Planning a LITERAL cross country! What would YOU take?

Shawn,
Sounds like a great trip.

Are you thinking of taking paper charts or exclusively electronic? (foreflight)
 
Shawn said:
I'm trying to ferry an airplane, not plan a Rambo style wilderness expedition with MacGyver as my co-pilot!:no:

...but your type of adventure dose sound like fun!
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I don't count on being rescued. I'm finding my own way out. 5 days of water and food gives me time to find a food/water source. I think I also had fishing tackle.

Never rely on others to do what you can do for yourself.
 
Shawn said:
I'm trying to ferry an airplane, not plan a Rambo style wilderness expedition with MacGyver as my co-pilot!:no:

...but your type of adventure dose sound like fun!
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If you have to make an off airport landing out here in the west better plan on spending at least one night before help can find you. The way I look at it is that I don't want anyone walking the boonies at night or in a winter storm looking for my sorry *ss.
 
Clark1961 said:
If you have to make an off airport landing out here in the west better plan on spending at least one night before help can find you. The way I look at it is that I don't want anyone walking the boonies at night or in a winter storm looking for my sorry *ss.
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City folks. Think they can hole up in a Starbucks till morning.
 
Shawn said:
...so what you are saying is that the 8 hour bottle to throttle rule no longer applies if you no longer have a throttle?:yikes:
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If you read these boards you know that ALL single engine aircraft are seconds from explosive catastrophic engine failure usually leading to an unrecoverable flat spin (just like Top Gun). In that event, lacking an ejection seat, a nice single malt might be the best course of action.
 
Last time I did I had:

Cell phone.
Cooler.
Extra pilot - a friend of mine who was looking for an adventure.
Autopilot.
Garmin 496
75lb Labrador Retreiver in the back . . .

From NC - SW into AL, across MS, LA, TX, El Paso, over PHX, BLH, cut across north of the LA Basin, PMD, GMN into the Central Valley and home -

Pretty easy. When you get to ELP make sure you see the sunrise after take off and be on the ground near PHX by noon.
 
Going to be a great trip for sure my dream is to do a literal cross country someday.

Where in Florida will you be departing from?
 
So, did you get the Vette with the plane?
 
Fly early, stop at some cool places at 12 each day before the convective activity fires up.

Agree with I40, flew my new 182 from Phoenix to Tulsa this route last year.

Have you considered hooking up and flying Route 66?

Have great time, I'm looking forward to airplane camping trip next year across the US!

Safe travels

Oh, I paid for my instructor to go since I was new to the aircraft and would do it again in a second.
 
comanchepilot said:
Pretty easy. When you get to ELP make sure you see the sunrise after take off and be on the ground near PHX by noon.
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Good advise. I flew to Laredo this spring and the dust devils were up to 10,000' over west Texas. I went to 13,500 to get out of the bumps.
 
Here's what I carried on my numerous VFR long cross countries:

1. Flashlights. Can never have enough flashlights.

2. Sleeping bag. Because sometimes you have to land at airports where there's nopthing around and you have to sleep in the plane.

3. Snacks and drinks. All kinds. You have to be able to sustain yourself for at least 24hrs.

4. I also have a portable bike in the luggage compartment. It saved my one night when I was rained in at godforsaken airport in Texas with no food and no drinks (I broke my own rule no 3) and no hotel and no food delivery available. Google maps showed a truck stop about 5 miles down the road, so I cycled in pitch black darkness down to it and got some snacks and drinks and the slept in the plane. Next day wasn't much better, but I got out.

5. Carry some basic tools. Sometimes it's just a leaking rocker cover that needs tightening.

6. Carry cleaning products. For removing bugs etc, but mainly for cleaning windows.

As for WX - you'll find that true IFR is a rare thing. You can almost always continue VFR with some planning and/or detours. I have been "weathered in", unable to continue, only once or twice in about 300hrs of x-country flying. And normally you just wait 1 hr and it's good to go again.

Good luck and have fun. It's great flying longer trips. You learn a lot.
 
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Jthamilton said:
Oh, I paid for my instructor to go since I was new to the aircraft and would do it again in a second.
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That's basically how I got the 'kota home. We (CFI and I) picked it up in Tennessee in the A.M. and landed at BJC about 1 a.m. the next morning. Big adventure. Would do it again sans CFI but with second pilot in a heartbeat (schedule allowing of course).
 
Shawn said:
Thanks for all of the tips..keep 'em coming. Still have a LOT of planning and considerations to make before I make this happen.

I will be Foreflight w/Stratus2 equipped at least!



...inflight snacks?
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A way to power the iPad and stratus in flight. Don't forget your overnight hotel room chargers.
Plan 3-4 hr legs, plan two, maybe 3 legs per day. Plan a good lunch stop.
Enjoy the Trip!! Is there a rush to get back?

Monsoon season has moved into NM and AZ, our first TRW hit LAS tonight, the Strip is flooded and wind water damage. Plan to pick up I-40 in west Texas and follow that to Kingman, then Tehachipe, the north to home.

Water, snacks, survival kit to include emergency tent, hatchet, fire starter, PLB or SPOT tracker, signal mirror, normal stuff, ropes and stakes. An emergency airport may not have adequate tie downs. It may be interesting getting that stuff to Florida. Ship it!
 
Shawn said:
I have taken that into consideration and also looking for insight as to the best route to take...and by best I mean safest for me and not necessary quickest. I have had a few people basically say to head north outta Florida and just follow highway 10 all the way across the states. My though was that since I have well...zero mountain training to stay south and head for the LA basin then head north through CA steering well clear of the Sierras
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i-40 works too, follow to Kingman AZ, then to pick up I-15' follow to Edwards AFB area, through the gap at Tehachipe and you are through the mountains.
 
Because I've flown in places that are a bit remote and not particularly user-friendly for "landing out" i still have a survival vest with a beacon, strobe, emer kit, knives, lights, and stuff. it usually hangs on the seat-back but i keep the epirb handy in the back-country. Necessary? Dunno. Hope not.
 
Let me say how proud and impressed I am to be a part of a POA thread that has made it to page three without a complete divergence of the original topic and yet to digress into the airworthiness of the 182 over the RV or Mooney...brings a tear to my eye!

Badger said:
Are you thinking of taking paper charts or exclusively electronic? (foreflight)
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Foreflight w/ Stratus 2 plus a Garmin 430 and 496 on board...plus full paper sectionals and printed airport directories...I will be flying with as much redundacy as I can since I will be in airspace that will be totally foreign to me for almost ALL of the trip. I deal with technology all the time and know that it craps out at the most inopportune times! I don't wanna be explaining to the fighter jet pilot off my right wing that the reason I am over area 51 is that both my GPS and Ipad battery died and I don't have a sectional!

EdFred said:
City folks. Think they can hole up in a Starbucks till morning.
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...wait...once I take off, I can't just pull up through a Starbucks drive through in the 182??? There are Starbucks at almost every regional and community airport like commercial airports...right? I might have to rethink this whole thing.

PJS313 said:
Where in Florida will you be departing from?
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Daytona Beach area

stratobee said:
As for WX - you'll find that true IFR is a rare thing. You can almost always continue VFR with some planning and/or detours. I have been "weathered in", unable to continue, only once or twice in about 300hrs of x-country flying. And normally you just wait 1 hr and it's good to go again.
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Good to know...although a low time pilot, I've had my share of training waiting for, dodging, bolting between and dealing with weather. Been trapped at a diversion airport more than once only to have to run to the plane to get up before the next cell closed in on us...with my instructor's professional guidance of course! (didn't know you could tag team a run up procedure while taxing full speed to the active BTW)!

BillTIZ said:
Is there a rush to get back?
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No rush and I am one to lay out a plan but know it is just that...a plan..and it WILL change. I have no problem adjusting as necessary to make it back safe. I will lay out a ton of options for myself and always make sure I have an "out". I do wanna get back as soon as I can for this first trip and not be a two week explore the country mission...I did that last year, just not in a plane...and over 10 months!

tmyers said:
Journal it, take lots of pictures and share. Lastly have a blast.
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I am not usually one to document things to well, but this trip I will have to keep up some updates and share the trip and how it all goes.I am a pretty play it safe person and know it will be beyond a learning experience for someone at my level, but I am getting more excited and looking forward to the trip as we talk about it!

I defiantly will be compiling all of your input into my final plans!...well, except for the twine...I might be doing the trip without the twine.
 
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BillTIZ said:
A way to power the iPad and stratus in flight. Don't forget your overnight hotel room chargers.
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Yeah, that too, if you have 12 VDC aboard your bird.

Otherwise you will learn the "iPad gets plugged in before we even push this thing to the fuel pumps" game, and the "last thing to the airplane is the iPad" just to get the second leg of the day in. ;)
 
I do regularly carry chargers for EVERYTHING plus have "emergency" batteries for phones and ipads in my laptop bag which is with me at all times. I travel a ton for business. Luckily the plane does have a 12v outlet.
 
Spare fuses, at least two in all sizes. Chuck the spares (if any) in the plane now, put new ones in.

Advil/Tylenol (headaches, bumps, bruises) or better, Aleve (works for 12 hrs)

Bandaids, especially elastic fingertip bandaids (a new plane, you will nick a fingertip, and working a PTT or dialing freqs with a regular big ole plastic bandaid wrapped around it is annoying)

Checkbook (you may run into places where they don't take credit cards)

Spare batteries for everything, a second set of spares for anything critical

Blanket or sleeping bag, and pillow (spending the night on an FBO couch without these is annoying)

At least a couple hundred in cash

Microfiber cloth and a bottle of windscreen cleaner. A godsend when you come out and there's dirty waterspots on the windscreen and you want to leave now.

Funnel and two quarts of oil

Dipstick for fuel tanks. Don't trust the gauges or estimated fuel burn rate. Dip the tanks every stop until you learn and trust the plane.

I don't know how much XC you have done, but it's dry at altitude. Carry lots of water, and drink, drink, drink. Dehydration is common (partly because people are afraid they'll have to stop and pee, so they don't drink), causes headaches, and can impact your decision making and acuity. Every evening, drink lots of water.

Chapstick. For some reason, my lips get badly chapped on XCs. Never any other time.
 
I've followed the I-10/I-8 route through Yuma in a Cessna 150 a couple of times, and the I-40 Oklahoma City -- Albuquerque -- Flagstaff (Route 66) four times, also in a Cessna 150. I would choose I-40 for summer; I-10/I-8 for winter. What I packed was no different from what I normally carried for local trips, except extra water when doing the desert southwest.
 
Those who fly X/C on a regular basis soon learn what's important to carry in order to fix the simple stuff and get the airplane back home so your local guy can fix the other stuff. In another airplane I always carried an alternator and spare vacuum pump.

In this one I carry a fully-inflated tail wheel, bottle jack and wrenches necessary to change it along with a sit-on tool box latex gloves, an umbrella and a small foling chair. I've changed at least 6 tail-wheel tires over the years at remote locations and assume more will come.

The plane flies better with a little aft ballast and useful load is no problem.

denverpilot said:
My God we are up to the point he needs a C-130 so he can CARRY the WalMart.
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1. Water, and lots of it - I set a timer and drink every 1/2 hour on trips like this. Hydration is going to be one of the things that makes this trip enjoyable. At altitude you dehydrate very quickly. If you fly long days the need to pee isn't a factor even when drinking often. Be sure to not eat something like biscuits and gravy and certainly NO ICED TEA before taking off.

2. Chapstick or similar. As you cross Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and the desert of CA this will become the best thing in your bag of tricks.

3. Notify your credit card company that you will be making this trip and buying fuel. I've had my card turned off and learned of it while fueling in New Mexico because my usage showed a change from the norm. After hours or self serve becomes an issue so plan ahead.

4. Fly early, especially as you reach the deserts of the West. If you can depart an just prior to sunup do. Plan to get pounded after around 9am this time of year.

Enjoy your trip and the new plane. It's certainly an exciting time.

Edit: Just something to ponder... I use FF'ing and do not file flight plans VFR when crossing the US after landing and having no cell service, no pay phone on the ground, and no access to a phone in any form to close my flight plan. Couldn't reach an FSS from the ground either. This was a real eye opener. This happened in Arizona.
 
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Thing to bring on x-country:


#1 Coffee Pot with water filters and coffee
#2 Gatorade Bottles
#3 The wife's or friend’s credit card
------END------

;)
 
Remember it is perfectly legal to fly through MOAs. When flying through Texas, NM, and AZ you will be flying in a lot of them if trying to maintain a direct route. Don
 
NineThreeKilo said:
First, even though it's gone through a prebuy, presume most system will fail, basically it's a xcountry shakedown flight. Do not trust on onboard electronics.
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Funny I bought a 30' sailboat a few years back in New Bern, NC from a guy who had never been out of the immediate area. I handed over the check and said I would be back next weekend to sail the boat to maryland.

I showed up the next week with an inflatable dinghy, outboard, life jackets, anchors, VHF radio, charts, compass, GPS, tools, spare belts and hoses, small portable honda generator, various life jackets and spare lines/fenders....

When I showed up with all the gear, the owner confessed he thought at first that I would never make it, but now he figured that I knew what I was doing.

Anyway the point is to be prepared!
 
Shawn said:
...well, the plane checked out, inspections were done and passed, price was negotiated and is it a day away from a done deal. Only bummer is that it sits in Florida and I sit in Northern California...so a VFR cross country trip in a 1973 182p in the first week of August it is!
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Wait, what's the bummer again? :dunno:

I am in the preliminary stages of plotting my course but want to know from the seasoned vets...what would YOU carry with you in the plane for a trip like that.
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For gear, pretty much what Jesse said. But where you fly, and how, is much more important than what you have along IMO...

If weather is not a factor, I would hope to knock it out in two days. Foreflight says 15 hours of flight time, but that is no stops in ideal conditions.
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And you will have stops and you will not get there as fast as ForeFlight says because you have climbs, patterns, taxi time, etc. to think of as well. Knock 10% off your speed (call it 120 in a fixed-gear 182) and you'll have a more accurate door-to-door time.

Also, since you're likely to be in the plane for more like 18 hours when all is said and done, you should NOT attempt to do this in 2 days. I've had a few 8-hour plus days in the 182 and some other planes, and by the end of a day like that you are going to be seriously off your A game, not to mention it starts to not be fun any more. I would plan on 3 days if the weather is near perfect, but be ready to take up to a week if needed - IE, you've got vacation from work, no other obligations, etc. This isn't a matter of "I can do more than 8 hours in a day" it's a matter of being safe after 8 hours and enjoying the flight.

Also, the biggest thing you can do for yourself in terms of safety is to not be married to Plan A. There are numerous reasons why plans B, C, D, etc. might end up being better (including "I feel like it"). You'll be safer AND have more fun if you're flexible with your plans.

Have fun and fly safe! :)
 
Shawn said:
I have taken that into consideration and also looking for insight as to the best route to take...and by best I mean safest for me and not necessary quickest. I have had a few people basically say to head north outta Florida and just follow highway 10 all the way across the states. My though was that since I have well...zero mountain training to stay south and head for the LA basin then head north through CA steering well clear of the Sierras
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That's a good idea. It looks like something roughly like KDAB 28J KLBB CNX HEC PMD KWVI should keep you out of R-areas and allow you to comfortably clear terrain in non-oxygen altitudes. Keep in mind, though, that while you can fly indefinitely at 12,500 MSL sans O2 that it will be more fatiguing than normal. I'd plan your longest day to be your first day since you'll be freshest and be able to stay in thicker air.

Shawn said:
Foreflight w/ Stratus 2 plus a Garmin 430 and 496 on board...plus full paper sectionals and printed airport directories...I will be flying with as much redundacy as I can since I will be in airspace that will be totally foreign to me for almost ALL of the trip. I deal with technology all the time and know that it craps out at the most inopportune times!
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If you have a 430 and an iPad you have plenty of redundancy to keep you out of trouble. My last literal cross-country trip before the iPad, the paper charts/materials cost me $225 and took up two grocery bags. The 496 is icing on the cake, but its battery will crap out first anyway.
 
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