First Solo XC This Afternoon

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JoeFromKS

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Jul 22, 2014
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JoeFromKS
Got the plane scheduled, flight planned, weather looks clear (but HOT), everything's a go. Route is 71k (uncontrolled, but within ict class c) - lyo (middle of nowhere uncontrolled) - hut (towered d) - 71k. Repeat of the trip we did for my dual night xc. Can't wait, work is going sloooooowww.:D
 
JoeFromKS said:
Got the plane scheduled, flight planned, weather looks clear (but HOT), everything's a go. Route is 71k (uncontrolled, but within ict class c) - lyo (middle of nowhere uncontrolled) - hut (towered d) - 71k. Repeat of the trip we did for my dual night xc. Can't wait, work is going sloooooowww.:D
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Have a great flight!!
 
Good luck! If you're anything like me, you'll want to be sure to check the weather every 5 minutes to make sure nothing's changed (despite knowing that updates won't come NEARLY that often). ;-)
 
Cutting of the apron strings. The solo XC is one of the most fantastic flights. Today you are a pilot going places. Bring your camera and share any interesting things you see along the way.

Fly safe!
 
Good Luck. Have Fun!! Enjoy the ride.
 
Have fun! As you're enjoying the ride at flight altitude and watching for traffic, remember that there's always something to be done to stay ahead of the plane (weather, setting up comms for the next airport in standby, planning descent/landing, etc.).

Most of all, enjoy what will likely be a flight you'll never forget!
 
Thanks everybody! May be delayed, failed the run up with no drop on the right mag, mechanics looking at it now.

Update: fixed!
 
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Solo XC was one of the first times I had the "OMG!!! I'm and effin pilot!!!!" feeling.
 
I hope your XC was a great one, JoeFromKS! Won't be long now!
 
Woohoo! I'll never forget my first solo XC. I was flying a C172 KRNO to KHTH and my CFI was about 15 minutes behind me taking another student on a dual XC. We all met up at KHTH for lunch. That was also my first $100 hamburger. :)
 
Good luck!!! I got my license last September and just got home from my longest round trip XC to date -over 900 miles!! (KGTU to KELP and back)

It feels like such a grind when you are in training but once you punch your ticket and are cruising along at 10,500 halfway through a 450nm flight...you realize how it was all so worth it!

Fly safe!
 
JoeFromKS said:
Thanks everybody! May be delayed, failed the run up with no drop on the right mag, mechanics looking at it now.

Update: fixed!
Click to expand...

...rental planes...no one ever leans it on the ground...my money is on fouled up plugs. Hopefully your schools A&P or CFI showed you how to clear that out. :D
 
Hope you had fun! I'm assuming it did. I used to have my students call me/leave a message when they landed just in case I was busy with another student. "Want to make sure my plane is still in one piece...oh and you're ok too." ;)

You're on the downhill side of you're training. This is the fun stuff! Sometimes I wish I could pretend I'm a student just for fun. I'm not sure how well I could fake it after eleven years!
 
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JoeFromKS said:
Thanks everybody! May be delayed, failed the run up with no drop on the right mag, mechanics looking at it now.

Update: fixed!
Click to expand...

A bit off subject but do you log time like this? If you have a 10 min taxi, do a 5 min runup and a 10 min taxi back 1) would the FBO charge you? 2) Do you log the time or not?

I would think the FBO wouldn't charge you and I wouldn't think you would log it... but maybe I'm wrong.
 
OkieAviator said:
A bit off subject but do you log time like this? If you have a 10 min taxi, do a 5 min runup and a 10 min taxi back 1) would the FBO charge you? 2) Do you log the time or not?

I would think the FBO wouldn't charge you and I wouldn't think you would log it... but maybe I'm wrong.
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I had an alternator failure right after takeoff at 600' AGL one day. I was going out for some crosswind landing practice. I returned to the airport. I was charged for the hobbs time. Not sure if they would charge me if it had happened on the ground.
 
Thanks. Every flight for me is crosswind landing practice it seems.
 
Flight went great once I got off the ground. Winds were from 170 at 15 everywhere, and each stop was on a runway 17. Made for some really easy landings with full flaps in a 150!

Couple of interesting exchanges with the HUT tower though:
The first leg took me right over his class d at 6500, and the top of the d is 4000. I gave him a call to advise, and he responded with "cleared to transition over the class delta." Didn't think I needed to be "cleared"... but ok, it works.
On the way back to HUT, I call "hutch tower, cessna 12345, 10 miles out to the northwest, to land"
"Cessna 12345, advise when on left base for 17"
"Advise left base 17, 345"
So I start planning my pattern entry in my head, and this doesn't seem right, call back "tower, cessna 345, confirm left base 17?"
"OHHH, CORRECTION right base 17"
Once on the ground taxi instructions were right on alpha, right on bravo, cross 13. Simple, right? Nope, I start turning right on bravo, and get yelled at "I said RIGHT"
"This is right"
"No, right...LEFT...THAT WAY" (which was right)
Continue on to intersection of 13, here I stop. So question: he said "cross", but not "cleared to cross", so can I go? Wasn't sure so I asked to cross. Cleared for takeoff 17, and I got out of there.
Last leg was smooth, nailed my turn at the ICT VOR, that felt good to see the needle centered, steady, go haywire, and flip back to steady.

Btw, original maintenance issue was a broken terminal on the ground wire to the mag.
 
Good job Joe. Thanks for the update.
 
Sounds like an eventful flight! You're right, you don't need to be cleared over the Delta. I'm guessing the controller just didn't have a good way to say "Thanks for the heads up, we'll keep an eye on you." Then when you came back there was confusion on the pattern entry and the runway exit. Maybe it was someone's first solo in the tower cab yesterday, too? :dunno:

Either way, it sounds like you handled it all well and proved that you are capable of being the pilot-in-command on a flight away from the home airport. You're on the home stretch now! It won't be long before we read about your checkride success. :)
 
JoeFromKS said:
"Cessna 12345, advise when on left base for 17"
"Advise left base 17, 345"
So I start planning my pattern entry in my head, and this doesn't seem right, call back "tower, cessna 345, confirm left base 17?"
"OHHH, CORRECTION right base 17"
Click to expand...

Three words:
METAL
LANDING
CALCULATOR
:D

Congrats on the cross country!
 
Joe, glad to hear you had a blast, first solo X/C is always fun (at least IMO).
It seems that you will do just fine since you have common sense and judgment and know better than to take human instructions for granted. Glad you got all their problems sorted out, makes you stay on top of your toes and look out for strange things.

Now go fly some more!!
 
You asked if " cross runway..." means you are cleared to cross. My experience is it does. The implied meaning of cross is that you are cleared to cross that runway. It's not like the bravo requirement where you must hear the words, " cleared into the class bravo airspace."

Now interessting fact about the cleared to cross runway command. ATC is not allowed to issues cleared to cross command over multiple runways at one time. They can't say " cleared to cross runway 17 and runway 23." They would be required to say "cleared to cross runway 17, hold short runway 23." So never accept multiple cleared to cross clearances in one transmission because it not allowed. I learned this rule because KISP has parellel runways that the commercial jets have to taxi across to get to the bigger runway they use more often. It happened so often I was curious why they were always told to hold short of runway 33r when no traffic was using either of the 33's but they were always cleared to cross 33l. One day a southwest pilot asked the controller and he explained the regulation.
 
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The one time my rental failed the mag check just before takeoff, I didn't log it and I didn't pay.

OkieAviator said:
A bit off subject but do you log time like this? If you have a 10 min taxi, do a 5 min runup and a 10 min taxi back 1) would the FBO charge you? 2) Do you log the time or not?

I would think the FBO wouldn't charge you and I wouldn't think you would log it... but maybe I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
 
Hmm, good question. Since I was able to fly I didn't press the issue and it was logged and payed. In this case it was only 1/10th if anything.
 
If you taxied out with "intent of flight" and you made your go-nogo decision in a running airplane (which you did), you can log the time on the ground, yes. Even if it is 0.1.
If the DPE sees the logbook entry and asks and your answer is "failed mag check so I scrubbed the flight", he will likely be happy that you made a good call.
 
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