the flight time. Hubby logged the whole flight as PIC.
 
I would think that even having a student pilot who can't log PIC would be tremendously helpful, not to mention a great experience for them. Having the student either doing the maps and navigation work or just flying the plane frees you up to do the other responsibilities.

I know that, as a student (30.6 hours!), I love getting right seat time. Even though I can't log it, the practice flying is extremely valuable, as well as seeing how each pilot does things, getting tips and advice, and just the general overall experience. Even when I'm just sitting there watching and not doing anything, I try to pay very close attention to what's going on. The experience I remember most so far was flying right seat in my instructor's Navajo. It was an IFR flight with known ice in the clouds and visibility was at about minimums, even for IFR flight. I was in the right seat, but didn't touch the controls once. Just watching him do all the flying and everything involved was a good learning experience, not to mention gave me a goal for where I want to be as a pilot one day. It'll take a while, but it is a goal. One doesn't get 5000 hours in so many different kinds of conditions overnight.

I can't comment on the long VFR trip in the small plane, having never done it, but I would like to one day so I very much enjoy the reading material. :)
 
Not in a Warrior, but in a VFR-only helicopter (R44). I needed the hours so I did all the flying, the Robinson dealer navigated and did the radio work.

1st leg - Torrance, CA - Phoenix, AZ (short day because of late start)
2nd leg - Phoenix, AZ - Midland, TX (longish day, and we were required by the factory to follow I-10 and 20 for the first two legs).
3rd leg - Midland, TX - Tahlequah, OK (shortish day - started creeping up on a strong front)
4th leg - Tahlequah, OK - Parkersburg, WV (longish leg)
5th leg - Parkersburg, WV - Philadelphia, PA area (very short day)

The whole thing would have been one day less with the front we kept banging int. We did fuel stops about every 250 nm. Cruise was at 120 KIAS except over NM at one point when the high DA caused me to start to get into a retreating blade stall and I had to slow down to 110.

Two notable events. We needed to cross a MOA (missouri, I think) and couldn't reach center because we were too low (I never got above 1000 AGL!). My copilot (ATP rated in fixed- and rotary-wing) got creative and called a United heavy we could hear talking to center. The heavy relayed the question to center and then came back to tell us that the MOA was cold.

After a fuel stop at Bedford County, PA I had to cross to cross the alleghenys. There was a heavy cloud deck a few hundred feet above the mountain tops, so I did what I would never do in an airplane -- I threaded the needle, clearing the ridges by a couple of hundred feet -- I even had to dodge around a wind generator farm at one point. Fun stuff in a helicopter, though!
 
I flew from KJWN to KLOM for the Wings BBQ last year in a Cherokee. That was 1200 miles in one weekend. It was a lot of fun both in the air and on the ground.
 
Last March, my wife and I flew from central Iowa to Las Vegas, NV (a little over 1000nm one way) in a RV-7A. I filed IFR to get into LAS airspace easily, but we were in solid VMC the entire way. We did the trip out in one day. Unfortunately, we hit the southern rockies at about 2pm and got rocked around pretty hard (lesson learned). On the way back home, we had learned our lesson and planned on splitting the trip up over two days of flying. We hit weather just west of Santa Fe and had to divert to ABQ for the night. Next day, we had to file IFR to get out of the area, but if we were VFR-only, we could have waited 12 hours and gotten out sans-clouds. You can read the full write-up at http://www.lookatthejoneses.com

As mentioned earlier, the key to VFR-only trips is to plan on being stuck somewhere along the way for several hours at a minimum. I once got stuck sleeping on the FBO recliners overnight in St. Louis waiting for a storm front to push through between us and home. Other than that, I think I've been pretty lucky on my multiple VFR-only trips to Alabama and back.

Like Tony said, I like the idea of long trips in small bug-smashers. When you have a fellow pilot along and don't have to worry about 'passenger' comfort, you can stretch your endurance a bit further.

Good luck and make sure you post a full trip report!! :)
 
Pegasus said:
Just be patient and don't exceed your comfort zone on weather conditions.
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I see this advice given quite often and always wonder, if you don't exceed your comfort zone, how does it ever expand?
 
You've done a 400 nm flight, right?

Just do that 2 or 3 more times.
 
Henning said:
I see this advice given quite often and always wonder, if you don't exceed your comfort zone, how does it ever expand?
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It's conditional. You expand it under the guidance of mentors, instructors and the like.

Or you just go out there and push all on your own.

Which will have the better odds?
 
Longest for me in a 172 [about the same as a Warrior] was pretty close to 1000 nm. I tried to do it in one day. It was light to mod. turbulence most of the way, hot temp's. I hit some headwinds about a third of the way into it, and it slowed me so much I came up to some snow showers just after dark, which I'd flight-planned to miss, with about 200 nm to go. I had to do a 180, go back to the last airport, where I'd stopped for fuel anyway, and sleep in the cockpit that night, the FBOs and etc. closed and no taxis, etc. anywhere. [Dalhart, Texas, where the airport is a moonscape at night].

Consider that a long trip in car, like 10 or more hours in one go, leaves one pretty thoroughly wiped out, body aching, mentally sluggish, sick of the idea of BEING in the car. It is no better in a plane, except you go farther in the same time, and it is often worse, particularly if the bumps are present. That droning engine sound, airframe vibrations, constant turbulence, are exhausting. That long a trip, too, you'll likely end up at the final landing spot in the dark. One more factor that calls for you to be on the ball. These days I don't do a long trip like that, I break it up a bit more. Unless I have another pilot along to share piloting, in which case we'll think about it....
 
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Here are a couple of VFR trips in our Citabria, which has a lot less room than a Warrior. The second trip is one I took last May...didn't always get to where I was going.
 

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I delivered several Warriors from Vero Beach to Seattle, using a southern route (Mobile, Midland, Phoenix kind of thing) or northern route (up through the heart of the midwest and then through Wyoming and Montana) depending on the season. As others have said, a long trip is just a series of short trips. Be ready to stay overnight if necessary (I was stuck in Lake City, FL for three days due to fog...no night or IFR for insurance reasons) and don't push your abilities.

Bob Gardner
 
Henning said:
I see this advice given quite often and always wonder, if you don't exceed your comfort zone, how does it ever expand?
Click to expand...

If you don't at least go to the edge of your comfort zone, you'll find your comfort zone will shrink with time, at least that's what I've noticed for most skill sets. I suppose part of it (and this may be where the experience factor comes in) is knowing when and how you can push your comfort zone safely.

I know that when it comes to driving, I seem to have figured out how to do it pretty well since I've expanded what I can do, know what I can and can't do, and haven't banged up cars doing it. So I seem to have gotten something right there.
 
Like it was said earlier, long cross countries are just a series of short cross countries laid end to end. All mine were done VFR.in a Tripacer, Michigan to Alaska and back, MI to Oregon via most of the west, MI to the Northeast. I plan everything out to extremes and then just fly were the weather dictates. Having extra days planned in is a must, but also allows time for some neat excursions if the weather is good. My last trip was MI to Kansas. It took me 6 days to get there, flying up to Lake Superior across MN, ND and WY then back through SD NE MO and Kansas. I even managed to get an award for flying the "longest" distance to get to the Short Wing convention. The trip home took me down to West Texas and the Rio Grande. The up and across a waterlogged OK and I ended up on the east side of the Appalachians. There were several detours for weather. I missed some of the places I had planned on but saw some other neat places and ended up home on schedule! The key is be flexible, and have fun.

Barb
 
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