First cross country with ppl

cowman

cowman

Final Approach
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Cowman
I thought I'd write this up because it's something nobody really discusses. Basically you've passed your check ride and now you're a private pilot.... so now what?

Well if you're like me you want to go somewhere. Some friends were meeting up for a week back where I grew up. 315nm in my Archer, ground transport available from multiple people, a place to stay, no particular need to get there or leave any specific day. Perfect trip. My wife was busy so I went alone.

Forecasts looked ideal for the departure date until right when I was getting ready to leave ceilings were coming down. I had planned a flight at 5500' but there were scattered and broken layers along the route in a lot of places around 4000' (across the midwest with the surface being 600-1000' MSL). After some dithering I determined it would be safe to still make the flight at 3500. I'd also been waffling on getting flight following or not... I had done it during my training and at the time had a lot of trouble keeping the frequencies and squawk codes straight long enough to read them back and put them in the radios. Because I wasn't going to be at a "cruising" altitude anymore I decided to do it anyway. Got a simple notepad and pen to write down what I needed.... I guess I'm a better pilot now because none of this was difficult this time around. Also glad I did it, at one point in the flight center directed me to change heading as someone was coming at me head on at my altitude. Pretty quickly after starting the turn I saw him zoom by at maybe 1/4 mile away. We probably still would have missed, but that would have been way too close for comfort. The only other noteworthy thing that happened on this leg was I thought I had an aux cable to play some music from my phone on the flight in the airplane and discovered I didn't when I got out to the hangar. Not a big deal but after about 2 hours I was wishing I either had someone to talk to or some music. Not so bad though- I was busy flying and spotting all the towns I normally drive through. Had a headwind so what I expected to be around a 2:45 flight was more like 3:15. I knew that was a possibility and knew I was carrying more than enough fuel. I did note I burned more than expected... I plan 10gph and expect about 8. On this trip I did burn pretty darn close to 10... a non issue since that's what I planned on and landed with almost 2 hours of fuel remaining but worth noting. I had once thought I could make this trip starting with fuel at tabs if I needed to carry a full load of passengers or baggage... I no longer believe that's safe without a stop to refuel.

Landed safely, tied down the airplane and locked it. Spent the week with friends with the intention of coming home thurs afternoon and getting home before dark. I had little to no internet access that week but I kept pulling up forecasts all showing good conditions for my planned return time. I had planned to leave early or late to avoid weather if need be but everything showed clear. The day I planned to go I again checked forecasts... all clear. Had lunch with someone I hadn't seen in a few months, ran around town, came back to get my stuff. While packing I opened up foreflight to see if I could get weather radar...terminal forecasts all still clear. With the signal I had it took nearly 5 minutes to get a weather picture but there it was... big bunch of precip with convective activity a few miles west of my flight path and moving SE. Called a weather briefer who confirmed what I already knew... I'd be flying right into it. The briefer also thought it was odd all the terminal forecasts showed clear.

I thought I could delay until it passed by... an hour passed, then another with it not moving. Annoyed, I realized if I'd gone at my planned time I'd be past it by then. It never moved it just dissipated.... got a new weather briefing to confirm this. Ended up leaving after dark which isn't what I'd wanted but weather was pretty ideal, I was awake enough, and more bad weather was on it's way for the morning.

I had to fuel the airplane still, so without doing a preflight or checklist I fired it up to taxi over to the fuel pumps. While rolling up I noted the engine was running rough.... not what I wanted to have a problem with in the middle of nowhere with a tight window and a wife at home really wanting me back that night. Tried to shut it off by moving the mixture knob to idle cutoff like normal but it wouldn't stop. Played with the throttle but it just kept running roughly at idle cutoff. I finally just turned off the mags and that killed it.... quickly figured out I'd not locked the primer knob after I started up and fortunately that was the problem. Fueled up, did a pre-flight by flashlight and I was on my way.

I have foreflight on an ipad and my iphone... I keep the map up on the ipad so I had pulled up the phone to get a departure frequency. On my iphone it had "Kansas city center" on 135.525... didn't say departure just kansas city center for the airport I was departing. I tried multiple times to raise them on that frequency... hit my squelch and listened to the static and no dice. A while later I was passing another airport that listed Chicago center instead and I was able to contact them and pick up flight following from there. Later, apon reviewing the AF/D for my departure airport it did list Kansas city center as the departure contact but on a different frequency than I'd been using which explains why nobody answered but then I have no idea what foreflight on my phone was giving me then. Anyone know? Nice lesson to file away for the next flight. Not much else to say about this return flight... very slight tailwind so I cruised along at a good 120-124kts ground speed and made it home closer to my planned time. Should have done 2 more takeoffs and landings on arrival to get my night currency back but I was tired and ready to go home at that point.

So that was pretty much it... some over-caution and some mistakes were made but I had a safe relatively stress free trip. Will do it again as soon as possible.
 
Enjoy yourself, a lot of people say "now what?" After reaching a goal that takes some time and a lot of effort. If you run out of reasons for xc flights, might i suggest charity flights. Tax deductible day trips, courtesy of Pilots and Paws
 
Looks like the first XC flight accomplished one of it's primary goals... teach you a few interesting lessons.

Great job! Good to hear you enjoyed it.
 
I know you said you used foreflight but on garmin pilot I noticed a lot of charts/maps/a-fd's expired yesterday so I had to d/load the latest ones. maybe that was the diff in frequencies? probably not, I wouldn't think they change that often but I dunno.

also, so far on my xc's I'll jot down a few frequencies I know I'll need, then confirm them on garmin pilot to make sure. makes it a lil easier when being passed from one to the other, if they're already written down and match what you're being told to switch to.

anyways, nice job, sounds like fun!

EDITED: and by the way, I reckon this post deserves to be in 'flight following' and not pilot training lol, although you technically did 'learn'..
 
Entertaining read. Thank you for sharing.
 
eman1200 said:
I know you said you used foreflight but on garmin pilot I noticed a lot of charts/maps/a-fd's expired yesterday
Click to expand...

Could be because the new chart cycle started Wednesday. ;)

Wimmins and the moon are not the only things that are on a 28 day cycle.
 
You don't need a checklist to remind you of the primer. Create your own flow that covers every item. Follow it religiously.

Be sure to cover the killer items (flight controls, flaps, trim, fuel, etc.)
 
Cpt_Kirk said:
You don't need a checklist to remind you of the primer. Create your own flow that covers every item.
Click to expand...

Then use a list to make sure your flow touched all of the required items in that sequence.
 
An old friend who flew corsairs in WW2 for the marines, then was an FBO who flew a daily shuttle to washington national airport in either a bonanza or a shrike commander for many many years, was in a hurry. His employee didn't show up to fly the afternoon shuttle so he jumped in the bonanza, flew to national and promptly gear upped it . In a hurry! The only close calls I've had were for the same reason. Just lucky.
 
I like reading your story. It's true what they say, you never stop learning in aviation. That's what makes it great!
 
Sounds like you did just fine..............report back when you do the perfect flight. Darn near all of us have never done one!:D
 
Dan H said:
Sounds like you did just fine..............report back when you do the perfect flight. Darn near all of us have never done one!:D
Click to expand...

Hey! I had a perfect flight once.

Well, I was chair flying actually.
But still it was perfect.
 
Great writeup - thanks for sharing! I'm a few weeks from getting my ppl(hopefully...) and can't wait to go on flights like this.
 
Nice write up and congrats on your first long XC as pic! I just finished my longest XC yet to Oregon and back and was fun. Now I'm looking at doing Pilots n Paws for fun and tax benefits to offset flying costs. Always do a thorough run up check that's critical and must never be skipped.
 
It sure is a bunch of fun going places in 1/3rd the time. Many more trips ahead of you to practice your skills on. Have a blast.

I always fill out a knee board flight planning sheet a day or two out when getting serious about my wx checks. I use it in flight as a back up and to write my squawk code, wx, atc freqs/names along the way. If you write all of the freqs going, just start out with the last one when you reported "field in site" upon leaving.

If you can't find a center freq anywhere, then go to the IFR enroute low altitude chart. I download them for our fun vfr only flying. Great for freqs and MOCA's(Min Obstruction Clearance Altitude).

Side note: MEF's on the sectional are cutting things close and one has to be very careful, especially in cold/high pressure weather.

Look for the nearest freq box to your departure airport. I see 135.57 and just to the North 125.25, both for Kansas City Ctr.
 
Great Story, as I approach my first Student/Instructor Cross country, it excites me to read this. Thank you for sharing.
 
That is the magic of airplanes - they can get you places WAY faster than driving. And they can go into airports that airliners can't... or won't.

But your apprehension on this flight reminds me of my apprehension after getting my instrument rating. They teach us the skills and give us the theory... but only experience can give us the judgement.



In my case, I ended up with a "dry" instrument ticket - 0.0 hours of actual. I live in Denver, so that is common. So before I took my family into the clouds, I got with my instructor and we went weather hunting. We found an area of light to moderate rain and flew into it, shot an ILS to mediums (not quite minimums :D ) and I learned
  • that a little yellow precip in a stable system is not a big deal.
  • I learned that clouds are way more disorienting than foggles... and more beautiful and fun to look at than rural Kansas!
  • I learned that I tend to start a slight right bank upon entering clouds when hand-flying. Good to know.
  • And I learned that my aircraft hums in the clouds. Sounds like wind whistling. Not precip static - it's faint aerodynamic humming.
  • And my windshield leaks. It spit a little water on us but nothing serious.
Having ADS-B radar and current METARs in flight was such a huge help to confirm that the rain we were heading for hadn't built into CB.

The cockpit can be a lonely, puckersome place when you're unsure of what to expect, which is why I highly recommend a Stratus to go with your Foreflight if you don't already have it. Knowing throughout your flight that you have nice fat safety margins is, to me, a nearly priceless comfort.

Since that time, I have done many IFR trips with the family. I have learned to always leave myself an iron-clad way out and to commit to it early.
 
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Congratulations! I remember my first real long cross country too...Only 13 months ago!

It is some feeling of freedom just cruising along. Glad things went so smooth. always have a back up plan and a loose schedule. That's what I do. And now having my ppl for 16 months and logging a mere 325 hours...It's now a question of where DO I want to go!

Keep flying, stay safe!

Dave
 
Thats a nice first cross country! If you write down all your frequencies you use on your flight they can be pretty helpful on the way home. You will probably get the same frequencies in reverse order on the way home. Nice having it dialed in ready to go, especially if you're feeling rushed having to remember numbers atc gives you.
 
Ah yes, the primer knob. None of the manufacturer or aftermarket checklists mention it.
During my PPL checkride when going through the pre-takeoff checklist, I made a note of that to the DPE and mumbled that I gotta make me an updated checklist. I saw his head nodding out of the corner of my eye.
You can write on your checklist (no reg against that) to add more items if you need. It is better to have them than not.

Fly safe!
 
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