Shortest Cross Country

luvflyin

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
May 8, 2015
Messages
15,804
Location
Santa Barbara, CA
Display Name

Display name:
Luvflyin
Forget all the 50 etc. mile certificate requirement stuff. Just you departed A and landed at B. Mine was KNZY KSAN. 2.3 miles as the crow flies, about 4 miles as the plane flew.
 
I'm pretty sure the shortest for a there and back was ONZ (Grosse Ile Municiple) to W87 (Buzzwick) 10.6 miles straight line.
Shortest leg as part of a longer cross country would have been 26W (Wolf Lake, or as the FAA calls it "Objectionable") to 3NP (Napoleon) 2.6 miles.
 
1000 feet. Departed A, aborted takeoff, landed B on the same runway.
 
MYEB to MYES for lunch last year while in the Bahamas. 5 miles but really beautiful 5 miles.
 
A couple years ago I flew O52 to KMYV which Foreflight says is 2 miles. Half of my previous record 4 miles: KNUQ to KPAO.
 
KRIR to KRAL, basically take off from one and end up in the traffic pattern of the other.
 
2.1

Upwind leg of the departure airport was right base for the destination.
 
HFD to Rentschler Field, Pratt & Whitney’s old private airport. Only about a mile center to center. Unfortunately winds were out of the south so I had to fly a full pattern. I was hoping I could coordinate taking off on runway two and hopping over the river and landing on runway four.
 
Last edited:
My home drome is just outside the Class D of a nearby airport. The Delta has an ILS to 200' so it's my Plan B when I can't quite meet minimums at my home base. I've had to divert to the Class D field a couple of times when I couldn't get home, then reposition at the next convenient opportunity.

The flight takes <5 minutes. The Uber to get back to my car takes ~25.
 
Looks like my entry is 3nm: 17A to 4M1. A couple of us share that one too I believe fro the recent Gastons fly in.
 
My shortest was 27 NM. Reading all of yours, it actually doesn't sound that short. Still, it was like 12 minutes of airtime. I didn't even bother retracting the gear.
 
Eagles Nest T56 to Midway Regional KJWY in south flow is an almost straight-line 3NM allegedly from center to center.
 
300 yards.
Ski plane was hangared on the west side of the plowed runway, my tools and such were on the other side, too off, hopped over the runway and landed.
 
Potomac to Hyde was less than a mile. I've seen parallel runways further apart than that.

Years ago, I came out of annual and we departed for Oshkosh and found that we had a rather severe fuel leak (yes I test flew the plane and yes I opened it up to look for leaks but avgas evaporates quickly). We did about 20 miles from VKX to JYO. I won an award at the Navion forum at Oshkosh that year for the shortest leg. I one a cowling opening tool and holder on that one.
 
If we are talking airport to airport, my shortest would be about 200 feet. Took off from Lufker 49N and landed at Spadaro 1N2.
 
Looks like my entry is 3nm: 17A to 4M1. A couple of us share that one too I believe fro the recent Gastons fly in.
I think bpk-3m0 is still my shortest at 5nm.
 
Last edited:
Mine was about 3NM, took off and landed from the "same" airport. Hometown built a new airport to replace the old one, and we were relocating aircraft once the new one opened.
 
300 yards.
Ski plane was hangared on the west side of the plowed runway, my tools and such were on the other side, too off, hopped over the runway and landed.
That ain’t airport to airport. But I like the I don’t wanna walk across the street through that snow so let’s fly thing.
 
If we are talking airport to airport, my shortest would be about 200 feet. Took off from Lufker 49N and landed at Spadaro 1N2.
I was wondering when somebody would mention that one.
 
My shortest was KLAL to KBOW. 12.3. So not very short from these numbers. I also flew X04 (Orlando Apopka) to KORL (Orlando Executive), 16nm, several times during one of my instrument training rounds as the fuel at X04 was much cheaper than the fuel at KORL and the club owner/chief instructor was cheap.
 
A few people have me beat for shortest, but I bet I might be competitive for most consistent. It's 6.6m[1] from my farm to the restaurant I go to for breakfast 30+ times per summer.

[1] Probably more like 6.4m. 6.6m is what I tell people trying to find the place. 6.4 from the departure end/beginning of flight... :p
 
Last edited:
Mine, a disappointing 7 nm west from Harvey Field (S43), Snohomish, WA to Paine Field (KPAE), Everett, WA.

WAIT! Just checked. 4.5 nm in the opposite direction from Harvey to First Air Field (W16), Monroe, WA. Not so disappointed now.
 
Pick it up to a 3' hover, engine chip light, land. 6'! :p
 
I've done Alexandria to Sky Manor (N85-N40) before, as well as South Jersey Regional to Flying W (VAY to N14). Both of those are 2.0 miles. I did Andover Aeroflex (12N) to Newton some years ago, which might have been even shorter, but Newton closed and no longer shows on Foreflight, so I can't easily check.
 
KCMA - KSZP... $4.95 for 100LL 16 NM round trip.... as tracked on Foreflight.
 
KCLW - KPIE = 5.6nm is probably my shortest.
 
How about shortest airport to airport, both airports in controlled airspace?

PALH-PAMR 4nm
Lake Hood to Merrill Field
 
3M0 to KBPK. ForeFlight tells me it's 4nm.
Had to get gas on my way out of Gaston's :)
 
KMCE (Merced, CA) to KMER (Castle - formerly Castle AFB) - 6 NM. The runways are almost lined up with each other, just a mile or so offset. When Castle was nontowered and deadsville, take off on 30 from Merced, cheat a little to the right and you’re on final at Castle.

Castle got themselves a busy all-Chinese flight school and Class D airspace, so that might not work now.
 
Back
Top