First XC flight after Checkrides

darthnomster

Pre-takeoff checklist
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FlyLikeAGirl'sHubs
My wife and I are both taking our PPL/ASEL checkrides this Friday if the weather holds (hers in the morning, mine in the afternoon).

We've obviously never flow together, so we want to do a XC together to celebrate. She'll fly outbound, I'll fly back.

We're based at KISZ (Cincinnati-Blue Ash). Any good tips for a celebratory XC in a DA-20C1? Someplace with good food at the airport would be good.

Hopefully it isn't bad mojo to plan a trip right after the checkride like this. :)

Edit: Rental rules means no grass strips.
 
Burke Lakefront R&R Hall of Fame.
Columbus for lunch
There used to be a restaurant on the field at Muncie. Is it still there?
Louisville Bowman - restaurants on/near the field
Huntington, WV - if for no reason other than the approach from the West.
.....
 
Congratulations to a fellow husband/wife team! My wife also got her ticket first. Don't think she won't make sure you remember it! :)

The restaurant at Lunken is good, but, given it's proximity, you've probably been there already. Of course, you could go to Signature, take their Jaguar, and go elsewhere!

Indianapolis is only about 100nm, so you could do a nice romantic seafood dinner on the deck at Rick's Boatyard Cafe at KEYE.
 
Burke Lakefront R&R Hall of Fame.
Columbus for lunch
There used to be a restaurant on the field at Muncie. Is it still there?
Louisville Bowman - restaurants on/near the field
Huntington, WV - if for no reason other than the approach from the West.
.....

Muncie has come and gone (twice). Unless a new restaurant opened in the past year or so, in which case I want to know about it!
 
Congratulations to a fellow husband/wife team! My wife also got her ticket first. Don't think she won't make sure you remember it! :)

The restaurant at Lunken is good, but, given it's proximity, you've probably been there already. Of course, you could go to Signature, take their Jaguar, and go elsewhere!

Indianapolis is only about 100nm, so you could do a nice romantic seafood dinner on the deck at Rick's Boatyard Cafe at KEYE.

Thanks for the tips everyone. Keep em coming. We actually live about 1sm from Lunken and drive past it to get to ISZ.
 
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My wife and I are both taking our PPL/ASEL checkrides this Friday if the weather holds (hers in the morning, mine in the afternoon).

We've obviously never flow together, so we want to do a XC together to celebrate. She'll fly outbound, I'll fly back.

We're based at KISZ (Cincinnati-Blue Ash). Any good tips for a celebratory XC in a DA-20C1? Someplace with good food at the airport would be good.

Hopefully it isn't bad mojo to plan a trip right after the checkride like this. :)

Edit: Rental rules means no grass strips.


Bad Mojo? Heck no! Go use that ticket when you get it!!
 
the new restaurant at muncie is Kacy J's. it is owned by a pilot and the food and service is excellent!
 
Forget the romance (for now). Just get through your first flight as new PPs- there will be nerves and a lot of excitement. Save the romance for the 2nd or 3rd trip.

2nd: Just a suggestion (you can toss it out the window if you like) try not to see each other until AFTER your checkride, so that you don't compare notes, etc. Conduct your flight with the assumption that she passed but focus your attention TOTALLY on your task at hand.

Enjoy the ride.
 
I can't see how anything could possibly go wrong with a husband and wife flying a celebratory cross-country trip immediately after passing their PPL rides--as long as they take two planes.
 
Well, when you do take your celebratory flight, I strongly suggest that one of you takes the flight "out" and the other takes the flight "back", and that the pilot flying pretend he's solo, and the pilot not flying pretend he's dead.

Unless you've already had some experience flying together (with a CFI), the urge to "backseat pilot" to be helpful can be stronger than in a car.
 
Fly up to Put-in-Bay (3W2). Watch the tower on final! Rent a go-cart or catch the bus into town, get a nice lunch and maybe even a souvenir. An easy day trip from the Queen City.
 
Steingar beat me to it! Put-In Bay is perfect. If you want a restaurant on the airport, there's the Skyway (I think that's what it is called). Call ahead though as they only serve lunch during certain hours.
 
Ok, Food that I know of around

Muncie,
Urbana Grimes,
Bolton,
Portsmouth,
Lunken.

I'm sure there's many that I'm forgetting but those are the one's I've been to. All are good in different ways.

3W2 is a great day trip though, just being fresh pilots make sure the weather is extra good. Flying over the lake on a hazy day and be a little disorienting. However you're making me jealous, going to have to twist Angie's arm to go back again sometime soon!
 
Burke Lakefront R&R Hall of Fame.
Columbus for lunch
There used to be a restaurant on the field at Muncie. Is it still there?
Louisville Bowman - restaurants on/near the field
Huntington, WV - if for no reason other than the approach from the West.
.....

It was in December.
 
Thanks for all of the great tips folks. We both passed the oral on Friday and the flight on saturday morning. :D:D We ended up flying to Eagle Creek Airpark in Indianapolis. Great way to spend a day!! We'll try to get up to Put-in Bay later this summer.
 
Congratulations!

It does have serious balls to make plans like that. Although, I decided not to be supersticious and bought a headset before checkride, but it was not on the same scale.
 
Congratulations!

It does have serious balls to make plans like that. Although, I decided not to be supersticious and bought a headset before checkride, but it was not on the same scale.

I'm either crazy or pretty optimistic as I'm buying a 182 pre-check ride. I figure I'll pass. Eventually. Probably. Above average odds. Better than even. Yeah . . . sure . . . I'll pass. :redface:

Captain Ramius: "When he reached the New World, Cortez burned his ships. As a result his men were well motivated."
 
Thanks for all of the great tips folks. We both passed the oral on Friday and the flight on saturday morning. :D:D We ended up flying to Eagle Creek Airpark in Indianapolis. Great way to spend a day!! We'll try to get up to Put-in Bay later this summer.
Congratulations! Did you enjoy Rick's?

We wound up going to Kacy J's in Muncie on Saturday evening. It was a gorgeous evening to fly!
 
Congratulations! Did you enjoy Rick's?

We wound up going to Kacy J's in Muncie on Saturday evening. It was a gorgeous evening to fly!


Rick's was nice. A bit fancier than I expected. The lady at the next table looked like she was fresh from her botox appointment.:yikes: Food was very good. Service was good.

How was Kacy J's?
 
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Rick's was nice. A bit fancier than I expected. The lady at the next table looked like she was fresh from her botox appointment.:yikes: Food was very good. Service was good.

How was Kacy J's?
Quiet, though we didn't get there until 9PM. The steaks (a ribeye and a filet mignon) were very good, and I would heartily recommend. A bit disappointed in the mac & cheese side, but then Leslie has spoiled me with hers! The instructor we took with (Leslie needed FBO currency in the 182) went for the Indiana Classic (a fried pounded pork sandwich), and said it was pretty tasteless and would not order it again.

They were out of the "all you can eat ribs", but said that the pulled pork dish is made from the same ribs. They make their own sauce. They also said that all the steaks came from the same cow.

All in all, definitely on the list of area restaurants to return to.
 
Fly up to Put-in-Bay (3W2). Watch the tower on final! Rent a go-cart or catch the bus into town, get a nice lunch and maybe even a souvenir. An easy day trip from the Queen City.

Steingar beat me to it! Put-In Bay is perfect. If you want a restaurant on the airport, there's the Skyway (I think that's what it is called). Call ahead though as they only serve lunch during certain hours.

This is on my list of "first trips". Only potential problem is that if things keep going how they're going right now, I'm on schedule to get my ticket in the middle of winter.

Another possible trip is a visit to Zelienople, PA (KPJC) a little bit north of Pittsburgh just barely still under the bravo. The plan was to possibly meet my wife's parents for lunch at a nice little mexican restaurant, El Toro, on the field - someone told me it might have went out of business, but I haven't found any info online to confirm that rumor.
 
This is on my list of "first trips". Only potential problem is that if things keep going how they're going right now, I'm on schedule to get my ticket in the middle of winter.

Another possible trip is a visit to Zelienople, PA (KPJC) a little bit north of Pittsburgh just barely still under the bravo. The plan was to possibly meet my wife's parents for lunch at a nice little mexican restaurant, El Toro, on the field - someone told me it might have went out of business, but I haven't found any info online to confirm that rumor.


Where is your home base?

As far as finishing before winter, all I can say is if you have the means, bite the bullet and fly as much as possible. You'll spend a crapload of money in a short amount of time, but it will be less total spend than stretching it out. My wife and I started in February, which turned out to be a little dumb, given the weather in Feb, March and April. Once May came around, we flew as often as possible. Some weeks I flew every day. The progress is MUCH enhanced if you can fly often and retain the skills you're building.
 
Where is your home base?

As far as finishing before winter, all I can say is if you have the means, bite the bullet and fly as much as possible. You'll spend a crapload of money in a short amount of time, but it will be less total spend than stretching it out. My wife and I started in February, which turned out to be a little dumb, given the weather in Feb, March and April. Once May came around, we flew as often as possible. Some weeks I flew every day. The progress is MUCH enhanced if you can fly often and retain the skills you're building.

I'm at KCGF in cleveland.

If I could fly more I would. I've certainly got money in savings to cover the rest of my training a couple times over, but I'm not allowed to touch it per my wife's orders (house money). So I can afford to go out and fly once per week pretty much. Its alright though, I'm really not in any rush :)
 
I fly into CGF all the time, I have a brother in South Euclid. You guys shouldn't forget to fly down (or up, as the case may be) to TZr, my home drome, for some barbecue. I don't eat the stuff, but I'm told its quite good by those in a position to know.
 
I'm at KCGF in cleveland.

If I could fly more I would. I've certainly got money in savings to cover the rest of my training a couple times over, but I'm not allowed to touch it per my wife's orders (house money). So I can afford to go out and fly once per week pretty much. Its alright though, I'm really not in any rush :)

Tell your wife you will end up spending twice as much if you don't fly 3 times a week instead of one, and it's the truth.
 
I fly into CGF all the time, I have a brother in South Euclid. You guys shouldn't forget to fly down (or up, as the case may be) to TZr, my home drome, for some barbecue. I don't eat the stuff, but I'm told its quite good by those in a position to know.

TZR was my second solo xc. Didn't get any grub. I do love BBQ though. Our daughter is leaning towards Ohio State, so we may have cause to get up your way regularly starting fall of 2012.
 
If she takes Intro biology there is a good chance she'll be taught by yours truly. Visiting your spawn is a damn fine excuse to fly!
 
I'm either crazy or pretty optimistic as I'm buying a 182 pre-check ride. I figure I'll pass. Eventually. Probably. Above average odds. Better than even. Yeah . . . sure . . . I'll pass. :redface:."

Not crazy at all, I bought an 182 when I was only two hours into my training. It was a good choice I still fly that plane :)
 
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