Wichita to Los Angeles in a 172...doable?

[denverpilot]

A guy could fly the whole route two or three times and still not have finished reading this thread in cruise.

 

[jfrye01]

Thanks for the replies everyone! My 172 has the Continental, so it tops out at 145 horse...

If you want real advice with all those lbs on board with bags to make it worthwhile - unless you plan on flying between 1201a and dawn you'd best decide to stay 150 min lbs under gross if you take the northern route. That will seriously cut into your range.

Real world advice to make life easier - and airports that are lower - each leg is about 3 hr 45 min - which in the average 172 leaves you about an hour of gas left - stay at airports that less than 4000' MSL or so - and while you might be at 8500' MSL to reduce the bumps and whatnot - my idea for a routing avoids anything with serious density altitude - its a 3 day trip and could be done in 2 days =-

3 Day option

Day #1 KICT - KROW - Roswell New Mexico - you can take off pretty much any time and get to Roswell in 3.5 hours - e.g. if you were wheels up @ 9a you land at 11.45 or so local - time change 1 hour. Land and spend the night checking out the truly while and campy stuff out there.

Day 2 - get up early - and your routing is essentially ROW-ELP [El Paso] - CHD [anywhere in the Phoenix area - Chandler, Mesa, someplace like that - the reason is that even if you are up at dawn, its gonna get darn hot in the Valley of the Sun around 10a, - and you do not want to be traversing the desert between Banning Pass and Phoenix during the middle of the day. Land at Mesa and go check out the coeds at Arizona State . .. .

Day 3 - wheels up by 8a - land by 11a someplace in SoCal - VNY/EMT/TOR etc

The 2 day trip gets you up and out of ICT by 7am - gets you on the ground in ROW by 1030 and then wheels up by 11a before it gets real hot - take the long slow climb to 10500 [you are gonna need to be here for cooling and to get out of the worst of the bumps] then on CHD or Mesa. . . . landing around 130-145p being very uncomfortable the last 10 min of the trip - its very warm. . . .

Then next morning - off to LA.

^This...I'm pretty sure this is what I will do. Very detailed and in depth, thanks!!

 

[jfrye01]

A guy could fly the whole route two or three times and still not have finished reading this thread in cruise.

Dang, ain't that the truth I appreciate all the replies/tips/motivation, everyone! Thanks!! You all are awesome!

 

[onwards]

I learned the hard way about density altitude flying from FL to CA in a 182 in the middle of nowhere New Mexico on a hot day at a 5500' airfield. We got off the ground but it was scary as hell if you never experienced being at the bottom of the performance chart in high density altitude...with a hill in front of you!

Yeah. I learned mine at big bear on a 90+ degree day - with three kids filling the other seats.

Made it out of there, but will never forget the sluggish feeling of being at the absolute bottom of the envelope. <200ft/m climb on take-off with no more runway, a lake in front and hills all around, one of which I needed to climb over at some point.

Being 200lb under gross probably gave us enough of an edge but it's one of those memories that gets seared in your brain and makes you never repeat a casual attitude in this regard.

 

[EdFred]

Bryce Canyon. DA of 11,400. Just me in the plane with 2 weeks worth of gear and full fuel. Takeoff roll was fine. But it wouldn't climb more than 200fpm. I had to go around the mesa in front of me.

 

[fiveoboy01]

Been there, done that? Then you would know that it was LAS vegas, NM. And the terrain thereabout ain't all that hospitable.

Jim

When I moved to Vegas in 2012(before I moved back to WI), I remember seeing the signs for that(whether or not I drove through or nearby I don't remember).

Scratched my head for a second

 

[silver-eagle]

The flight school brought back a Schweizer 300 and a R44 from California, one in October and the other in January. The CFI told me he had a couple of rolling takeoffs that were due to DA that is if you can call an aircraft with skids a rolling takeoff.

 

[denverpilot]

So did you go yet?

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Thanks for the replies everyone! My 172 has the Continental, so it tops out at 145 horse...

^This...I'm pretty sure this is what I will do. Very detailed and in depth, thanks!!

Be sure to come back to this thread and let us know how it went!