Navigating by Pilotage

azpilot

azpilot

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azpilot
What is the longest cross country you've ever completed just by using pilotage? I fly out of KCHD (Chandler municipal airport in the Phoenix metro area)

Shortly after I got my private, I took a friend and we flew from KCHD to E77. That flight isn't terribly far, in fact it's barely a "cross country at 70 nautical miles. But we did the whole thing with paper charts and our eye balls. I've done other flights up to KSEZ (94.6), KFLG (112.3) and KTYL (110.5) using visual landmarks for 90% of the flight, but I still did use VOR's and GPS for "help".

I do recognize these are not terribly far, but I'm curious what's the furthest you've flown from "home" just using a paper chart and your eyes? Do any of you have good stories about navigating over long distances by pilotage?
 
in college I flew a compass equipped Flybaby from Ames, IA to Beaumont, KS for lunch. 292.4 nautical direct, although I doglegged to Gardner on the way down. I didn't actually make it back although thats another story. https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/beaumont-ks-for-brunch-tomorrow-11-9.25455/

This year I've flown my compass equipped Cessna 120 from Wichita to Estherville, IA (357.7 NM) twice, to Blair, NE (225.8 NM) twice, and to the Greater Houston Soaring Association (490.9 NM) twice.

I certainly enjoy pilotage and DR. An enjoyable way to see the countryside.
 
Until recently, my longest cross country trips were done in Super Cubs and a couple of other similar planes. None of them had anything of value in the instrument panel so pilotage was the primary means of navigation. My longest trip was probably taking the Cub from Iowa up to Churchill MB and back.
 
Troutdale, Oregon to Gatesville, TX. No navaid receivers installed.

EDIT: Update- I forgot the trips from Tacoma, WA to Savannah, GA and Savannah, GA to Fairbanks, AK. That was long ago and nearly forgotten...
 
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About 20 years as an Army Attack driver…we had an ADF…but sort of useless to us other than an annual Instrument ride…
 
I had a job flying Stearmans around the countryside…a comm and a transponder, otherwise pilotage and DR. Don’t think I ever got further east than Tennessee, or further west than Arizona.

It’s because of that job that I consider myself a professionally-trained scud runner. ;)
 
Around here? I keep a paper chart in the plane, but I'm flying mostly by pilotage and maybe a little bit of ded reckoning. Longest is probably 130 miles or so? Albany down to NYC and back. But if you get lost doing that, daytime VFR, you probably shouldn't be flying. We have hills, rivers and such, so it's tricky to get lost unless it's IFR, night, or you're really low.

Friend of mine ferried a cub up from Florida. I think he did most or all of it pilotage. If you can't see the ocean, you're too far left. If you can't see land, you're WAY too far right. Biggest thing he had to worry about was planning fuel stops, and avoiding C's and maybe moas.
 
I am sure I have done longer ones (like those @Tools referenced), but the one that sticks in my mind was 126 NM, solo student cross country in 1984 in a C150.

It was only supposed to be two legs and 100 NM, but fuel pumps were OTS at my intended stop, without a NOTAM, or anyone around to endorse my logbook. So I improvised to the 'nearest' back when such buttons did not exist.

[timewarp]
When I got to my "divert" I called my instructor on a landline using an MCI card (thank God the FBO had a push button pay phone, and he was in the office to answer) to update him on the change.
[/timewarp]

"Good decision, chart your return, come on back."
 
Rgbeard said:
don't people die doing this?

Where's the Magenta Line??? OMG!
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You speak truth. Oh wait, sarcasm.......


The longest I did by pilotage - paper chart, visual way points, timing intervals, was during my long X Country as private pilot student. Maybe its because where I fly there's just too many other people to run into, too many airspaces to wonder into - have to keep one eye on the GPS.
 
Shawnee, OK to Corinth, MS, to Gainesville, GA. 5.6 hours, about 650 NM. It was also my first solo flight in a Cessna 172.

Had nice tailwinds that day.
 
I'm working on getting into a club with a 172 that has *gasp* NO GPS. I might buy a sectional just to do it the old fashioned way. It's kinda cheating though with all the interstate highways. Not like when you had to make a low pass & read the water tower.

This things gonna sharpen my VOR skills too; it's ifr certified. No gps, but the adf works, and there's a dme. I'll finally get to learn how to do an ndb approach.
 
If I flew around in the flat states, I'd absolutely have a GPS at all times. Not only is there very little terrain reference, all of the roads are usually NS or EW, too. There's a reason that people used to paint the names of towns on barns and water towers.
 
IIRC, my CFI's normal first XC for students was KOLM to KCLS. Yeah, you could use VORs, but it was a typical IFR (I Follow Roads) route. If you got lost flying between these two airports you really needed to find a different way to dispose of your income. Oh, BTW, it's 51 nm between the two airports.
 
Jim K said:
I might buy a sectional just to do it the old fashioned way. It's kinda cheating though with all the interstate highways.
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Flying with a friend about 90 miles from home when his trusty iPad with foreflight overheated. Looked out the window and spotted I-95 about five miles to the right. Easy enough to follow the interstate nearly all the way home. But I do admit to sometimes being "a child of the magenta."
 
Coming from Sacramento I follow I-80 to San Fran and then either head either north or south on the coast. That magenta line can get places pretty fast though if need be or sometimes it's nice to have break and let the butler (AP) fly for a while.
 
Albany Tom said:
If I flew around in the flat states, I'd absolutely have a GPS at all times. Not only is there very little terrain reference, all of the roads are usually NS or EW, too. There's a reason that people used to paint the names of towns on barns and water towers.
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I find the flat states easier for pilotage. I guess it’s how you started out and/or what you’re used to.
 
3 decades ago, I did NC58 - CO4 - NC58 in a Cessna 140. We had a handheld radio and paper charts/compass. For some reason I can't make myself throw out those old charts. Still trying to hang on to part of my youth, I guess. I still remember something about most of the stops. Mr. Humphrey at Stuttgart, AR was very accommodating to us even though we locked him out of his terminal building. With the promise of improving weather at Elk City, OK, we departed under an 800' overcast in light rain, northbound, planning a road landing if things got worse. With 50 miles behind us, the clouds parted and we were in good VFR conditions for the remainder of the trip. Density Altitude was an eye opener at Lamar, CO and Ellicott where "Clementine" the St. Bernard greeted us after landing). I have the route in Foreflight for when I retire.

Anthony
 
The longest I've flown with just a paper chart and my eyes was my long xc as a student. If I remember correctly, it was about 165nm, give or take a few miles. Flying in the flat states without GPS is actually pretty easy if you've looked at the chart beforehand. There are very few towns and if you have any idea where you could be, once you run into a town, you know exactly where you must be. :cool:
 
I'd do long portions of my flight to OSH by pilotage every year. Long about Ohio you can pick up the railroad tracks that take you straight to Gary, IN. Then you fly up the lakeshore until clear of the class B and head off in the general direction of OSH until you can pick up the VOR. I did this for about three years before I got my first GPS. Trying to use VORs to pick your way around Chicago is sort of pointless.
 
Yeah, for some reason I'm better in rural areas about picking out the rivers and hills and interstates compared to urban areas, where I have a hard time being as certain which one mall or tower is which. When I trained in central PA, I loved pilotage. Now, most of my flights involve avoiding or penetrating controlled airspace, SFRA, etc, and I'm just not willing to do the "well, if I cross this highway at this intersection, I know I'll stay clear of the bravo" thing. When I was based at MTN, I was happy enough to know the landmarks on the shoreline that marked the SFRA, bravo, and restricted areas, but to be honest, looking at the map again now, I'm not sure I'd have the cojones for that today...
 
Middle TN to southern LA in an Agcat with no comm or nav equipment. If I recall correctly it took two enroute fuel stops. Thing went about a 100 mph downhill. Was a long day.
 
Clip4 said:
You could fly follow I70 across most of the country and it would be pilotage.
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IFR - I Follow Roads

Ghery said:
IIRC, my CFI's normal first XC for students was KOLM to KCLS. Yeah, you could use VORs, but it was a typical IFR (I Follow Roads) route. If you got lost flying between these two airports you really needed to find a different way to dispose of your income. Oh, BTW, it's 51 nm between the two airports.
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I think the best part of learning to fly out of Bremerton was that it was really hard to get lost. You just have to look for the two small hills and the airport is at their base. Learning to fly in that area, I was confused about how people managed to get lost flying while flying around. Then I moved to Texas.
 
317 NM in a NORDO T-Craft, NJ to OH, did that several times. And a lot of shorter flights up and down the east coast.

Then there was the trip (I wasn't PIC) from St. Louis to upstate NY in a ratty old Tri-Pacer with an inop electrical system (had to hand prop at each fuel stop) and a broken compass...
 
Yeah, used to have to do that, fly pilotage only, when I started flying. I use the magenta line now, still look for checkpoints, but more for fun than anything else. Flying by pilotage is all fun and games until you get off course.
 
PaulS said:
Yeah, used to have to do that, fly pilotage only, when I started flying. I use the magenta line now, still look for checkpoints, but more for fun than anything else. Flying by pilotage is all fun and games until you get off course.
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But if you know where you are by pilotage, does it matter if you’re off course?
 
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