First Solo XC.. the good, the bad, and the ugly.

[Mafoo]

I thought you said you could have followed a river. Pilotage is entirely legit.

I could have followed the river to get back home. I was crossing Vermont to get to Glens Falls, and I have never flown over it before, so I would not have found it without GPS (being I screwed up my pilotage)

 

[JordanDelaney]

Honestly I don't think there was anything seriously wrong here. At the end of the day, you got the aircraft there and back. To be honest though, on your future cross countries, you really should just turn the GPS off. Only because on the day of your checkride you will need to use VORs, dead reckoning, and pilotage to navigate. Also what I did to ensure I take down time when going cross country is include it in my before takeoff checklist. You don't want to forget about taking down your takeoff time on your checkride!

Anyway, once you're past your checkride the GPS will pretty much be the only thing you use lol. But you should know how to use VORs and visual navigation with a sectional like the back of your hand.

Good job

 

[MAKG1]

Anyway, once you're past your checkride the GPS will pretty much be the only thing you use lol.

That's far from obvious. Older avionics make for cheaper aircraft. Sometimes the aircraft you need (say, a 172N with > 2400 lb gross weight) doesn't have a GPS. Sometimes GPS itself breaks.

You should never be totally dependent on a toy GPS, say, due to overflying fair weather cumulus.

I fly with a GPS maybe 20% of the time. Usually Garmin 430. I find it's a distraction in busy airspace or mountain flying, both situations where you want your eyes outside the aircraft as much as humanly possible. That's how you detect sinking or rising air and anticipate turbulence, not through the GPS. It's also how you avoid terrain and traffic.

 

[JordanDelaney]

That's far from obvious. Older avionics make for cheaper aircraft. Sometimes the aircraft you need (say, a 172N with > 2400 lb gross weight) doesn't have a GPS. Sometimes GPS itself breaks.

You should never be totally dependent on a toy GPS, say, due to overflying fair weather cumulus.

I fly with a GPS maybe 20% of the time. Usually Garmin 430. I find it's a distraction in busy airspace or mountain flying, both situations where you want your eyes outside the aircraft as much as humanly possible. That's how you detect sinking or rising air and anticipate turbulence, not through the GPS. It's also how you avoid terrain and traffic.

I don't navigate with the GPS itself, I usually use 40% pilotage and dead reckoning and 40% VORs and also 20% GPS. But I totally agree with you, in VFR you should be using VISUAL references. But in my opinion I was always confused about that when my instructor started talking about Crew Resource Management. Pilotage and dead reckoning are good means of navigation if they are used in conjunction with GPS and VOR navigation. Crew resource management is an important concept and it is part of the PTS. In other words, you should know how to use each piece of equipment in the airplane, and you should use each one as appropriate.

 

[Graueradler]

Something that may help with spotting other aircraft traffic. You may be looking too high or low. Assume a plane a mile away and 1000 feet higher. Draw a right triangle with the horizontal side 5 times longer than the vertical side. The hypotenuse is at the angle at which you would have to look to find the plane. It is probably a smaller angle than you thought. If the plane was 2 miles away - 10 to 1 triangle.

 

[AuntPeggy]

It sounds like your flight went perfectly. It is supposed to be both a learning experience and a confidence builder. It should leave you with a determination to do better.

Congratulations.

About that radio problem... do you by any chance have an autopilot disconnect button on your yoke? I have a favorite story about expecting push-to-talk and getting autopilot connect/disconnect instead. sigh.

 

[ChrisK]

About that radio problem... do you by any chance have an autopilot disconnect button on your yoke? I have a favorite story about expecting push-to-talk and getting autopilot connect/disconnect instead. sigh.

Dude. Ever since starting IR studying I've been wondering about that. Good call.

 

[DaleB]

That brought back some memories! My first XC solo had some tense moments on the radio! I turned down the volume on COM1 but not COM2 and promptly forgot. I made a complete fool of myself coming into Addison (towered airport) and trying to raise them until I realized I had the volume down. Never made that mistake again!

I'm always a little paranoid about that. Always test the radio volume by opening the squelch to make sure I'm hearing the right one.

Mafoo, sounds like your X/C was a learning experience as it should be. The only thing that concerns me a little is using GPS nav all the way. I love GPS, but I don't trust it not to fail on me with no warning -- I've had it happen in cars before. Any time I'm away from my home airport I have the chart on my kneeboard, VORs and compass directions noted, and am tracking where I am on the ground and on the chart. The GPS is really nice tor a quick glance to tell me the distance, ETA, stuff like that.

So now you have a few minor mistakes you'll never make again... we all have those.

 

[Mafoo]

The only thing that concerns me a little is using GPS nav all the way. I love GPS, but I don't trust it not to fail on me with no warning -- I've had it happen in cars before.

Yea, if I didn't know I could find my way home at any time without GPS, I would not have made the trip. If it had failed me, I would have just headed east to the river, and once I got there, north to the airport. I have flown south of the airport enough to recognize when I am getting close.

I also had a paper chart with me if I needed it.

 

[Jaybird180]

While I agree that you should stick to paper until you get your ticket, I disagree that it (iPad) should stay home. A flight bag will be fine.

Also, demonstrating use of GPS (all installed equipment in the airplane) is a required PTS task.

Congratulations on the XC! You did it!!!

 

[MAKG1]

Also, demonstrating use of GPS (all installed equipment in the airplane) is a required PTS task.

It's a legit task, not a required one. I didn't have to demonstrate ADF or DME, or how to use the EGT gauge. The first would have been a problem -- it was installed in the aircraft, but there weren't any NDBs in range.

It's reasonable to expect a DPE to want to see you use the GPS for something if it's installed. Certainly not for everything it's capable of on a PP-ASEL checkride (maybe for IR, but I doubt it). But it's also reasonable to expect the DPE to "fail" it immediately.

 

[Jaybird180]

My DPE did not fail the GPS. But I did have to demonstrate use of pilotage and 'about this way' navigation on the divert portion of the checkride. I was only required to demonstrate use of Direct To. He then showed me a few things about the unit that was outside what the CFI introduced me to.

 

[danhagan]

Did my PPL in 2007. Training was plain vor, dead rec and pilotage .... no GPS. I use GPS now, but am probably not as proficient with GPS as I should be (can do the usual FP, direct to, and general VFR stuff etc., but haven't loaded approaches - need to complete IR).

 

[pilotod]

I can use a VOR but a GPS is a lot better. I have 3 of them and the plane has one too. I don't have to listen for morse code, look up a frequency or turn a knob. But the DPE will want you to use all available resources and that means the VOR. But between you and me, the GPS should be out and on. There's a lot of people here who don't trust technology because they tried "new" technology when it came out (GPS) and it just didn't work out for them....I think. Nevermind that instrument approaches can be done with GPS. Planes can break and so can instruments, just learn to use them all and pick the one that gets you where you want to go.

 

[MAKG1]

Umm, you might want to consider that some of us have better reasons not to trust unknown exceedingly complex technology, than unfamiliarity. Some of us work in the field and know what a million lines of code means.

 

[pilotod]

ask me about my job and I'll scare you too. I know you poo poo GPS from reading your comments on the studentpilot site.

Umm, you might want to consider that some of us have better reasons not to trust unknown exceedingly complex technology, than unfamiliarity. Some of us work in the field and know what a million lines of code means.

 

[Ghery]

i still dead reckoning when i can
i just got back from a 100 dollar cheese burger run and never use the gps, tough i did use the daisetta VOR as instructed by Houston Approach on my back. hit all my marks on time, got pretty clear and easy to spot land marks over I10 corridor.
BPT - 11R
11R - CLL
CLL - BPT
windy and bumpy as hell. but a bumpy flying day is better than a not flying day.

kudos on your solo. keep the ipad at home and get your regional chart paper never fails.

You mean it exists outside the world of King Schools videos?

That brought back some memories! My first XC solo had some tense moments on the radio! I turned down the volume on COM1 but not COM2 and promptly forgot. I made a complete fool of myself coming into Addison (towered airport) and trying to raise them until I realized I had the volume down. Never made that mistake again!

Welcome to the club. This isn't the first time a pilot has turned down the volume and then wondered why they couldn't hear anyone and it won't be the last.

Now, GPS vs other navigation means. When I took my PP ride in 2001 the plane did not have GPS. We (the club) added a 430W several years later. VFR navigation in our corner of the world is easy. The Pacific Ocean is west, the Cascades are east. When in doubt going north/south, follow I-5 (IFR). Enough unique shaped islands in Puget Sound that you can figure out where you are on the sectional in a heartbeat. Even with a complete electrical failure. Other places may not be so simple.

Learn all the nav aids in your plane. Coming back from eastern WA last month on an IFR plan I was primarily navigating with the VORs (I had filed Victor airways) but had the 430W tracking as a backup. Paper charts in my lap and the approach plate for the ILS 17 into OLM in the clip on the yoke. ILS 17 programmed into the 430W. See a pattern? Back ups. If one fails, you've got options already up and running. Flying VFR, pilotage comes first. Create the plan with waypoints you can identify. Then see what ground based navaids can help. Finally, the GPS. Know them all. As Yoda would say, "Save your life, it can!"

 

[JordanDelaney]

It's a legit task, not a required one. I didn't have to demonstrate ADF or DME, or how to use the EGT gauge. The first would have been a problem -- it was installed in the aircraft, but there weren't any NDBs in range.

It's reasonable to expect a DPE to want to see you use the GPS for something if it's installed. Certainly not for everything it's capable of on a PP-ASEL checkride (maybe for IR, but I doubt it). But it's also reasonable to expect the DPE to "fail" it immediately.

Right. It's not required that you demonstrate how to use it. But if it's installed in the airplane, it's fair play for the examiner to ask you to demonstrate how to use it.