Planning my first cross country... as a Private Pilot

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ki4lzk

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Jul 8, 2011
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172
Location
Milford, KS
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Display name:
Joshua Jones
Hello everyone;

I am going to be taking my checkride in the next two or three weeks and have started to think about my first trip as a Private Pilot. I think what My wife and I are going to do is fly to her parent's house in Carlsbad, NM for that trip. It would be the weekend of July 4th.

The trip will be from KMHK - KDUX - KCNM. I thought that KDUX would make a great fuel stop... the prices don't look bad neither. I have talked it over with my instructor and he seems to think I would be more than competent to make the trip. Baring failing the checkride and weather should I be worried about anything else?

Thanks

Josh
 
KCNM isn't THAT high, but it could be hot. I'd say get familiar with the impact of density altitude and don't panic when you see poor climb performance after departure.
 
Be aware of power lines around KCNM and it might be really windy. But, there are a lot of runways to choose from.

It's been a few years since I was at KDUX, but it was a good place to stop for gas. We spent the night and got to keep the courtesy car overnight.
 
KDUX is a nice fuel stop. Cheap fuel, courtesy car and you never know what else might land.

April 2012 I stopped there....glad I fueled up, I think this guy was draining the tank when I got by from lunch.
fa46786d.jpg
 
Hydroguy2 said:
KDUX is a nice fuel stop. Cheap fuel, courtesy car and you never know what else might land.

April 2012 I stopped there....glad I fueled up, I think this guy was draining the tank when I got by from lunch.
fa46786d.jpg
Click to expand...

That's the fun part about aviation... Arriving at an airport and seeing a really cool aircraft....

Oh, and the silver one in the background is nice too :D :D
 
HaHa...it was funny I pushed my plane under the wing to snap some pics and several of the "ol'Glory" crew grabbed cameras and were snapping pictures too.
 
ki4lzk said:
Hello everyone;

I am going to be taking my checkride in the next two or three weeks and have started to think about my first trip as a Private Pilot. I think what My wife and I are going to do is fly to her parent's house in Carlsbad, NM for that trip. It would be the weekend of July 4th.

The trip will be from KMHK - KDUX - KCNM. I thought that KDUX would make a great fuel stop... the prices don't look bad neither. I have talked it over with my instructor and he seems to think I would be more than competent to make the trip. Baring failing the checkride and weather should I be worried about anything else?

Thanks

Josh
Click to expand...

Sounds like a great deal of fun and I, for one commend you on your planning. Sounds to me like you are the kind of pilot i'd like to fly with any day!

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2
 
KMHK - KWWR - KCNM would be another option for you. It's shorter because it's more nearly a straight line, and KWWR (West Woodward, OK) has cheaper fuel than the fuel stop you planned.

I've stopped at KWWR on a route that had a leg pretty similar to your route. KWWR is a perfectly fine place to refuel, eat your sack lunch, and check the weather. It's a typical WWII era training airport. Lots of hangars that couldn't possibly be used nowadays, and FBO at one end of the long taxiway. Cross-wind runways have been closed so there's just the one pretty long runway that's in the north-south direction typical of Oklahoma's prevailing winds. Actually there's a remnant of a cross-wind runway still open, but you probably wouldn't want to use it. The north-south runway is good.

I didn't see a B-24 there, however, so maybe that's an argument in support of refueling at KDUX?

If you made a dog-leg in your route to avoid the Vance 1C MOA, you don't have to. You can fly under that MOA because it's a high altitude MOA, with a floor at 8000 MSL. Or fly through it on weekends when it's generally inactive. Details are on the legend of the sectional, which you can view on skyvector.

Whichever route you choose -- Enjoy!
 
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Thanks everyone for your help! I appreciate all the encouragement. I am fairly familiar with KCNM and the power lines. I have flown in and visited several times. The last time I was in a 208... and a passenger. My wife's childhood dentist is a pilot based out of there so I had a nice chat with him. I really like that it does have so many runways.

My instructor and I flew to Goodland, KS, so I have an idea of how the aircraft will perform. Goodland has a field elevation of 3657 ft. MSL. KCNM's is 3295 ft. MSL. Carlsbad will be warmer so that will deteriorate the performance of the aircraft a little more because of DA. The intent of flying to Goodland was to insure I knew how to operate the aircraft at higher elevations.

Part of preparing for this cross country has also included preparing my wife. She had never been in a GA aircraft until recently. She has went up with my instructor and I 3 times now. The first time was for a trip around the pattern, the second was for my night cross country, and the third was for a day cross country. I was surprised how well she did.

The last time she went with us I thought I landed a little rough. I apologized to her and she informed me that was better than most of the commercial flights she has been on.
 
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