Looong XC Concerns

A long cross country does have more challenges than a series of short cross countries combined - in that you need to look forward enough to see that it's likely do-able from start to finish.

I fly from Phx to St. Louis at least once a year, and this year I'm likely to do it twice or three times. I'm doing Phx to Memphis in late April.

Plan as much as you can and DO IT.

Not many PPLs fly 1,000 mile trips ever in their lifetime. Join the ranks of those that have/do, and I doubt you'll regret it.
 
I join the chorus of by all means do it. Airplanes are built for adventure, and nothing is more adventurous than seeing new places. I just don't think a long cross country is the same as a bunch of burger runs strung together.
 
EdFred said:
Let's see, we have multiple CFI's saying the opposite of your stance. You have hardly any long cross country experience (Columbus to OSH is not a long XC) How about you leave this to people with the actual experience and ratings to offer actual helpful advice and know what they are talking about.
Click to expand...
Yeah, because you think CFIs know everything. News flash, you just don't.
 
steingar said:
Yeah, because you think CFIs know everything. News flash, you just don't.
Click to expand...

When it comes to gene splicing I will defer you to. But I can definitively say I know more about aviation, cross countries, flight planning, short field operations, weather systems, keeping the prop out of the pavement, etc...
 
Erik said:
Hi! I'm pretty new here.

I'm a 186 hours TT PPL+IFR, just started training for my commercial but need quite some hours to go. I'm considering taking a long cross country from here in Chicago to southern Florida in my flight club 182 where my parents have a place and returning home. I think I'd get about 20 or so hours when it's said and done and I feel like it would be an awesome learning experience in flight planning, weather interpretation and avoidance, ATC comms, dealing with FBOs, etc. Longest XC I've taken to date was about 350nm with my girlfriend. I'd love to take this on with her but feel like I should be taking a more experienced pilot than I along with me, not because I doubt my experience and skills, but because it feels a little like the unknown to fly that far.

Looking for any and all experience stories from your first [actual] long cross country, any lessons learned, how far did you go, who did you take, did your weather cooperate, did your planned route get a wrench thrown in it.

edit: airport recommendations in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida?
Click to expand...
Just treat it as many 50nm legs.. that's really all it is. There are so many airports in (most) of the US, especially along your route. With not much terrain and good radar and weather coverage this should be a do-able route

two big recs
(1) give yourself more time than you think you need
(2) I would stick to 500nm or less legs in one go.. and always pick a "just in case I need to stop point" about every 100 miles. Just gives piece of mind.. 500nm in a 182 is a fairly solid chunk of flying and gives you enough time in the morning and afternoon for buffer. If weather isn't going the way you want it, or you require a bathroom break, etc., you are never more than 50nm from one of your "outs" .. or about 25 minutes its

For instance, San Diego to Tahoe is a common flight I take.. it's 405nm for the route I use.. but psychologically it's a series of small routes.. up to LA.. then Bakersfield, then Yosemite, and boom you pop over the Sierras at SPOOK and you're there. Napa is a little longer, but again just break it apart like above

Good luck.. sounds like a fun adventure!!
 
..okay so I posted my response before I read the thread.. and.. wow

GRG55 said:
A long cross country is just a bunch of short cross countries strung together.
Click to expand...
That's exactly how I think about it. With the caveat that:
Rgbeard said:
in that you need to look forward enough to see that it's likely do-able from start to finish
Click to expand...
..weather and overall human endurance is the biggest factor here, so you want to be reasonably confident that the trip is doable overall. But by breaking it up into small chunks that gives you lots of outs for bathroom, fuel, weather, fatigue, etc.

steingar said:
Please don't listen to this, as it is patent nonsense.
Click to expand...
Yikes! It's actually basically spot on. How do you think about? Based on your items below it sounds like this is exactly the kind of benefit that breaking it psychologically into smaller chunks allows for

steingar said:
What is your range vs the aircraft's range?
Click to expand...
steingar said:
are you going to be more in need of bio breaks than gas breaks?
Click to expand...
steingar said:
Are you ready to have some flexibility coming and going?
Click to expand...
steingar said:
Be ready to bail and stay on the ground any day
Click to expand...
^everything above is solved by planning this as a series of 50-100 nm legs. At any point along those legs you can "bail" if you need to. You basically said "no, don't do it like that, you should do it like the very thing I just told you how not to do it"
 
Good thread. Longest cross I ever did in my Cherokee was Tucson to Port Aransas Texas. An old air traffic buddy and best man at my wedding, is the airport manager at KRKP, Mike Geer. What should have been a 6.5 hour trip turned into 12+ with mechanical and weather issues. I made the trip with my friend and CFII buddy and am glad I did. Now that I have a few hours (~350) I'm planning another one to Nashville to see one of my daughters. I have no idea how many times I've mapped it out on Sky Vector. One of these days I'll actually fly it but I'm not sure I want to go alone. I'd like to take the other twin along but fear she'd get bored before we got to El Paso.
 
EdFred said:
When it comes to gene splicing I will defer you to. But I can definitively say I know more about aviation, cross countries, flight planning, short field operations, weather systems, keeping the prop out of the pavement, etc...[/QUOTE
Thought deleted
Click to expand...
 
Frankly, I don't see any reason why you should be nervous about this. At 186 hours you should be more than ready for such a trip.
Heck, my wife and I flew from Florida to NYC, along the Hudson River and back to Florida, two days(!) after our check rides with maybe ~45 hours total time in our logbooks.
We are not even native English speakers and still lived in Germany back then. In most of the following years we came back to the US for vacation and rented 172s all over the country for similar trips.

Anyways, this is how we approached things back then and still do:
  • Decide on where we want to go (I know, Captain Obvious but sometimes we decide on our final destination based on factors like weather)
  • Go to iFlightPlanner or whatever online or tablet planning tool we have available and lay out what would be the ideal route
  • Considering our range, we look for cheap fuel along this ideal route
  • Unless the weather is forecast to be super stable along the entire route, we look up a number of airports along the way, with ground transportation known to be available or a hotel within walking distance. It really sucks to get stuck at some airport in the middle of nowhere, with the next hotel 10 miles away and no mode of transportation available. I am speaking out of experience, this happened to us the very first night of our flight to New York, we ended up sleeping in the Cessna. Great... ;)
  • Having places to spend the night, planned out in advance, also takes a big load of your shoulders and makes it much easier to decide to discontinue the flight and to spend the night in a hotel.
  • Get an ADS-B receiver and some navigation app, this makes things much easier and allows you to get weather updates along the way.
  • For us, the most difficult part (seriously!), if we have to stay somewhere for the night or need a few alternates due to weather concerns, is to find airports that are not too far off of our route and ideally have hotels within walking distance.
  • Particularly on the way back home, we go even if there is a risk (or we already know) that the weather will not allow us to make it all the way. This means that we will have to stay somewhere after only a few hours, it however also means that we will be a few hours closer to home and that we might have already passed some bad weather that might occur the following day.
  • The only two big items for us are weather and where to stay if we have to. That's it. This approach pretty much turns the longest cross country flight into a series of shorter flights.

Think of it this way: Flying from Chicago to Miami means that you will only have to do 3 of the 350 nm cross country flights, that you already did.
Also, the terrain on this route is pretty flat and talking to ATC is absolutely nothing to be worried about.

Edit: Don't be afraid of talking to Approach, Center or to land on a Class Charlie airport. Their ATC is often much less busy than the controllers of some Class Delta airports. The by far busiest frequency I ever experienced was the tower of the Deer Valley airport KDVT in Phoenix, AZ, which is only Class Delta.
 
Last edited:
Trips like the one you propose are great ways to learn a great deal. In may ways, long XCs like this are easier because you can go way out of your way without it making too big of a difference in mileage.

Example: KDPA to KEYW is 1088 nm direct. If you needed to go due south to Mobile, then over to Tallahassee, then down to avoid a weather system, that's 1245 nm. So, bit more than an extra hour roughly, not a big deal when you're talking about a trip of this length.

I used to run Houston to the Northeast regularly in several different aircraft types, the last one being the MU-2. In that plane it was a non-stop flight almost all the time. Sometimes I would go from Houston up to Cleveland to stay north of weather, sometimes I'd go from Houston over to DC and then up the east coast to stay east of weather. You get the idea.

It sounds like you have a plenty capable airplane (much better panel than anything I ever flew), and at 186 hours you should have nothing to worry about with this. As noted, long XCs are just a bunch of short XCs, just do your due diligence. One piece of advice I'd give is do "practice runs" to get the mental game. For example, first go would be looking at the direct route for fuel stop. Then take a look at the weather on a given day, and say "Ok, if this was the weather today, how would I reroute to stay around it?" The answer might be "None" but having that mental game ready will mean when you are ready to do the trip, it will be more natural and go quicker if it's less than perfect.
 
I have nothing to add that others haven't, but I will anyway. I have made 3 trips from central Ohio to FL all VFR in a 172 with steam gauges, and old 430 and no auto pilot. None have been the same twice. Weather was never perfect the whole way and for some reason I seemed to have a headwind down and back. I loved every minute.


advice:
plan out 2-3 routes based on predicted weather. you will likely end up with a combination of them. I liked 3hr legs. but doing the research (fuel, food, hotels) will help you know your options prior to taking off.

call ahead to make sure the self service fuel pump is working and is really 24/7, especially if this one stop is not a quick hop away from other fuel options

plan on making it to your destination but be completely ok with doing the safe thing and stopping for and overnight rest or to avoid weather. I was stopped for weather in central FL, X60. the closest hotel was 30 minute drive away. lucky I arrived 10 min before the FBO closed and they gave me the crew car overnight. if not I would have been sleeping in the plane.

on the way there it feels like an adventure, on the way home get there itis can hit hard. looking back there were some times coming home from long trips that I could have made better choices. Now that I have my IFR, I do have more options.

a lot of FL is super dark at night. since I made the referenced trips as a VFR pilot, I was surprised how dark FL can get. I stopped once because I was getting there too late and it was dark dark. couldn't see the horizon. Now I would be excited for the IFR flight, but then it had me sweating and anxious to find an airport.
 
I can’t really add anything new, just re-emphasize:

Weather - don’t let it sneak up on you, or rather you may be sneaking up on IT.

With longer XC you’ll be traversing difference weather systems or different parts of the same weather system. Things change quickly when you’re barreling ahead.

Watch above, below, ahead, behind (yes, behind), and to either side for changes and what they mean relative to your prior expectation (ATIS/AWOS in all directions).

Be prepared to divert. I plan 2 alternates.

The forecast is exactly that - an educated guess. Actual will be what you see around you. Watch for the forecast to be erroneous in time and severity.

Fatigue - stretch your wings, but stop to stretch your legs. An hour in the ground won’t kill your schedule. In fact, some of the cooler parts of trips are “trying out” different FBOs, field museums, restaurants, crew cars, and facility personnel. Some I felt cheated that I left too early.

Take food and drink.

Use O2. I’m in my 50s, but even before, I realized from elk and mule deer hunting and camping that my body doesn’t like 5kft MSL or higher fir very long. 6-7k for more than an hour and I’ll use supplemental oxygen. I’m more alert and feel great back on the ground.

I found I get tired of flying after about 6 hrs if I do just one short stop.

Enjoy! Send pics !
 
Lots of good advice here. Long x-countries are generally fun. Stay focused on the process and always keep an eye on the weather. Don't hesitate to call flight watch (oh right, they are gone) er, well I mean flight service for an update if you don't understand what you see out the window. Be flexible, keep another eye on fuel and time since last re-fuel. Air in the tanks doesn't burn very well.

Be ready to divert at any time. I've decided to go elsewhere a couple times when things didn't look good about 15 miles from my destination. Sometimes ya just get some gas to help deal with headwinds, sometimes ya wait for the weather to clear, other times ya find a meal, a cold drink and a room. Time to spare? go by air.
 
Tantalum said:
two big recs
(1) give yourself more time than you think you need
(2) I would stick to 500nm or less legs in one go.. and always pick a "just in case I need to stop point" about every 100 miles. Just gives piece of mind.. 500nm in a 182 is a fairly solid chunk of flying and gives you enough time in the morning and afternoon for buffer. If weather isn't going the way you want it, or you require a bathroom break, etc., you are never more than 50nm from one of your "outs" .. or about 25 minutes its...
Click to expand...
Tantalum said:
...

With the caveat that:

..weather and overall human endurance is the biggest factor here, so you want to be reasonably confident that the trip is doable overall. But by breaking it up into small chunks that gives you lots of outs for bathroom, fuel, weather, fatigue, etc.
Click to expand...

Human endurance (often the bladder) is why I tend to think more in hours than miles. Whether it's a bathroom break or stretching your legs it's good to stop. We tend to do 3-4 hour legs, but will push on a little past 4 if it gets us to our destination in one hop. With two hops I like to make the first one longer, as the second seems to feel longer, so I like to make it shorter. ;)

Little things help. If starting in the morning, then a 3-4 leg will get you to lunch time. Find somewhere with lunch either on the field or nearby. Sometimes very nearby is nice as you can get in a short walk there and back. On the field is faster. If there's not a good option, we've brought lunch with us. The line crew refueled the plane while we went inside and ate. Then we continued on.

Whether you are flying VFR or IFR, it's always ok to change your destination. If you need a bathroom break, change it up and stop sooner. If the weather turns bad, get the plane on the ground. One my friends talked about a question he got on his PPL checkride about a trip with a rain coming at him. He said he'd cancel. The DPE said, "no, hop in your plane and then stop before getting to the rain, grab a bite to eat or rest in the FBO. Once the weather passes get back in the plane and continue on." I haven't done that one yet, at least not a short stop, but I have deviated around weather, or even stopped for the night. We did do a night stop was for a line of thunderstorms and heavy to extreme rain across Florida; even business jets were stopped at Jacksonville with us. :cool: Got up the next morning and finished the flight in beautiful weather. Even with the stop for the night in Jacksonville we were on the beach in Fort Lauderdale in the morning. :D
 
I flew from FL to CA with a non pilot buddy as a wet behind the ears PPL then I bought my plane and it was the greatest thing I ever did.

Just be flexible...we would flight plan every leg but rarely would we land at out intended destination constantly adjusting for weather and real time conditions.

The best part was landing at random podunk airports, getting the crew car and heading to the local best eats joints recommended by the old war vest manning the airports!

...be flexible and do not try and meet your expectations if things need to change. I would have been delayed easily by two days with weather if I had stuck to my guns on route vs just going with the flow and adapting at every stop. If you are not one that can adapt on the fly, go do some more overnights first but otherwise go for it!
 
Timbeck2 said:
...Now that I have a few hours (~350) I'm planning another one to Nashville to see one of my daughters. I have no idea how many times I've mapped it out on Sky Vector. One of these days I'll actually fly it but I'm not sure I want to go alone. I'd like to take the other twin along but fear she'd get bored before we got to El Paso.
Click to expand...

Go for it! Entirely doable. My very first long cross country was in my well worn but new-to-me 1961 Cherokee 160 (first airplane I owned). 2400 nm round trip to Oshkosh because I just had to experience that day-before-show-opening, insane VFR approach from Ripon. I was flying with a pilot friend in the right seat (something I highly recommend if you're going to OSH for the show).

Yours is probably faster than mine (certainly a lot better looking!). I had 6x6 tires all around and no wheel pants. Flying using VFR charts, no GPS on board (nothing fills a cockpit faster than a sectional). We got lost for about 20 or 30 minutes over Minnesota (all those damn lakes look similar after a while ). And the alternator quit on the climb out after refueling at Williston, ND on the way home. Could not have been more fun, and a great learning experience. Hope your trip is "uneventful".
 
When I was a newly-minted IR pilot, I wanted to stretch my XC wings so badly, I *rented* a plane for 10 days so I could fly a 1000 miles from Boston to Wisconsin and back. Learned a huge amount! Had tons of fun! Got back in only 8 days. :) Later (at about 500 hours), I flew a 150 from Alaska to Southern California and back, about 10,000 miles total, over two months. More learning! More fun! Last year, I flew a 172 from Alaska to... well, all over the Lower 48, about 15,000 miles total, over a year. Probably the most fun I've had in my entire life! (blog: http://beetlejuiceadventure.wordpress.com).

I concur entirely with the "series of XC's strung together" attitude about the endeavor -- if you can plan and execute one 200-mile flight (with all its weather/terrain/FBO considerations, etc), you can plan the next one the next day, and the next one...

I've done all my very-long-trips solo. This is confidence-building. However, it does mean that you have to allow yourself more time each morning and evening to do all those "things that need doing", like taking care of housing and food. There were times when I wished I'd had some companionship, if for no other reason than to help set up the tent, or grab us some sandwiches, or any of the myriad simple things that need to get done when "on the road".

All you need for a trip like this are three things: money, time, and luck. If you have an abundance of two of them, then you'll need less of the third.
 
Lots of good comments about going ahead and doing it. I'll add my 2 cents about solo vs girlfriend.

Some potentially valid points brought up about testing the relationship on a long cross country like that, but unless you just really know she is going to love the experience, you might want to save that for a later time. For a couple of reasons.

First, a long cross country like what you have suggested is a heck of a lot more fun for the pilot than the non-flying passenger. Remember that. I have flown several coast to coast trips over the years. I love every opportunity to make a trip out to CA or AZ. My wife and kids who are seasoned GA travelers are not as crazy about it. I have to be VERY selective about when I take the family on a long trip like that because they just don't enjoy it like I do. I don't want to completely sour the aviation experience for them. They would much rather get there quicker in an airliner. While my wife enjoys flying with me, if I had my license back when we were dating and had dragged her along on a 20 hour cross country in a piston single, I'm not sure our relationship would have survived. Only you can really make that call WRT your girlfriend, but choose wisely.

Second, when you are a low time pilot building that kind of cross country experience, things are naturally going to be more stressful. Your significant other is going to see a stressed side of you which puts additional pressure on you. When I think back to when I was a 185 hour private pilot, I would not have wanted to have a passenger waiting on me while I checked the weather and double checked the weather and looked up alternate routes and started stressing about storm cells developing ahead of me or potentially blocking my path home....etc. Takes some of the fun out of the whole thing.

I think the trip is absolutely doable solo. No need for another pilot to go with you, but I do think you will enjoy the experience more if you leave the girlfriend behind on this one.

Anyway, just my perspective. Take it for what it's worth and enjoy the trip!
 
Plan the route, plan on possible deviations, but most importantly. Do not feel locked into continuing, get there itis. You can always land, you can always turn back, you can always stops and spend the night somewhere if you get tired. If you come across wx in your path. You can land!

No pilot thinks less of another pilot for being cautious.
 
Just do it. What are you scared of?

it isn’t like the old days where you had paper charts. You can change your plan on the fly with foreflight I. Route and know every bit of information about the airport while still in the air, down to whether they have a courtesy car and what the gas prices are.

10 hours after my Checkride, I went on a four day 1,500 mile trip. Just do it
 
eman1200 said:
............and if no one's said it yet, a looong xc is absolutely nothing more than a buuunch of shorter xc's strung together. that's all it is. nothing more than that at all. that's exactly what it is.
Click to expand...

Don’t tell @steingar.

I say...

upload_2021-3-25_19-52-0.gif
 
Sounds like you have everything you need, stable platform, instrument rating...I say go for it. I typically fly 15 to 20 500nm one way trips each year, and have sprinkled in a 1000nm flight from Minneapolis to New Orleans and 1300 nm from Minneapolis to Miami along the way all in a 182 and with an instrument rating. I fly the 500nm trips non stop in about 4 hours. The 1000nm flight was done in 2 legs over the course of a couple days, and the 1300nm was 4 legs all in 1 day. I do have an autopilot (HUUUGEEE for long x-country) and weather on the Garmin as well as my ipad. Flying on a filed IFR plan or VFR flight following keeps you awake, on frequency, and gives you something to do along the way. I think I've had to lay up only a handful of times due to weather, but diversions are easy if you have the modern technology in the cockpit (IPAD). If you fly at 6,000ft altitudes and are east of the Mississipi there really aren't too many places where you are not within glide distance of an airport or worst case a flat off field landing spot, but of course that is highly unlikely event. Oh, and I started doing these at about the same hours of where you are now. So don't overthink it, you got this.
 
Huckster79 said:
I’d say do it. Use the same care and caution as short flights and it’s the same thing. A 1200 mile trip is the same as a 300 mile trip just do it 4 times.
Click to expand...

Signs, signs, everywhere the signs ... :yeahthat:
 
I had about 90 hrs TT when I took a C150 (climb prop, 85 knots I think) from ABQ to Denver Centennial then to JAX Fl and back to ABQ. By myself, a lot of stops, overnights, weather issues, etc. A really great experience for a new pilot. Hand-held GPS and paper charts. It was awesome.
 
Huckster79 said:
give up flying? Are you nuts! Lol.
Click to expand...

Just trying to keep flyers from making the inevitable post in the future "please help me get my GF to fly with me" or "what can be done to get the wife to fly with me".

If you got them hooked during dating like I did you have vaccinated yourself against the potential virus on your flying hobby
 
simie1 said:
I had about 90 hrs TT when I took a C150 (climb prop, 85 knots I think) from ABQ to Denver Centennial then to JAX Fl and back to ABQ. By myself, a lot of stops, overnights, weather issues, etc. A really great experience for a new pilot. Hand-held GPS and paper charts. It was awesome.
Click to expand...

I think my longest flight was from SoCal to Phoenix (2-ish hours) before I flew from SoCal to Wisconsin (about 11 hours) for AirVenture in '17. Getting weathered in is part of the experience for a VFR pilot. I met some really nice folks in a few small town airports that I wouldn't have otherwise seen. Did a decent amount of VFR in top, and also between cloud layers (cool!), knowing that it was VFR at the end of that particular leg. Set a few records for emergency descents to pee.

I learned a TON.
 
Excluding the flight from Washington to Colorado with an instructor when I bought my plane, my first long cross country was KEGE to KCLL.
I was 180 hours total time, flew it solo. Stopped twice for fuel, going past Waco TX, visibility was decreasing and I had to drop down to get under it. At College Station it was 1500ft ceiling. 5 hours 40 minutes. The return flight was longer with headwinds, left with low ceilings and stopped halfway for the night. I had to leave the plane at KLXV for 4 days until the weather over the continental divide cooperated, that's winter in the mountains.
I'm now about 600 hours. I have done Colorado to KSTP twice, once in my Wagon, once in a Husky. Colorado to northern Minnesota once. Colorado to Idaho 4 times.
 
Erik said:
Dual G5’s (DG and attitude), GTN650 WAAS, 2-axis AP with coupled approaches, flight stream 210 for ADS-B WX and traffic with iPad connectivity with ForeFlight performance+, dual comms plus handheld backup with VOR nav
Click to expand...

With all that in the panel, why is this even a question? Not going would be an insult to Mr. Garmin and Dr. Foreflight. You should do this trip even if you didn't have an IR (which you have). Just make good go/no-go decisions related to t-storms or ice depending on what time of year you are doing this.

ktup-flyer said:
****ing send it mate. 182 is a great XC bird, especially with a good autopilot and some music.
Click to expand...

Yeap - Full send. Your biggest problem will be how to stave off boredom and which playlist to listen to.
 
RudyP said:
That’s not a long XC... I’m doing this next week...
Click to expand...

With your ride why is it going to take you a whole week to do it?
Just askin' :D
 
RudyP said:
That’s not a long XC... I’m doing this next week...
View attachment 95082
Click to expand...

Hold my Red Bull. :)

I just wrote the chapter for my book about this trip which took place over 3.5 days in the 414:

upload_2021-3-26_8-51-10.png

Including flying at night over the Bermuda Triangle with thunderstorms and no on-board radar with a panel older than me. When I got back from that (with a burned exhaust valve on the left engine's #5 cylinder reading 0/80 - it burned on the trip and I could actually watch the EGT bounce up and down) I managed to get a new cylinder thrown on and then had a trip the next weekend. So the 10 day trip total (with a full work week at the office in between) was this:

upload_2021-3-26_8-53-16.png

I then returned with a good friend in his Cheyenne the next month doing three round trips between TISX and FXE over a 4 day period.

Longest single-day trip in the Aztec with 47 chihuahuas:

upload_2021-3-26_8-54-59.png

The total 3.5 day trip that went with that:

upload_2021-3-26_8-56-45.png

Typical MU-2 days were 2000-2500 nm divided up in 2 or 3 legs. I never really ended up doing quite as impressive of missions with it from a total endurance perspective as I did with the piston birds. But the longest single leg I did in that plane, getting a ground speed of 410 kts in the descent from FL250:

upload_2021-3-26_8-59-46.png
 
By the way @RudyP I am agreeing with you :)
 
Erik said:
I'm a 186 hours TT PPL+IFR, just started training for my commercial....

...Longest XC I've taken to date was about 350nm with my girlfriend. I'd love to take this on with her but feel like I should be taking a more experienced pilot than I along with me, not because I doubt my experience and skills, but because it feels a little like the unknown to fly that far.
Click to expand...
I jumped into getting the commercial done immediately after finishing my instrument ticket. I didn't have a solo flight in my book that met the requirements for the commercial long cross country so I flew from NJ to Fl to visit my sister. I filed IFR both ways but I had great weather. The flight down was clear and a million all the way. The flight back I punched through a scattered layer climbing out and then it was clear and million all the way home after that.

My advise would be carve out twice as much time as you're going to need, wait for a good weather window, plan it with your CFI and have lots of outs, then do it solo.

Is it different than a shorter cross country? Sure. But not that different. If you're instrument equipped and current and you've got some time flexibility, there is absolutely no reason you shouldn't be able to do this solo.
 
Two pages and some thing that could get some color.

I did this trip right after my PPL in a less equipped aircraft. Having a GA plane means you can go places that the big iron doesn’t go. Stop at Gastons for a night and drop a line. Head on down to Dauphin island and get some nice gulf shrimp and chilling time. Then stop at Cedar Key for a ride with Judy and get some great drinks. Then hit your destination in big town FL. Do a different loop back.

The a-ha for me on this travel style is: you are going to divert to eat and stretch somewhere. Which may move that magenta line just a hair into a restricted area. Check the new route before launching and keep talking to ATC.
 
I've flown from NY to FL more than a few times in my Traveler, including as a low time pilot. Planning to do it again this year. Treat this kind of trip as an adventure. It is a bunch of 3 hour legs, or whatever. It's amazing how far you can go in a day, weather permitting. Don't be in a rush, know when the weather has you beat for the day, and enjoy the trip. The key is being flexible: time to spare, go by air. You will learn a lot about flight planning, and gain valuable practical experience dealing with weather. One of the vexing things that may happen is a mechanical issue during a long trip. I've had mag failures, nav radio failures, and exhaust gasket failures during trips. Again, the key is flexibility. One of my mag failures happened at Jacksonville, so that was an excuse to spend a day on the beach at St. Augustine. My mag got a new coil (cheap!) and we went on our way. In the summer months, fly early to avoid afternoon buildup and CBs, and don't be afraid to RON if weather gets sporty. IFR makes it more comfortable, but is not required. Be careful but HAVE FUN!
 
I'm no Ted and don't own a MU2, but I bought my 172 in GA and flew it back to NH by myself. Took three days, stopping to visit relatives on the way and give out rides.
2019 flew out to Oshkosh by myself from NH and back via VA. That trip made me want to get a faster plane.... But the night flying on the way there was fun, and met a lot of great people on that trip.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top