First XC coming up Saturday

[mmilano]

I have my first XC coming up on saturday, I'm pretty excited. We're flying from Carlsbad CRQ to Camarillo CMA in a 152.

I've spent time planning the trip the best I can on my own, but we will spend about 2 hours on the ground before to do the official plan.

The path takes us right through LAX Class B, but there is a VFR cooridore we can use. Fortunately the first part of my training was done just south of LA, so I'm fairly comfortable with that airspace. I've never been through that VFR cooridore yet though.

I haven't flown in about a month, so I'm hoping it's like riding a bike and things will still be comfortable. This is also only my second flight with this new instructor, so I'm sure we'll still be getting used to eachother too.

Any words of wisdom? I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[Shipoke]

Well mike only thing i can tell you is GOOD LUCK and Enjoy the ride,Let us know how it turns out Dave

 

[Rudy]

Don't worry, once you start flying it will be like you just went the day before. It comes back in a hurry.
Have a blast!

 

[Matthew]

My first two dual XCs (one at night, one during the day) got me to select a few extra checkpoints close to the destination. I didn't have a problem following the course, but once I get close to the destination and start descending, changing airspeed, changing visual perspective, I had a tougher time picking up the field visually. That's part of the learning and why you should get the experience of going to airports you've never been to before.

If your CFI is like mine, be ready to get that E6B smoking. Record time between checkpoints, time at checkpoints, calculate groundspeeds, estimated time to next checkpoint, estimated time to destination. You'll probably find you're already to the next checkpoint by the time you do the math to figure out how long it should take to get there.

The XC part of flying is by far my favorite.

Matt

 

[TangoWhiskey]

I have my first XC coming up on saturday, I'm pretty excited. We're flying from Carlsbad CRQ to Camarillo CMA in a 152.

I've spent time planning the trip the best I can on my own, but we will spend about 2 hours on the ground before to do the official plan.

The path takes us right through LAX Class B, but there is a VFR cooridore we can use. Fortunately the first part of my training was done just south of LA, so I'm fairly comfortable with that airspace. I've never been through that VFR cooridore yet though.

I haven't flown in about a month, so I'm hoping it's like riding a bike and things will still be comfortable. This is also only my second flight with this new instructor, so I'm sure we'll still be getting used to eachother too.

Any words of wisdom? I'm really looking forward to it.

Have a great time, and be sure to tell us how it went!

If you have MS Flight Simulator, pull out your sectional and your flight plan log, and fly the whole trip in advance. It's amazing how it can help you prep for what you'll see out the front window (where that airport is in relation to the town, or how the road crosses the river right where that railroad is, etc.), what your VOR needle will show if you're using radio navigation, etc.

You'll feel like you're doing the trip for the SECOND time when you go with the instructor.

 

[mmilano]

The XC went great. We ended up going to Lake Havasu (HII) instead due to weather.

I got about an hour under the hood on the way there. It was cool to finally understand what 'the leans' meant. I kept feeling like I was leaning right, so I would catch myself banking left. It was very difficult to ignore, but I finally got it under control.

Our cruise altitude was 7500, which took a LONG time to reach in the 152 with full tanks. It was the first time I had taken that plane this high. It was nice to get experience with a planned climb and decent as well.

We got into HII at about 5pm. We were right on schedule. We borrowed the crew car and got a bite to eat. By the time we were done, weather was reporting overcast for the time we were due back in Carlsbad.

My instructor is instrument rated, but the 152 was not equiped. It is VFR only. So we ended up staying overnight at his brother's house. What was even cooler is that we went fishing at about 8:30pm to midnight on his brother's friend's boat. Had a chance to catch a couple catfish and bass. What a cool trip!

We departed at 8am and had a very smooth 2 hour flight home. I got a lot of VOR practice in, along with some very good pilotage experience in.

Can't wait to go on the next one.

 

[kellyo]

The XC went great. We ended up going to Lake Havasu (HII) instead due to weather.

I got about an hour under the hood on the way there. It was cool to finally understand what 'the leans' meant. I kept feeling like I was leaning right, so I would catch myself banking left. It was very difficult to ignore, but I finally got it under control.

Our cruise altitude was 7500, which took a LONG time to reach in the 152 with full tanks. It was the first time I had taken that plane this high. It was nice to get experience with a planned climb and decent as well.

We got into HII at about 5pm. We were right on schedule. We borrowed the crew car and got a bite to eat. By the time we were done, weather was reporting overcast for the time we were due back in Carlsbad.

My instructor is instrument rated, but the 152 was not equiped. It is VFR only. So we ended up staying overnight at his brother's house. What was even cooler is that we went fishing at about 8:30pm to midnight on his brother's friend's boat. Had a chance to catch a couple catfish and bass. What a cool trip!

We departed at 8am and had a very smooth 2 hour flight home. I got a lot of VOR practice in, along with some very good pilotage experience in.

Can't wait to go on the next one.

Excellent. When will you go solo? Next time you do hood work, spend a few minutes doing this: 1) Roll very very slowing into a standard rate turn, 2) maintain a standard rate turn until you get disoriented. It's fun. The other one I like is somatogavic illusion, with hood on start a descent at 60KIAS in the 152. Then when your instructor says, do a go around procedure with a climb out at 75 KIAS, try it with flaps, just adds to the work load. It's kinda hard to do in a 152, but I've been able to induce this illusion. You'll want the IFR ticket right after the PPL...good luck.