Finally- got a cross country flight in!

Will Kumley

Will Kumley

Line Up and Wait
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Aug 6, 2019
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698
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Pacific Southwest
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Will
Took the week off work because I'm about to lose leave days due to the pending start of the fiscal year. Figured I'd get flights in each day and scheduled enough time for xc flights each day. Turns out the weather had other plans and today it was finally good enough to give this thing a whirl. Fun fact, after filling out navlogs three days in a row on days I didn't get to fly I've evidently gotten decent at them as my instructor thought the planning was great and we were within a couple minutes of my estimated times for a 70 mile flight. Now to plan my night xc but I think tomorrow will just be some more hood time and tracking vors, if the weather agrees. :) Oh, and today was my first xc! Just wish I had time to stop for lunch.
 
Congrats, Will. A wonderful milestone.
 
Great!

I remember coming to hate those navlogs. I felt like if I ever needed to be THAT accurate with times and headings once I had my private then I was doing something wrong and not enjoying my flying. Also something about planning headings down to a degree knowing that the actual winds would never be what I was planning for. But it's a valuable tool to learn the fundamentals of flight planning and I'm glad you're nailing them!
 
Will Kumley said:
Took the week off work because I'm about to lose leave days due to the pending start of the fiscal year. Figured I'd get flights in each day and scheduled enough time for xc flights each day. Turns out the weather had other plans and today it was finally good enough to give this thing a whirl. Fun fact, after filling out navlogs three days in a row on days I didn't get to fly I've evidently gotten decent at them as my instructor thought the planning was great and we were within a couple minutes of my estimated times for a 70 mile flight. Now to plan my night xc but I think tomorrow will just be some more hood time and tracking vors, if the weather agrees. :) Oh, and today was my first xc! Just wish I had time to stop for lunch.
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Glad ya finally were able to get in the air. Yeah, it’s been a little scuzzy in the PNW lately
 
Thanks everyone. After sleeping and thinking what I could improve from yesterday I would say that I could have been better at picking checkpoints for pilotage navigation. Heading north my checkpoints were out my left window and abeam my course which made it easy to see them as I passed by and keep track of time and calculate ground speed. On the southbound return though I used the same checkpoints which meant they were on the right side and significantly more difficult to see as I passed them and I had to do a few rolls just to verify the location, especially since I'm in a low wing Piper. So, the lesson learned was to ensure the checkpoints are far enough to the side that I can see in both directions or to just pick different checkpoints for the return trip.
 
Cool beans. Sure you had fun and was a bit nerve racking at the same time!
 
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