First Solo Cross Country!!!

Will Kumley

Will Kumley

Line Up and Wait
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Aug 6, 2019
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Will
Just got home from my first solo cross country. Departed KPWT, flew over 1WA7 (Elma) and then on to KHQM. Return was a little more direct as I went KHQM to KPWT via KSHN. All in all the flight was fairly uneventful and my ground speed checks were within 10 seconds of what I had planned on my Navlog. Oddly enough, my indicated airspeed was about 5-10 mph slower than what I had planned but my ground speed was pretty close, if anything my actual gs was 2-3 knots faster than planned in both directions so I know it wasn't a wind issue. Picked up flight following and made sure to stay to the south of KSHN to avoid any possible parachute jumpers. The landing at HQM was better than my landing at my home airport but the landing at PWT wasn't bad either. Think I'll have to take the wife out there after I get my ticket and can take passengers without an instructor sitting next to me. Now to see if the video and audio recorders worked for the flight. :) :) :)
 
Pete7AC said:
Good job!

Better executed than mine. I almost landed at the wrong airport...
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Or mine where I could not find the airport and had to do a 360 looking for it. The I found it hiding behind tall trees....
 
Pete7AC said:
Good job!

Better executed than mine. I almost landed at the wrong airport...
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I’ve started watching YouTube videos of others landing at the airports I’m headed to before I go. Kinda gives an idea of the landmarks I should be looking for.
 
MacFlier said:
Or mine where I could not find the airport and had to do a 360 looking for it. The I found it hiding behind tall trees....
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My choice to use Elma as a checkpoint was called into question by the instructor prior to my flight as it’s hard to see if you’ve never been there before. Thankfully the cooling towers just south of it are super easy to see. I was practically on top of Elma before I saw the actual airport so I’m glad that discussion happened.
 
Will Kumley said:
Just got home from my first solo cross country. Departed KPWT, flew over 1WA7 (Elma) and then on to KHQM. Return was a little more direct as I went KHQM to KPWT via KSHN. All in all the flight was fairly uneventful and my ground speed checks were within 10 seconds of what I had planned on my Navlog. Oddly enough, my indicated airspeed was about 5-10 mph slower than what I had planned but my ground speed was pretty close, if anything my actual gs was 2-3 knots faster than planned in both directions so I know it wasn't a wind issue. Picked up flight following and made sure to stay to the south of KSHN to avoid any possible parachute jumpers. The landing at HQM was better than my landing at my home airport but the landing at PWT wasn't bad either. Think I'll have to take the wife out there after I get my ticket and can take passengers without an instructor sitting next to me. Now to see if the video and audio recorders worked for the flight. :) :) :)
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Beautiful route! See u up there!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
What was your TAS (computed from IAS)
 
Sinistar said:
What was your TAS (computed from IAS)
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Planned an IAS of 115 mph which converts to 100 kph, actual on the airspeed indicator during flight was between 105-110 mph. Occasionally it would get to 115 but not often. Actual GS was roughly 103-105 kph for the duration of the flight. This was the case in both directions. I was also running about 2450 RPM's on the motor. I had it leaned for my altitude and any harder would have put me closer to the red line on the tach than I want to be.
 
Congrats!! Another milestone along the way to checkride. This is a big one - you flew by yourself from point a to point b and then back to point a. Nice feeling of freedom, isn't it?
 
Will Kumley said:
Planned an IAS of 115 mph which converts to 100 kph, actual on the airspeed indicator during flight was between 105-110 mph. Occasionally it would get to 115 but not often. Actual GS was roughly 103-105 kph for the duration of the flight. This was the case in both directions. I was also running about 2450 RPM's on the motor. I had it leaned for my altitude and any harder would have put me closer to the red line on the tach than I want to be.
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I used to live out there and would love to fly out there. Used to ride motorcycles from Bremerton/Bangor/ Silverdale to Ocean Shores.

So your IAS was between 105...110mph. I'll just guess a cruise altitude of 4500msl west bound, around +45F at altitude and pressure of around 29.85" which would be a TAS of 113mph...128mph.

By "kph" I think you mean knots per hour. It seems most people just write kts or knots (but mine is in mph too). So your TAS was then about 98kts...111kts. You said your ground speed was between 103kts...105kts. So seems the check out. If you were flying a bit lower than I guessed it would be even closer.

I hope I did that right...someone will be along to school me if i screwed it up.

No matter what...congratulations and this flatlanders envies the scenery!
 
Minor nit, kph is kilometers/hour. Knots are nautical miles/hour. No per hour with knots.
 
Nice work!! The solo XC is a big milestone!
 
Congrats! On my first solo XC, I mis-interpreted what my VOR OBS was telling me, you all remember those. Anyhow, I was off course, but found a town, circled the water tower with the name on it, and figured it out from there. 44 years later, still flying.
 
Well done!
A taste of what you can do once you complete your training.
Head north to Port Townsend/Jefferson, Friday Harbour and all sorts of other places to explore in the PNW.
 
Deelee said:
Congrats!! Another milestone along the way to checkride. This is a big one - you flew by yourself from point a to point b and then back to point a. Nice feeling of freedom, isn't it?
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And I did it again today! Flew down to Kelso (KLS) then to Olympia for some towered full stop landings and back to Bremerton. Forecast was great with clouds staying around 6000 ft. About 15 miles north of Kelso the scattered clouds at 3000 turned into broken/overcast and I seriously contemplated turning around. But as I still had good visibility and the clouds weren't dropping any I continued on to Kelso. Fairly uneventful the rest of the flight with a random Cessna behind and below me at one point just before descent. They never said they had me in sight, I obviously couldn't see them as they were behind me so I opted to make a right turn and descend instead of running the risk of flying into another plane. Never heard from them again.
 
Sinistar said:
I used to live out there and would love to fly out there. Used to ride motorcycles from Bremerton/Bangor/ Silverdale to Ocean Shores.

So your IAS was between 105...110mph. I'll just guess a cruise altitude of 4500msl west bound, around +45F at altitude and pressure of around 29.85" which would be a TAS of 113mph...128mph.

By "kph" I think you mean knots per hour. It seems most people just write kts or knots (but mine is in mph too). So your TAS was then about 98kts...111kts. You said your ground speed was between 103kts...105kts. So seems the check out. If you were flying a bit lower than I guessed it would be even closer.

I hope I did that right...someone will be along to school me if i screwed it up.

No matter what...congratulations and this flatlanders envies the scenery!
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Yep, meant knots per hour and definitely didn't consider the altitude/temp correction for airspeed. Oh well. At least I'm getting my ground speed fairly consistently. '
 
It's easy to not even consider TAS when you use IAS for flying and GPS for ground speed. Curious...what altitude did you fly at?
 
I am also curious what your CFI is teaching you regarding all that water. The sound is beautiful, but cold. Wondering how much water he allows you to fly over?
 
GRG55 said:
Well done!
A taste of what you can do once you complete your training.
Head north to Port Townsend/Jefferson, Friday Harbour and all sorts of other places to explore in the PNW.
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Friday Harbor was my first dual cross country flight. Looking forward to taking the family up there.
Sinistar said:
It's easy to not even consider TAS when you use IAS for flying and GPS for ground speed. Curious...what altitude did you fly at?
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first XC solo was at 4500 and 5500. Today was supposed to be the same but the clouds kept me low on the southern section of my flight.
 
Sinistar said:
I am also curious what your CFI is teaching you regarding all that water. The sound is beautiful, but cold. Wondering how much water he allows you to fly over?
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here’s what I’ve learned so far. Altitude is your friend. As is flight following since you have an extra set of eyes on you. The only significant water I’ve flown over was when we went to Friday Harbor. All other over water flights have been close to land such as the various inlets near Bremerton.
 
Congrats on you first and second solos. A couple of the most memorable moments of your life.

Sinistar said:
I am also curious what your CFI is teaching you regarding all that water. The sound is beautiful, but cold. Wondering how much water he allows you to fly over?
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Most routes around Puget Sound are within gliding distance to land. The widest part of Puget Sound is about 3 miles. The San Juans can be reached from the east shore near Skagit Regional (KBVS).

I did once cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca on a trip back from Tofino, BC. 15 nm across water was a bit unnerving, but with enough altitude one side or the other was within gliding distance. It was a bit like crossing the Cascades over Snoqualmie Pass--there's a runway about every 15 nm.
 
For my solo xcountry I flew to a little strip where there was a mechanic who could fix the faulty door on my aircraft. The strip was so small I thought it was a street. Indeed, I asked on the radio where the strip is and he said "look down".

Ironic thing is he's well known in the local Mooney world, and I go back there every year to deliver mine for annual.
 
Congrats, another milestone accomplished .
 
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