*All SOLO CROSS COUNTRY Advice Welcome*

[ShayD1]

Hiya! New to the thread and happy to be here! My profession is in law (attorney) but all my free time is spent with anything that has “horse power”— aviation, cars/trucks, hydroplane racing (APBA Member), equestrian sports lol

My love of aviation begin before entering grade school.Flew with my Dad who was former NAVY Crusader pilot and my grandfather who was a NAVY Hellcat pilot. FINALLY, starting my own aviation journey and still love everything about flying. I am still very novice (38 hrs in cockpit). I fly out of KBFI — BOEING FIELD/KING CTY INTERNATIONAL & S50 — AUBURN MUNICIPAL. I completed my first local solo around 15 cockpit hrs and at 20 hrs did a handful of solo local night landings. All went well. I am 38 hrs in and starting to prepare for SOLO CROSS-COUNTRY. Most of my hours have been spent flying to many local airports whether up in the cascades or in busy airspace. I love mountain flying and have a favorite spot (21W-RANGER CREEK) I love flying to and landing at 21W when going up to Mount Rainier. With all that said I am still nervous about my solo?!?! I am sure this is normal? Both places I fly out of are underneath a busy Seattle Class B airspace. KBFI is a busy Class D w/heavy commercial jet traffic/a lot of TFRs since it’s next to Stadiums.If I fly north I have to also contend with NAS-Whidbey & Alert Area A-680-massive NAVAL training sector. I fly south I have McChord Class D military airspace & Restricted Area R-6703. I’ve contacted McChord a few times and got transition permission to cross through, but as a solo student is that possible? Area R-6703 I believe is uniquely strict and would be a no as a student solo? Heading west towards the water/peninsula I have Bangor Naval and a lot of water underneath me. Heading east I have to contend with the cascade mountain range,so flying higher elevation. In your CROSS-COUNTRY SOLO’s did you complete in several trips? If familiar with the area, or any advice, I am open to suggestions.

 

[Clip4]

You might want to study special use airspace as it appears you don’t understand it. A-680 and R-6703 is normally not active on weekends, except by NOTAM. Operationally, they don’t exist when inactive.

 

[Domenick]

Are you training out of both BFI and S50? Different planes and CFIs. Getting towered and non-towered airport experience is good. Some newly-minted pilots come out of training avoiding one or other.

Here are a couple resources on Special Use Airspaces.
https://www.cfinotebook.net/notebook/national-airspace-system/special-use-airspace

https://flighttrainingcentral.com/2024/04/pilots-guide-to-special-use-airspace/

 

[midlifeflyer]

I'm not familiar with the area, so I won't comment substantively, but those are areas that are covered in the cross country phase of training. If you have been using an online or group ground school for most of your ground training, your cross countries are probably the single most important time for one-on-one with your CFI to put what you've been learning about Special Use airspace into context.

 

[Half Fast]

What did you do for your dual XC?

 

[ShayD1]

Are you training out of both BFI and S50? Different planes and CFIs. Getting towered and non-towered airport experience is good. Some newly-minted pilots come out of training avoiding one or other.

Here are a couple resources on Special Use Airspaces.
https://www.cfinotebook.net/notebook/national-airspace-system/special-use-airspace

https://flighttrainingcentral.com/2024/04/pilots-guide-to-special-use-airspace/

What did you do for your dual XC?

What did you do for your dual XC?

What did you do for your dual XC?

Yes, training out of both. Same CFI, different planes, but same model. I belong to a local flying club which has planes out of both places. I basically schedule & rent plane time for my lessons through the club I belong to. I have different plane options, but I’ve pretty much stuck to renting out 172’s. The club also has CFI’s. I’ve had the same CFI throughout the process.

I’ve done 4 hrs dual XC (day), 2 hrs night. All 4 hrs during day were going through the cascades – heading up Stampede Pass. Thank you for the resources!!

 

[Half Fast]

I’ve done 4 hrs dual XC (day), 2 hrs night. All 4 hrs during day were going through the cascades – heading up Stampede Pass. Thank you for the resources!!

So why should it be a problem to fly a similar route solo?

 

[Domenick]

...I’ve done 4 hrs dual XC (day), 2 hrs night. All 4 hrs during day were going through the cascades – heading up Stampede Pass. Thank you for the resources!!

Did your CFI mention why he chose Stampede Pass and not Snoqualmie?

Snoqualmie has runways about every 15 nm not to mention I-90 right below. Fall City (1WA6), Bandera (4w0), Easton (ESW), Cle Elum (S93). Over Snoqualmie you're never more than about 8 nm from a runway. At 7500 and an 8:1 glide ratio you've got 9-10 nm glide distance depending on AGL. At 9500 you've got even more.

(This is an example of XC planning considerations).

 

[iamtheari]

handful of solo local night landings

Sorry to hijack the thread, but what was your instructor’s logic and training leading up to the solo night endorsement? I never had one; my first night solo time was after I got my private.

I do suspect that any instructor whose training and experience with you led to that endorsement, despite the busy airspace where you’ve been training, will be just as thorough when it comes to the solo cross country training.

My advice while you are waiting for that ground session is to re-plan one of the same cross country flights you did for your dual lessons, from scratch, and then give another one a shot. Make a list of questions you run into along the way and talk to your CFI about each of them. Pay close attention to the CFI’s additional questions, because those are about the things you missed. And you are potentially within a few hours of having to catch all those things for yourself, so make the most of this lesson!