XC time building goals

[benyflyguy]

i have to do some time building to get my 50 hours XC. I have a lot of hours. But they are either pretty local tooling around and a lot of dual.
So I have 11.5 hours to do to move on to check ride prep. Yay! I have to fly, poor me
Going to take some longer trips. Visit my sister for lunch at KLWM which is about 250nm away.
What can I do to get more out of the flight? I always talk to ATC. Already said no autopilot “handfly for harambe!”

Thought about flying at VFR altitudes in IFR routes but not sure that’s a great idea as there are ppl on those routes who are supposed to be there.

Any other thoughts??

 

[GeorgeC]

Do it at night and check some boxes for the commercial.

 

[RyanB]

+1 at doing it at night. Also, incorporate some VOR’s or fixes to navigate to.

 

[Magnus P.IFR]

Agree with looking at commercial requirements if that’s a goal. Lots of opportunity if you go 250+nm...rent/get checked out in a complex plane?

 

[ejensen]

You do need an endorsement to fly at night

 

[iamtheari]

i have to do some time building to get my 50 hours XC. I have a lot of hours. But they are either pretty local tooling around and a lot of dual.
So I have 11.5 hours to do to move on to check ride prep. Yay! I have to fly, poor me

Be cautious. Someday you'll run out of this kind of excuse to go flying, and that's when a lot of people stop flying altogether. Keep finding excuses!

Going to take some longer trips. Visit my sister for lunch at KLWM which is about 250nm away.
What can I do to get more out of the flight? I always talk to ATC. Already said no autopilot “handfly for harambe!”

Use the autopilot enough to be familiar with it. They all have quirks. Knowing your autopilot's quirks can save your life. That was a contributing cause to at least one PC-12 crash.

Is your sister more than 250nm away or just about that far? One of the commercial requirements is a solo cross country at least 300 nm total distance with landings at 3 places and one place of landing at least 250 nm from the departure point. You may be able to meet that requirement just by landing at one other airport, either on the way to your sister or just beyond her.

Practice identifying landmarks and airports that you fly past and do your best to spot every airplane you think might be out there (heard on the radio, saw on ADS-B, etc.)

Thought about flying at VFR altitudes in IFR routes but not sure that’s a great idea as there are ppl on those routes who are supposed to be there.

That's one reason why VFR cruising altitudes and IFR cruising altitudes are different. Fly those airways, they're there for you as well as for everyone else.

 

[AggieMike88]

+1 with incorporating the "straight line 250nm" commercial cross country requirements at this stage.

One days worth of flying knocks off requirements of two ratings.

 

[AndrewX]

1. Remember you're building time, no need to push the throttle to the firewall. Play with different mixture / power setting and learn where your airplane is most efficient.
2. Do a simulated diversion. E.g. sent a timer and when it goes off, locate the nearest airport and go land there.
3. File PIREPS

 

[iamtheari]

2. Do a simulated diversion. E.g. sent a timer and when it goes off, locate the nearest airport and go land there.

Too predictable. Make a game out of it. First time someone on the radio says one of the cliches ("with you" or "any traffic in the area please advise") or first time you hear a transmission on 121.5, divert.

 

[unsafervguy]

Too predictable. Make a game out of it. First time someone on the radio says one of the cliches ("with you" or "any traffic in the area please advise") or first time you hear a transmission on 121.5, divert.

On ggggguuuuuaaaarrrrrddddddd!

 

[benyflyguy]

Lol. My flight straight is 242nm. So thanks for the advice!!! Going to hope down to small field a few miles away and make a full stop and count that as my 250 flight (259nm) Night won’t be feasible but in the near future it might be

 

[iamtheari]

Lol. My flight straight is 242nm. So thanks for the advice!!! Going to hope down to small field a few miles away and make a full stop and count that as my 250 flight (259nm) Night won’t be feasible but in the near future it might be

Just be sure to hit 300nm total distance flown and 3 landings at different airports in that one log entry. This requirement was not easy for me to meet just by happenstance because I normally fly either something like 500nm and don't really want to land 2 extra times on the way or something like 150nm and don't meet the 250nm leg requirement. So I had to go out of my way and fly this one deliberately. And it was fun. One day last spring, I had all day to get to a town 267nm away so I landed at 7 other airports along the way and racked up 330nm total distance flown.

 

[benyflyguy]

Just be sure to hit 300nm total distance flown and 3 landings at different airports in that one log entry. This requirement was not easy for me to meet just by happenstance because I normally fly either something like 500nm and don't really want to land 2 extra times on the way or something like 150nm and don't meet the 250nm leg requirement. So I had to go out of my way and fly this one deliberately. And it was fun. One day last spring, I had all day to get to a town 267nm away so I landed at 7 other airports along the way and racked up 330nm total distance flown.

So can I do a touch and go at place I’m leaving from to count as my first landing or full stops?

 

[iamtheari]

So can I do a touch and go at place I’m leaving from to count as my first landing or full stops?

I can't think of a reason why not, but I would recommend consulting the FARs or others who know better than I do.

 

[AggieMike88]

So can I do a touch and go at place I’m leaving from to count as my first landing or full stops?

I don't recall seeing a Touch and Go column in the various logbooks I've owned.

 

[benyflyguy]

This is all good. So I have added an airport just a few min away for a quick stop. My route of flight I planned on using some Vor’s and intersections that take me a bit Northwest of direct that keeps me further away from Boston class B approach corridors. Plus gives me distance of 310nm. Gonna put some time on her tomorrow!

 

[AggieMike88]

Plus gives me distance of 310nm.

Keep in mind regs refer to straight line distance between the airport pair. Not the amount of ground covered due to zig zagging and dog legging.

 

[iamtheari]

Keep in mind regs refer to straight line distance between the airport pair. Not the amount of ground covered due to zig zagging and dog legging.

That’s the 250nm requirement. The 300 is the total distance and I think it’s fair to count the route actually flown.

 

[mtuomi]

That’s the 250nm requirement. The 300 is the total distance and I think it’s fair to count the route actually flown.

Don't count on that.

 

[iamtheari]

Don't count on that.

Any particular reason not to? Here's the regulation (61.129(a)(4)(i)):

(i) One cross-country flight of not less than 300 nautical miles total distance, with landings at a minimum of three points, one of which is a straight-line distance of at least 250 nautical miles from the original departure point. However, if this requirement is being met in Hawaii, the longest segment need only have a straight-line distance of at least 150 nautical miles;

Breaking that down, the solo cross-country flight, if done outside of Hawaii, must be:

1. Not less than 300 nautical miles total distance
2. With landings at a minimum of three points
3. One of which is a straight-line distance of at least 250 nautical miles from the original departure point

Is there an official interpretation of "total distance" that means something other than the distance you actually flew?

 

[mtuomi]

Any particular reason not to? Here's the regulation (61.129(a)(4)(i)):

Breaking that down, the solo cross-country flight, if done outside of Hawaii, must be:

1. Not less than 300 nautical miles total distance
2. With landings at a minimum of three points
3. One of which is a straight-line distance of at least 250 nautical miles from the original departure point

Is there an official interpretation of "total distance" that means something other than the distance you actually flew?

You want to get into that argument in a checkride?
My DPE looked at a straight line and decided if it was valid or not.

 

[iamtheari]

You want to get into that argument in a checkride?
My DPE looked at a straight line and decided if it was valid or not.

Knowing the regulations is important for any checkride. In this instance I think that it’s important to log the route in such a way that you don’t have any arguments over the distance you flew. But if my log entry is A-B-C-D-E, are you saying that your DPE would have measured only the distance from A to E to determine if it met the 300nm requirement?

 

[mtuomi]

Knowing the regulations is important for any checkride. In this instance I think that it’s important to log the route in such a way that you don’t have any arguments over the distance you flew. But if my log entry is A-B-C-D-E, are you saying that your DPE would have measured only the distance from A to E to determine if it met the 300nm requirement?

You plan to write a log entry with vors and intersections?

 

[iamtheari]

You plan to write a log entry with vors and intersections?

In my case, A through E were all airports and, even though I barely shut the engine down at each of them, I entered them all into my log entry. But whether they are airports where I landed or just points on the ground I flew over shouldn't matter. If you needed to log your actual route of flight over VORs and intersections to demonstrate to a reader (CFI signing you off for the practical test or an examiner administering it) that you met the 300nm requirement, you could log that route and I believe that it would qualify.

Your experience cited in post #21 seems to be that the DPE checked the straight-line distances and found that they added up to more than 300nm, so you were okay and he proceeded with the oral exam. What you haven't said is that he gave any indication that he would automatically send you home if the straight-line distances added up to less than 300nm. My suspicion is that he would have asked you to explain how you got to 300nm on that flight and that you would have had a good explanation because your CFI should have asked the same question before signing you off to take the practical test.

Don't get me wrong. I would recommend that the OP fly and log a flight that meets the requirements without any room for this discussion with the examiner. There's enough to know for the test without adding how to argue about what the regulations mean with a DPE to the list. But I do think that the regulation clearly does not restrict the 300nm "total distance" of the flight to a hypothetical straight-line distance that you did not fly, which is what I meant to say in post #18 to clarify what AggieMike had said for the OP's benefit. Also, I think this discussion is sufficiently far afield from helping the OP that I hope we can just agree to disagree about what this regulation means and move on to planning our routes to KOSH or something more productive.

 

[benyflyguy]

Well it is a great trip. My CFI likes to say, hours of boredom interluded with seconds of sheer terror! I made one part 310nm with three landings. I have plenty of time to until I’d be eligible for commercial and will review flights with my cfi st some point. I will have the opportunity to make flights that will prevent any question In the future though.

Talked the whole time. Worked on leaning procedure that works for me. Played with the autopilot. Holds altitude great but porpoises on the heading to the point of nausea. (Worked better in past but needs adjustment). Did work on spotting airports. Tougher to spot those little guys at 7500.
Worked on identifying an altitude deviation and correcting in a quicker fashion ( been a problem. I realize I’m getting off altitude and just correct lazily. Not sure why)
Was happy to see my sis and hang out for a few hours.
Have a few hours more to do. Hope to get done next two weeks and start checkride prep!!

 

[AggieMike88]

Worked on identifying an altitude deviation and correcting in a quicker fashion ( been a problem. I realize I’m getting off altitude and just correct lazily. Not sure why)
Was happy

How well are you trimming? In the Skylane, once properly trimmed, maintaining +/- 50 feet is a straightforward task

 

[benyflyguy]

How well are you trimming? In the Skylane, once properly trimmed, maintaining +/- 50 feet is a straightforward task

Was trimmed pretty good and agree once trimmed would hold nicely. When handflying trimmed and set up its left thumb and two fingers on yoke. But when I look down or to the right I have found that I have habit of pulling back and down on yoke slightly. It is a repetitive bad habit but after a longer flight I have found predictable. With shorter flights I never really look at foreflight. But with this longer flight I did play with it and teased out this bad habit.
Also noticed that with autopilot on standby, essentially off, toke free and lively, but when autopilot is on but not engaged to track heading or altitude the yoke is much stiffer. Sometime an advantage, sometimes a disadvantage.