Back from the very long XC

kath

kath

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Katherine
Hey all,
I got back yesterday from "the big trip" to the Midwest. It was 8 days long (on only one of which I did not fly), and at final tally I traveled 2249 NM worth of straight-line courses of cross country. Plus a few sightseeing cruises with various friends in various places along the way. Wow!

I've been dreaming about taking a trip like this since last fall when I started working on the IR. As it turns out, I did get to use the IR here and there on the trip, but overall I was dancing in a VFR paradise, following a big high pressure system around, while Boston experienced the longest-running period of continuous rain and craptacular weather in recent memory.

Rather than put a long long narrative on here, I've assembled everything on this web page:

http://ligo.mit.edu/~rawlins/flying/destinationmadison.html

It contains the periodic emails I sent home, a few pictures (more to come soon, I hope!), and whatever other goodies I could come up with .

--Kath
 
Sounds like you had a great time. Good work on the website and all your daily journals...I enjoyed reading them.

I can't believe you were able to rent a plane for an entire week! Normally someone always has it during the time you need it.
 
Great story Kath. Those are the best adventures aren't they? You don't know what's over the horizon but you're reasonably sure you can do it so off you go into the unknown...

"The destination chosen at random: Clarion County, PA. No idea what's there. Fly there and find out!"
So much for overthinking the XC planning details huh? That's the good life! :yinyang:

Frank.

P.S. I totally agree. Nowhere PA (NY also) is absolutely beautiful country to fly over.
 
Very Cool.
Organized webpage, complete with map, figures, timelines!
We need more posts like this so I can fly vicariously through others' adventures!
 
Kath: Great post. So easy to read and fun too. What a great opportunity Good for you.:yes:
 
Kath, AMAZING story. I've enjoyed getting your emails and following along. Talk about spelling B-R-A-V-E -- that is what you are. You can think on your feet. If you could make a trip like this, you can go anywhere.

I always love your heard-over-the-radio reports.

So, buying a plane anytime soon?
 
Iceman said:
I can't believe you were able to rent a plane for an entire week! Normally someone always has it during the time you need it.
Click to expand...
I follow the renting vs. owning debates with much interest every time they come up... and a trip like this is one of those things that you "can't do" when you rent. Or can you? :rolleyes:

I did arrange the rental about a month in advance. I "padded" the reservation by a day on either side of the trip (10 days total), and cancelled each of the extra ones as soon as I could make an educated guess (gamble) on the weather. My FBO charges a 3-hour daily minimum for renting a plane for a whole day... so I thought I would be effectively paying by the day. Turns out that by flying 28 hours in 8 days I more than met that average!

The trip was expensive, yes. But not impossible; renters can take cool long trips too, they just have to plan more in advance. Would it be cheaper if I owned my own plane? Dunno about that. Now that the trip is over, I just go home and I don't have to worry about airplanes at all anymore if I don't want to. Besides, I rented a much nicer plane than I'd ever be able to afford. B)

--Kath
 
Kath have you or any other renter out there considered or asked the FBO for a discount on the hourly rate for extened rentals like yours? I wonder if such a thing might be possible? True the FBO looses use of the plane for other customers for a while ( probably impossible if they are a one or two plane outfit) but he are assured of a lot of hours during the rental. Just curious!
 
AdamZ said:
Kath have you or any other renter out there considered or asked the FBO for a discount on the hourly rate for extened rentals like yours? I wonder if such a thing might be possible? True the FBO looses use of the plane for other customers for a while ( probably impossible if they are a one or two plane outfit) but he are assured of a lot of hours during the rental. Just curious!
Click to expand...


Where I trained you could rent a plane for a 3hr/day minimum like Kath did. No limit on the number of days you could keep it. (They had to know you well of course.) No discount on the hourly rate.
 
Two reasons why a discount on the hourly rate isn't likely...

First, most airlines in flight school fleets are leasebacks, which means that the flight school isn't the person you need to be haggling with. Talk to the owner of an airplane, especially one that doesn't get flown as much, and ask if you can buy a block of time from him at a discounted rate.

Second, most airplanes do not have much profit margin in them, you might get 10% or even 20% off, but any more than that and someone is losing money somewhere. You might consider renting an airplane dry, to get a better overall rate if you can buy fuel cheaper than they have at your local field.
 
Discounts are available some places IF you buy X number of hours at one time, have money on account, or belong to their 'club'. Your credit card can also give you back money.

There are ways.
 
Katherine;
I just read your TOME. Quite nice. It's a journey (OSHKOSH) I'd like to make someday. I just need that IFR ticket.
 
Kath,
Looks like you flew over my home of Auburn In just north of Fort Wayne. Sorry you thought Indiana was boring but if you could have flown about 30 miles north, we have some nice lakes and then Amish farms to look at. Over he lake is scary but I have done it 3-4 times.
Congradulations and fly safe.
Joe
comm-multi-cfii
 
Nice journal Kath. A great trip. I aspire to do some longer distance flying in the mid-west sometime, as I have spent very little time out there.

It is neat to read what others write about places you know. I have been into UNV. I was there with a local pilot who told me to "just aim for the end of that little mountain there, the airport is right around the corner past it."

And I know the Best Western at POU. We were weathered in there last year for a day and a half last year, finally flying out of POU at 11:30 pm. I had to do stop and goes just to get night current before we left. But, hopefully, you had the same good line service that we did when we were stuck there.

You are right about PA. The country is really pretty, particularly at altitude. Everyone should fly over northern PA some time, just to experience it.

Great trip. Great story.

Jim G
 
kath said:
I follow the renting vs. owning debates with much interest every time they come up... and a trip like this is one of those things that you "can't do" when you rent. Or can you? :rolleyes:

snip

--Kath
Click to expand...

Depends on the FBO. There are two here, Montgomery County Aviation at Wings Field and Hortman Aviation at Philly Northeast, that will let you take their planes for at least 5 days (the longest I've asked about), with no daily minimums. Most others charge 3 hrs a day. The biggest challenge is planning far enough ahead for plane availability to work out.
 
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