Your most memorable XC

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What is your single most memorable (in a good way) cross-country trip?
 
My first. Everyone else goes gaga over their first solo. For me, it was no big deal. I think all the emotions other people reserve for their first solo came out when I did my first solo XC.
 
since my last real XC was my ppl long cross country all I remember was 3 hours of being blinded by the sun(Forgot my sunglasses) while sweating like a dog because #TexasSummer, landed at my second stop and taxied to the edge of the ramp and didnt shutdown because I was paranoid that if I shut down it wouldn't start again. Then the line girl was walking up while I was heads down trying to shuffle my papers around for my next leg. Felt bad becuase I didnt know how to tell her I didnt need any help becuase I was leaving so I ended up flailing my arms around until she figured it out. Took off and flew home in a bit of a sprinkle while the clouds were getting lower. Made it back with a big smile on my face because I felt like I had been on the odyssey. Good memorys
 
Flying my new to me 182 from Lakeland, FL to Watsonville, CA as a still wet behind the ears PPL.
 
So far I'd say that flying northern Canada in a Super Cub has to be one of the more memorable trips.
 
Coming back from KPUW to KOLM a few years ago when I needed that instrument clearance I was on due to smoke just east of the Cascades and then the 4000 foot thick layer I had to descend through to get home. 1st actual IMC after getting my IR.
 
back in 1978,
34 days after starting my training,
17th flight,
23.4 total hrs,
16.1 hrs dual received,
8 XC hrs,
7.3 hrs PIC,

1:18 hrs Bremerton PWT across the Cascades to Yakima YKM,
1:17 hrs across the Cascades again to Hilsboro HIO,
1:07 hrs up I-5 back to Bremerton...
 
First XC after being out of the cockpit for 30 years. Just a short one from WPAFB to Sporty's. Foreflight, Flight Following and 430W made it a lot easier.

Cheers
 
Last week, Memphis, TN, to Connecticut in my new to me Starduster biplane. 1000 miles over 4 days, camping out under the wing each night.
 
Bringing the Bonanza home from Bend Oregon down the west coast to Bakersfield then over to see the balloon festival in NM then to Frederick, MD....and the trips to Oshkosh.
 
Hands down, Florida to Dallas with my dad returning from having bought the cirrus. First time over the ocean. First time over a lot of places and it's always fun to learn new flying stuff with my dad.

Number 2 would be osh last year with @tecprotb. That was an unforgettable experience.
 
A trip to the Keys with my wife. KORL->KMTH. We had day & night to ourselves and then picked up our daughter from Sea Camp. Spent one more night due to storms over the peninsula then flew home.
 
Flight from Bay Bridge (W29) to First Flight (KFFA) in a beat-up old Cardinal. The air was as smooth and clear as glass. It was the day after Christmas and traffic was light on the radio with flight following. As we came in view of the Wright Memorial and seeing the first flight's rails was a thrill. We walked the grounds, cut over the the DQ and had a shake for lunch. The conditions on the way back were just as nice.
 
There have been quite a few, but probably the most memorable is still my long solo XC, 76G - APN - MKG - 76G (with a flyby of TVC where I had flight planned to, but couldn't land because of an airshow). Over 400 nm round trip, took a full summer day to complete, my first view of northern lower MI from the air (spectacular, especially Torch Lake and Grand Traverse Bay), stood as my longest round trip for a long time and is still the longest I've spent in the air in a single day. Good memories.

Runner-up would probably be a trip to Wisconsin flying a friend's Cardinal RG, PHN - ATW - PHN. Her HSI went wonky while in VFR instrument conditions over Lake Michigan, forcing me to rely on an ADF for navigation for the first and pretty much the only time in my flying life.
 
I've had a lot of great ones... a flight to Big Bear in Cali, a flight from Ohio to Vegas, plus lots of great experiences buzzing from place to place right here in New England. But my favorite one was a simple one with a pretty straight forward goal. It was about 3 months after my checkride.

My CFI was involved in a plane crash last summer... his first incident of any kind in almost 20 years of flying. The airport where it happened is a popular one students want to go to, so, while he didn't care to ever go back there, eventually he'd have to. Having once been in a bad car crash (hit by a drunk driver), I knew how difficult it can be to go back to "the scene," so I offered to go with him on his first run to help break the anxiety.

I flew us to the airport and then made him do the approach and landing. He tried to pull the macho "I'm fine, I know how to land a plane.... you do it," but I had none of it and even insisted he do a full stop. Was kind of weird doing the role reversal, where I was the cool/calm one kicking back while he was the nervous one doing the landing.

To lighten the mood after landing, when we circled around and began prepping for departure, I pulled out a flask, took a big swig (water) and said, "Wow, that was intense! Ya want some?!" Got a good laugh out of him :)

The school asked if we could pick up a plane at another airport and ferry it back, so after that, we hopped over there... a fun flight where, for the first time, we really just chatted more as friends than as instructor/student... and, after picking up the plane, I followed him back to our airport. My first - and, so far, only - experience following behind a friend in another plane, close enough to see them.

The weather was perfect that day too. A rare New England day, where the skies are both clear and calm, and it isn't too hot or too cold.

A great day.

My second favorite was the day I got to fly over the Grand Canyon. I actually had tears in my eyes for that one... couldn't believe I was actually up there, piloting a plane over a place I've always dreamed of going. Only I had a far better view than any of the folks down on the Canyon Skywalk. That was a day I was truly in awe of life and living.
 
First flight to OSH. I'll never forget that one.
First return from OSH a year later. Much better.
Riding shotgun bringing Candy from Phoenix to Fort Worth.
 
I am under 100 hours so I don't have many but when we lived in Wichita we flew down to Stillwater, OK for a football game at OSU. We flew out of Augusta, KS 3AU so it was literally take off on 18 and fly directly south until you ran into SWO. About as easy as it gets. The only catch was it was obviously game day so traffic was busy. I was in a 172 with a Cherokee behind me and King Air behind him. I remember looking down and being right up against the yellow line and saying to my wife that I had never gone that fast...and we were only 1k agl. Other than that and the outcome of the game the trip was great.

The OSU student flying club gives donation only rides to and from the airport on game days so if your team ever plays them I suggest going as that makes the trip a lot easier.
 
Memphis to Seattle in one day. Three fuel stops and 11.5 Hobbs. Great trip!
 
There's been a few to remember...

One of our favorites was the trip out to the Beech Aero Club festival in Dubuque Iowa, then on to Rapid City South Dakota, Kansas City, then home to Ocean City MD.

Runner up has to be the flight to bring 08Romeo home from Aero Country Airport (T31) in McKinney, Texas with an overnight stop at the Windwood resort, POA fly-in, in Davis West Virginia.
 
Flight from Shawnee, OK to Gainesville, GA, bringing home a Skyhawk that my father bought. The day before, I flew the human mailing tube out to OKC, the seller came and picked me up the following morning. On the way over to his home base at Shawnee, he gave me a quick checkout on the Skyhawk, since I'd never flown one before. We got the paperwork done, and I set off eastbound, it was a spectacular fall day with good tailwinds, so I took it up to 9500 feet and headed for home. Made a fuel stop in Corinth, MS, then got high again on the way home.

That was 35 years ago and I still remember it well. The airplane, 739CN, is still on the registry.

It was a much more enjoyable trip than when he sent me to Chickasha, OK to pick up a horse trailer. That involved a 15 year old pickup truck with a clogged radiator.
 
I've typed it here before... But for me the flight from Toledo Ohio to Jacksonville FL. Couple months after my ppl. My husband and a friend who happens to be my cfi. Unfortunately had to share flight time with the husband. Was a great trip and convinced me to go on to get my instrument rating.
 
Helicopter formation flight from Lafayette, LA to Phoenix, AZ. Or was it flying my recently completed RV-9A from Tucson to OSH in 2013, I can't decide.
 
In the 60's an Aeronca Champ from Rota Spain to Tangier across the Strait of Gibraltar & return.

#2 would be bringing out plane to our own hangar and home on Indian Hills Airpark in AZ.
 
For me it was the trip from Tucson to Rockport, Texas. Un-forecasted weather, primary fuel stop IFR, backup fuel stop IFR, alternator issues, flying from Winkler County Texas airport to Midland with the master turned off so a mechanic could repair the alternator wire. Flying in rain at 33 degrees American and looking out at the wings for icing with a flashlight every five minutes for two hours because it was night. We finally arrived at KRKP five hours later than scheduled. I learned a LOT on that trip but taking my life long friend up in my plane the next day was probably the best part.
 
I flew over some huge glaciers in southern Alaska (Seward to Valdez) and there was a foot of fresh snow on them (it was the middle of August). And right in the middle of the glacier was dog team and a guy running up the glacier! It was sunny and REALLY spectacular (all these huge mountains).

I also flew around Mt McKinley, quite close to it actually, at 14000'. Man that was really scary. The West Face is incredible (I thinks its west). Its a side you rarely see photos of. I was too excited to take a pic! That mountain is HUGE!
 
Your question got me thinking...and I realized that although I use my plane (and nearly all my past planes) almost exclusively for cross country trips, I really despise cross country flying: sun in your eyes, boring, after 2 hours my arms/legs cramp up and I have to land to stretch, and when the trip is done, I feel dirty/sunburnt/achy etc. Now if you want to talk favorite DESTINATIONS, that I'm down with...Mackinaw Island, Fox Island, Put-In-Bay, Kalamazoo Airzoo, a couple of casinos I like to fly to, Cleveland for a ball game or Rock-and-Roll hall of fame, Beaver Island (I seem to like islands)...so for me, its all about the destination...probably why I'm looking to get a faster plane.
 
robert lomax said:
back in 1978,
34 days after starting my training,
17th flight,
23.4 total hrs,
16.1 hrs dual received,
8 XC hrs,
7.3 hrs PIC,

1:18 hrs Bremerton PWT across the Cascades to Yakima YKM,
1:17 hrs across the Cascades again to Hilsboro HIO,
1:07 hrs up I-5 back to Bremerton...
Click to expand...
very similar to mine! RNT to ALW and back. Gorgeous, lots of airspace and weather to plan for, plus I bought fuel in ALW, so it was good practice getting fuel at an unfamiliar airport.
 
In the early summer of 1972 I was working as a CFI in a Piper Flite Center at Long Beach, California. Into the office one day walked Ron Whitelaw, who was then Chief Instructor at Flight Safety across the field. He came to talk to a friend of his, one of my fellow instructors, Bob Wagner. From a few feet away I overheard their conversation. Ron said he was to ferry a DC-3 from Long Beach to Medford, Oregon, for its new owner. But Ron had a problem. He needed a co-pilot to be legal. And he was leaving in an hour. "You won't get paid, but you get DC-3 time and all it'll cost you is airline fare back to Long Beach. Can you get away?"

Bob looked at his daily schedule sheet -- it was full, and he couldn't cancel all those students. "Sorry, can't do it," he told Ron.

Ron looked around, surveying the single-wide trailer that served as our flight school office, as he formulated Plan 'B'. "Is there anyone else who could go?"

It was one of those classic Maynard G. Krebs moments: "You rang?"
mgk_zpsm2ipsfsx.jpg


Soon I found myself walking around N1213M with Ron. It was on the books as a DC-3C (P&W engines), having been built for the USAAF as a C-47 in 1943. I don't know its airline history, but in later years it had been a Goodyear Tire & Rubber corporate transport. It had just been sold to a company that would use it for smokejumping in southern Oregon, and its clean but dated 13-seat corporate interior would likely be ripped out.

N1213M had the appearance of a business tool that was well-used, but also well-cared-for. Its white-and-grey exterior, which could have passed for a US Navy paint scheme, showed no major flaws.

dc-3_n1213m4.jpg

In the cockpit, Ron introduced me to my first officer duties -- the fuel slectors, the multiple levers that operated the landing gear, and the magic sequence in which they are operated; the knurled round knobs that operate the cowl flaps; power settings (I still have them scribbled on the back of Ron's business card), radios, and so on.

We took off from runway 25L at Long Beach, flew through the old VFR corridor above LAX, then climbed to 8,500' for the northbound route to MFR. We cruised over the hot, dry Central Valley of California, country music blaring from the ADF. Ron graciously let me hand-fly the whole trip until the approach. Near Merced CA, Ron got up out of the left seat to go to the lav in the tail of the aircraft. As he wriggled through the narrow passage past my seat, he tapped my shoulder and said, "If you lose an engine it takes a lot of rudder," and he was gone.

To be alone in the cockpit of a DC-3 in flight ... wow. Ernie Gann's books suddenly changed from words on paper to full sensory overload.

When it was my turn in the lav a while later, Ron thought it would be a good time to check that the rudder still had full travel. It did.

Ron greased the landing on runway 30 at Medford, four hours after we left Long Beach. I learned the procedures for securing the airplane. Gust locks had to be installed in the control surfaces. The elevators are very heavy, and care must be taken not to let go of them until the gust lock is secure. The force of the elevators falling of their own weight would send the yokes in the cockpit right through the instrument panel.

The flight back to Long Beach on a Western Airlines 737-200 was an anti-climax. Later Ron endorsed my logbook with 4.0 hours "Douglas DC-3 - First Officer".

I'm told that N1213M was scrapped at McAllen, Texas, in the early 2000s.

Weird coincidence follow-up to this story ...

About three years ago I was flying my 172 home to Washington State from San Diego. Flying more or less the same route toward Medford, I reflected on that DC-3 trip so long ago.

Passing Medford, my reverie was broken by chatter on the Cascade Approach frequency. A Lancair Columbia was IFR from the Medford area toward Burns, and there were a number of transmissions between that aircraft and the controller. I was slightly annoyed that all that chatter was distracting me from reliving the DC-3 flight.

All of a sudden I got a chill when I realized what callsign I was hearing from that Columbia: N1213M !!
 
My solo long XC was the most memorable...
I agree with the other poster above that the first solo flight was neat but I got a much bigger thrill from my solo XC flights
 
Hopefully my flight in 2 weeks becomes my most memorable - Chicago to Boston via Plattsburgh, NY. But to this date, my first PnP trip, a flight to Pittsburgh and back, was the most memorable: first flying over a cloud layer, first true turbulence in flight as pilot, first super gusty nasty hard crosswind landing as a private pilot (passed my checkride 4 weeks before the trip). It was also my first long trip with my new engine monitor (with fuel flow) and it helped me get all the way home without stopping for a refuel (although it probably would have been smarter to stop).
 
I think I've always liked XCs... can't think of a bad one other than one, and I survived it.

First loggable XC as PIC in the logbook was 1992... in venerable old N739NL a 1978 Cessna 172N. Looking around the Net, it looks like it's still flying in Arizona. Neat.

Other notables I liked... used to fly to Houston pretty regularly to see family. All of those were fun. Different types used. Some of those aren't logged, long story of not getting them into the logbook and a bunch of receipts that needed to be transferred to the logbook going missing many many many years ago... and the first lesson of "just keep your logbook up to date, moron"...

Flying from anywhere to 1K1... just love going to that place. Speaking of, doing night instrument training and an XC to 1K1, and looking out with @jesse 's permission for a sec to see moonlight coming in from the side and flying between layers was wicked cool. Almost impossible to describe how neat that looks.

I dunno... lots more...
 
Not long after soloing I was hangin around the club. They needed to get a plane from another airport. A CFI grabs me and says fly me to Brown. I dropped him off and flew back. That was kinda cool because I was doing something "real," not just training.
 
Pilawt said:
In the early summer of 1972 I was working as a CFI in a Piper Flite Center at Long Beach, California. Into the office one day walked Ron Whitelaw, who was then Chief Instructor at Flight Safety across the field. He came to talk to a friend of his, one of my fellow instructors, Bob Wagner. From a few feet away I overheard their conversation. Ron said he was to ferry a DC-3 from Long Beach to Medford, Oregon, for its new owner. But Ron had a problem. He needed a co-pilot to be legal. And he was leaving in an hour. "You won't get paid, but you get DC-3 time and all it'll cost you is airline fare back to Long Beach. Can you get away?"

Bob looked at his daily schedule sheet -- it was full, and he couldn't cancel all those students. "Sorry, can't do it," he told Ron.

Ron looked around, surveying the single-wide trailer that served as our flight school office, as he formulated Plan 'B'. "Is there anyone else who could go?"

It was one of those classic Maynard G. Krebs moments: "You rang?"
mgk_zpsm2ipsfsx.jpg


Soon I found myself walking around N1213M with Ron. It was on the books as a DC-3C (P&W engines), having been built for the USAAF as a C-47 in 1943. I don't know its airline history, but in later years it had been a Goodyear Tire & Rubber corporate transport. It had just been sold to a company that would use it for smokejumping in southern Oregon, and its clean but dated 13-seat corporate interior would likely be ripped out.

N1213M had the appearance of a business tool that was well-used, but also well-cared-for. Its white-and-grey exterior, which could have passed for a US Navy paint scheme, showed no major flaws.

View attachment 53245

In the cockpit, Ron introduced me to my first officer duties -- the fuel slectors, the multiple levers that operated the landing gear, and the magic sequence in which they are operated; the knurled round knobs that operate the cowl flaps; power settings (I still have them scribbled on the back of Ron's business card), radios, and so on.

We took off from runway 25L at Long Beach, flew through the old VFR corridor above LAX, then climbed to 8,500' for the northbound route to MFR. We cruised over the hot, dry Central Valley of California, country music blaring from the ADF. Ron graciously let me hand-fly the whole trip until the approach. Near Merced CA, Ron got up out of the left seat to go to the lav in the tail of the aircraft. As he wriggled through the narrow passage past my seat, he tapped my shoulder and said, "If you lose an engine it takes a lot of rudder," and he was gone.

To be alone in the cockpit of a DC-3 in flight ... wow. Ernie Gann's books suddenly changed from words on paper to full sensory overload.

When it was my turn in the lav a while later, Ron thought it would be a good time to check that the rudder still had full travel. It did.

Ron greased the landing on runway 30 at Medford, four hours after we left Long Beach. I learned the procedures for securing the airplane. Gust locks had to be installed in the control surfaces. The elevators are very heavy, and care must be taken not to let go of them until the gust lock is secure. The force of the elevators falling of their own weight would send the yokes in the cockpit right through the instrument panel.

The flight back to Long Beach on a Western Airlines 737-200 was an anti-climax. Later Ron endorsed my logbook with 4.0 hours "Douglas DC-3 - First Officer".

I'm told that N1213M was scrapped at McAllen, Texas, in the early 2000s.

Weird coincidence follow-up to this story ...

About three years ago I was flying my 172 home to Washington State from San Diego. Flying more or less the same route toward Medford, I reflected on that DC-3 trip so long ago.

Passing Medford, my reverie was broken by chatter on the Cascade Approach frequency. A Lancair Columbia was IFR from the Medford area toward Burns, and there were a number of transmissions between that aircraft and the controller. I was slightly annoyed that all that chatter was distracting me from reliving the DC-3 flight.

All of a sudden I got a chill when I realized what callsign I was hearing from that Columbia: N1213M !!
Click to expand...
Wow. I swear I was hearing DC3 sounds when reading that
 
denverpilot said:
I think I've always liked XCs... can't think of a bad one other than one, and I survived it.

First loggable XC as PIC in the logbook was 1992... in venerable old N739NL a 1978 Cessna 172N. Looking around the Net, it looks like it's still flying in Arizona. Neat.

Other notables I liked... used to fly to Houston pretty regularly to see family. All of those were fun. Different types used. Some of those aren't logged, long story of not getting them into the logbook and a bunch of receipts that needed to be transferred to the logbook going missing many many many years ago... and the first lesson of "just keep your logbook up to date, moron"...

Flying from anywhere to 1K1... just love going to that place. Speaking of, doing night instrument training and an XC to 1K1, and looking out with @jesse 's permission for a sec to see moonlight coming in from the side and flying between layers was wicked cool. Almost impossible to describe how neat that looks.

I dunno... lots more...
Click to expand...
I agree, no one most memorable. Many memorable moments. Northwest bound from Denver at dawn, snow covered mountains and a full moon in front of me with the orange sunrise behind me. Five hours in the clag to breakout and see an island with an airport in front of me. Following Bob and John into the Minam strip one day and then following Bob into Big Creek the next day. Landing on the grass at Goodland on a veterans airlift flight just to get a glass of tea and take a little break. Calling the office to check in from 5,000 feet over Winslow AZ cause I was bored and had three bars signal strength. Picking my way through pop-up storms and poor vis around Houston. Flying an oil leak from Tennessee to Denver...there was an aircraft surrounding the oil leak but the oil leak was dominating. Flying lower than a duck on the way to a POA fly-in and then finding the strip between rain showers.
 
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