Long Solo Cross Country Lesson

GeneC

GeneC

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GeneC
Sunday I did my Solo Long Cross Country. FXE-OBE-X14-FXE. (Ft Laud Exec-Okeechobee-La Belle). Beautiful day, actually, nothing exciting till the end. Learned.....you take that lump out of the right seat and 22 gallons of fuel and your final approach speed that you've always used, 65 MPH over the numbers carries you forever down the runway in ground effect. It was not a problem because Rny 8 at FXE is 5500 ft long, but damn. I would guess from round out to flare seemed like forever. So for us new guys, make sure you hit your speeds in the pattern. Even what I thought was slow, when you remove you instructor and a bunch of fuel, it takes longer to dissipate the energy until the plane is ready to land. Something I had not encountered to date.
Learning...Learning...Learning!
Just finishing up my last couple of solo hours, almost time to make "the appointment".
 
Must be in a piper. Good lesson. Wait till you fly at gross.
 
Remember, the given airspeeds in the POH are almost always at gross weight. They can drop by quite a few knots if you take out a few hundred pounds of weight. Thus, come in a few knots slower if you're not at your typical landing weight.

There's an equation and/or rules of thumb to figure it out exactly but I'll leave that to you to find before I flub it trying to remember them off the top of my head.
 
GeneC said:
Sunday I did my Solo Long Cross Country. FXE-OBE-X14-FXE. (Ft Laud Exec-Okeechobee-La Belle). Beautiful day, actually, nothing exciting till the end. Learned.....you take that lump out of the right seat and 22 gallons of fuel and your final approach speed that you've always used, 65 MPH over the numbers carries you forever down the runway in ground effect. It was not a problem because Rny 8 at FXE is 5500 ft long, but damn. I would guess from round out to flare seemed like forever. So for us new guys, make sure you hit your speeds in the pattern. Even what I thought was slow, when you remove you instructor and a bunch of fuel, it takes longer to dissipate the energy until the plane is ready to land. Something I had not encountered to date.
Learning...Learning...Learning!
Just finishing up my last couple of solo hours, almost time to make "the appointment".
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Next time you go up and you have half fuel do some stalls. Come in on final 5-10MPH over stall. ;)

One of the things that keeps flying interesting to me is the change of weather will effect the float rate also. Cooler air = thicker air. After a long hot summer I need to learn to land all over again. :lol:

When the winds are right down the runway see how short your take off roll and landing roll out can be. :eek:

This is why I love flying, no two flights are the same. Fun stuff!
 
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I'm pretty sure everyone has learned a valuable lesson that has stuck with them over the years from their first solo cross countries. Dates escape me, but I remember those flights and the lessons I learned like yesterday.
 
Congratulations. You are almost there! I have learned a lot on this site. Most are very helpful. Ask whenever a question comes up.

My brother flies out of CHN.

I can land my RV-10 light at 2000 lbs using 500' or gross at 2700 lbs using 2000'. Ask your CFI if you can haul some extra guys to gross weight, then watch how an aft CG and heavy plane behaves. Better to learn now instead of waiting until your family is on board like I did. It can get ugly fast.
 
Geico266 said:
Next time you go up and you have half fuel do some stalls. Come in on final 5-10MPH over stall. ;)
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That seems slow.

Conventional wisdom is 1.3 * Vs0 (in calibrated airspeed) on short final. Which is still often slower than book numbers when the weight is light. In a light Archer (me solo, fuel to tabs), that works out to something like 57 KIAS. Stall is 45 KIAS. That would be more like 15 MPH, not 5-10.

I'd be pretty unhappy hearing the stall warning chirp in calm conditions on final. 5 MPH will do that. I'd expect a lot of sink and a rather unpleasant flare.
 
MAKG1 said:
I'd be pretty unhappy hearing the stall warning chirp in calm conditions on final. 5 MPH will do that. I'd expect a lot of sink and a rather unpleasant flare.
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I would be far more concerned about that in gusty conditions than in calm conditions. To each his own :)
 
MAKG1 said:
That seems slow.

Conventional wisdom is 1.3 * Vs0 (in calibrated airspeed) on short final. Which is still often slower than book numbers when the weight is light. In a light Archer (me solo, fuel to tabs), that works out to something like 57 KIAS. Stall is 45 KIAS. That would be more like 15 MPH, not 5-10.

I'd be pretty unhappy hearing the stall warning chirp in calm conditions on final. 5 MPH will do that. I'd expect a lot of sink and a rather unpleasant flare.
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10 knots over stall? How could you even hear the stall warning?

I do a lot of first flights for new home builts, and fly aircraft CC. This is standard procedure for establishing the "over the fence" speed. This is what I was taught by a well respected pilot / builder. Haven't wrecked a plane yet. :no: Well, at least on landing. :redface:
 
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Geico266 said:
10 knots over stall? How could you even hear the stall warning?

I do a lot of first flights for new home builts, and fly aircraft CC. This is standard procedure for establishing the "over the fence" speed. This is what I was taught by a well respected pilot / builder. Haven't wrecked a plane yet. :no: Well, at least on landing. :redface:
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You won't hear the stall warning at 10 knots over stall. But you might at 5 MPH.

It's great to hear it level just over the runway, but on final is a bit early . Remember, this is a student thread.

I agree it's a whole lot worse in gusty conditions.
 
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