X-country from San Diego to upper Mid-West

[Kspring1077]

Serious question for whoever is familiar with flying single engine airplanes from the west coast.
Planning a trip to ferry a Cherokee 6/300 from San Diego, KSEE to Des Moines, KDSM. I don’t have a lot of single engine piston time. Does anyone have a common or most preferred route through the southwest? Thinking overnight in Santa Fe then Direct Des Moines.

 

[Rgbeard]

Serious question for whoever is familiar with flying single engine airplanes from the west coast.
Planning a trip to ferry a Cherokee 6/300 from San Diego, KSEE to Des Moines, KDSM. I don’t have a lot of single engine piston time. Does anyone have a common or most preferred route through the southwest? Thinking overnight in Santa Fe then Direct Des Moines.

I'm quite familiar. In fact on Wednesday I'm doing PHX to STL in a Turbo Lance.

Santa Fe is going to have you in wintry conditions. Currently daytime highs are upper 30s, lows in the lower 20s. Snow/ice is possible almost any time. I'm not sure how soon you're planning this.

Also the ground on the way to Santa Fe "comes up to meet you" rather well. Be comfortable flying at 11,000/11,500, and you'll still be surprised how low to the ground you are.

Leaving Santa Fe, I'd head SouthEast around the mountains that are immediately East of the city., once you pass Las Vegas, NM, then it's pretty easy-peasy.

If anything about this spooks you, consider going South towards El Paso, then direct to Des Moines.

 

[Kspring1077]

I'm quite familiar. In fact on Wednesday I'm doing PHX to STL in a Turbo Lance.

Santa Fe is going to have you in wintry conditions. Currently daytime highs are upper 30s, lows in the lower 20s. Snow/ice is possible almost any time. I'm not sure how soon you're planning this.

Also the ground on the way to Santa Fe "comes up to meet you" rather well. Be comfortable flying at 11,000/11,500, and you'll still be surprised how low to the ground you are.

Leaving Santa Fe, I'd head SouthEast around the mountains that are immediately East of the city., once you pass Las Vegas, NM, then it's pretty easy-peasy.

If anything about this spooks you, consider going South towards El Paso, then direct to Des Moines.

Thats great info, So the flight will be done in the next week or two. I planned 11,500 along Victor airways via TNP EED KPRC INW GUP KSAF then around the horn and back to KDSM via KLVS. I believe the airplane has an oxygen bottle so can go higher if needed.
Ive flown back and forth from KOFF to KDMA a couple dozen times.....but in a C-12/King Air 200.??? So not much of a challenge flying the upper FL20s.

Not necessarily spooked, I just want to be safe and ask the ASEL pros for suggestions instead of jumping in and push the Direct-To a mountain button.

 

[Jim Carpenter]

Routing sounds as good as any. Santa Fe is great, with field elevation of 6349' , standard temperature of about 2.5C. Though cooler this time of year, that's still in the realm of high density altitude operations, totally do-able in your Six, but please review high DA ops and mixture leaning techniques. (Please ignore this if you're already well-versed, and apologies for my pedantic tendencies!)
Enjoy the trip!

 

[CJones]

I have done BNW (about 30 miles NW of DSM) to KLAS in a RV-7A. KLVS/KSAF area is a good spot for getting around the high peaks. We had O2 so we went up to 16,500 for the heck of it coming out of LVS, but you can go just south of there and stay much lower. Coming back, we had a heckuva tailwind at 13,500 and could have made it non-stop from KSAF to KBNW.

 

[Kspring1077]

I have done BNW (about 30 miles NW of DSM) to KLAS in a RV-7A. KLVS/KSAF area is a good spot for getting around the high peaks. We had O2 so we went up to 16,500 for the heck of it coming out of LVS, but you can go just south of there and stay much lower. Coming back, we had a heckuva tailwind at 13,500 and could have made it non-stop from KSAF to KBNW.

Nice. Are you local with the RV club out of KBNW?

 

[CJones]

Nice. Are you local with the RV club out of KBNW?

I lived in Boone/Ames area for about 9 years. I would bum around at BNW with those guys a bit (still have the t-shirt from when I helped marshal planes at their RV fly-in one year), but I moved to Georgia about 10 years ago.

 

[Kspring1077]

Routing sounds as good as any. Santa Fe is great, with field elevation of 6349' , standard temperature of about 2.5C. Though cooler this time of year, that's still in the realm of high density altitude operations, totally do-able in your Six, but please review high DA ops and mixture leaning techniques. (Please ignore this if you're already well-versed, and apologies for my pedantic tendencies!)
Enjoy the trip!

All comments are welcomed. The majority of my flight time is turboprops and helios so performance was never an issue which could be a dangerous transition back to single engine pistons. Flight will take right after the holiday (weather permitting). Will avoid Night and low IFR. 2 pilots and 50lbs of cargo between us. Open to all tips and advice from
piston pros familiar with the route, airports and single engine etiquette in that environment.
Another consideration....shock cooling avoidance. Any advice?

 

[MountainDude]

If Santa Fe is too cold, KABQ is an easy stop at Cutter (they are great). They will take you to one of ~10 hotels on the other side of the airport. There are several restaurants in the area as well.

 

[Eldorado]

Much prefer southern route, lower terrain, I-20 to 80 miles east of El Paso then direct, and more airports along the route. Winter time with fast moving fronts, cold temps, short days are not my idea of fun or sight seeing in Santa Fe. It is only about 60 nm further, and in my opinion safer, more comfortable, more options. For whatever reasons, Santa Fe has never been my favorite destination, I’ve driven or flown past it many more times than I’ve stayed overnight.

 

[CJones]

If Santa Fe is too cold, KABQ is an easy stop at Cutter (they are great). They will take you to one of ~10 hotels on the other side of the airport. There are several restaurants in the area as well.

I forgot about ABQ. We got cut off by a massive line of storms in eastern NM and stopped overnight at ABQ. I don't remember much of the finer details, but I do remember they found a hotel and shuttled us there and picked us up in the morning.

 

[Fearless Tower]

Another consideration....shock cooling avoidance. Any advice?

I wouldn't even think about it. In normal cross country flying, it is not likely to be an issue. You'd pretty much need to go from full power and chop the throttle to idle then descend at 2000 fpm to cause issues from shock cooling.

 

[Fearless Tower]

I forgot about ABQ. We got cut off by a massive line of storms in eastern NM and stopped overnight at ABQ. I don't remember much of the finer details, but I do remember they found a hotel and shuttled us there and picked us up in the morning.

ABQ is a very good alternative. Much closer to civilization than SAF. Better chance of putting the airplane in a hangar overnight.

Santa Fe is probably not as charming as usual with COVID. It is also a bit of a drive between the airport and civilization.

ABQ has a hotel and restaurant right on the airport at the terminal and Cutter will shuttle you back and forth.

 

[Fearless Tower]

Serious question for whoever is familiar with flying single engine airplanes from the west coast.
Planning a trip to ferry a Cherokee 6/300 from San Diego, KSEE to Des Moines, KDSM. I don’t have a lot of single engine piston time. Does anyone have a common or most preferred route through the southwest? Thinking overnight in Santa Fe then Direct Des Moines.

If you are planning on overnighting around SAF/ABQ, I'd suggest stopping for lunch at Sedona. One of the better on airport restaurants.

If you are going VFR, watch the MOAs.

 

[Kspring1077]

If you are planning on overnighting around SAF/ABQ, I'd suggest stopping for lunch at Sedona. One of the better on airport restaurants.

If you are going VFR, watch the MOAs.

Thanks I appreciate the advice. This is something I never got to do flying trainers....it was all in the midwest then straight off to the Army. I have to be honest, I haven’t been this excited to fly cross country in years. (And I do it full time) I guess its that feeling of “if I could go back and do it all over again” or “if I only knew then what I know now.” The owner/student is traveling with me so its nice to feed off of their enthusiasm. Im glad I pushed this out there on POA. Great community with infinite knowledge.

 

[CJones]

Thanks I appreciate the advice. This is something I never got to do flying trainers....it was all in the midwest then straight off to the Army. I have to be honest, I haven’t been this excited to fly cross country in years. (And I do it full time) I guess its that feeling of “if I could go back and do it all over again” or “if I only knew then what I know now.” The owner/student is traveling with me so its nice to feed off of their enthusiasm. Im glad I pushed this out there on POA. Great community with infinite knowledge.

It's definitely a fun route - especially (relatively) 'low and slow'. You get to see the transition from the desert SW (btw, flight over the Grand Canyon is pretty cool) to the snow capped Rockies, to the barren front-range, to the 1-mile-square cattle feedlots to the 1-mile-round irrigated crop circles (though those likely aren't green right now unless the winter wheat is up enough), to the (now dormant) fields of Iowa. Lots of transitions along the route.