Completed my first cross country solo today. Van Nuys to Santa Ynez and back. About 80 miles each way. Day started slow with less than 2 miles vis at Van Nuys, so had to wait for the mist to burn off, good "hanger Talk" with my back up instructor for an hour or so. We did 4 landings at KVNY just to make sure I was "feeling it" today, actually did my best ever landing with him, so that was cool. Then he sets me free, normal take off and pattern departure, then "gulp".....I'm on my own, used the G1000 GPS as primary although I did have charts and flight plan also. Definitely a strange feeling, ATC vectored me away from my intended course , so I had to amend a couple of times I thought to myself am I really where I think I am, nice to see the purple line on the screen to keep me heading close to where I intended. Once over Santa Paula, it was pretty much a smooth line, although the air was bumpy as the California coast heated up. 22 kt quartering head wind showed on the FMS I let the auto pilot deal with that . Santa Ynez was not too busy, pretty nervous on the descent and down wind, for runway 8, landing was ok, taxi back and take off from 26, then just told the G1000 direct to KVNY and follow the purple line, got flight following so every one knew where I was. Calling Van Nuys I told tower I was a student solo, so they where kind enough to vector me around to give me plenty of space for the big runway. Landing was not great, flared a little high and did not catch the drift in time, but got a "good job" from the tower which was nice...and all the wheels are still on the plane Bummer was the gopro ran out of battery right as I got over KIZA ... oh well next time. Cross country endorsement in the log book...one step closer.. I will post some pictures once I have then downloaded.
Looking forward to the pics. Do they still make you get a signature from someone at the airport verifying you did indeed land there?
No that was never mentioned, but I did take a picture with my I-phone on the ground and text it to my instructor waiting back at KNY. More in an "OMG now I have to find my way back" sense than a "look at me"..
Great job surviving your first solo x-country. Using the modern technology is great but be prepared for it not to be allowed on part of your checkride. They'll probably want to see you fly for a while using just pilotage and dead reckoning. While hand-flying doing this, they'll divert you to an unplanned airport. You'll need to do some ad hoc flight planning with your sectional chart while you're flying. For example, my guy insisted that I draw a line on my chart from our current location to the new destination airport and fly that line. Then, they'll want to see you track a VOR. Later in the flight, they might let you use the GPS and autopilot. .
You made me think about my first solo X-country. It went from Sarasota to FT.Meyers to Plant City to St. Pete to Sarasota. No problem from Sarasota to Ft.Meyers with all kinds of landmarks but from Punta Gords to Plant City the course went over a lot of nothing...swamps, saw grass, prairies, alligators and snakes. Then the compass had no idea where north was and it hunted frantically to no avail. Predictably I got lost and had to do some creative navigation to find a town somewhere up to the north. To add to the interest, I had to dodge several thunder storms on my way north and I had no idea where I was for a while. I found a road and followed it west to a town that turned out to be Plant City. No problem after that. There was no radio involved, just sectionals and pencil lines, and red and green lights at the airports. I don't know if I would have been good enough to do what you guys do now with all the stuff that you have to know. Hat's off to you.
AAAAHHHH that would be the IFR ( I Follow Roads) system I have heard so much about Sir, anything I have picked up along the way, you would have breezed though without a hitch.
Todays best landing with my instructor, (this is Van Nuys 16L) Best landing VNY - YouTube and a few pictures from the I-phone Once I figure how to take "snap shots" from the gopro film I will add them............can anyone detect how excited I am by all this... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I believe I see Santa Barbara airport in one of those photos? I flew into there once (in a United 737) and had a job at Tracor that ultimately lasted only a month. Nice photos!
Sure is.. pictures from top to bottom show Simi Valley on way out Nav and PFD screens Lake Casitas ( north of ventura) Descending down into the downwind for KIZA (the airport is the white blob below the middle prop shadow) Taxing back at KIZA Santa Barbara airport and coast. Pacific Ocean looking at the channel islands Santa Paula airport from 5500 MSL
Flight Following is everyone's friend... try to use it as often as you can... it lets all the IFR traffic know who you are and where to find you... an absolute must in congested traffic areas...it allows the ATC to give you a heads up on other traffic as well... there are too many close calls and accidents in congested areas... the downside in isolated areas more altitude is needed for them to see you on radar or your following will be cancelled... some VFR pilots feel it is an infringement on their freedom... the worst VFR call to get is traffic 12 oclock altitude unknown and you are staring into the sun through a haze trying to find possible irrelevant traffic... it is a win / win for all when squaking a code
That's for sure. I called Van Nuys clearance delivery and asked for flight following before I even called the tower to ask for taxi. On the way back, once I was about 10 miles out of KIZA, and out of the Unicom area I called Santa Barbara approach for flight following. They replied but did not give me a dedicated squawk code, I waited a few minutes, called them back and reminded them I was squawking IFR and did they want to give me a code, which they did. Both tracks can be seen on flight aware N889LB is the aircraft. N889LB ? 24-Mar-2013 ? KVNY - KIZA ? FlightAware N889LB ? 24-Mar-2013 ? KRZS - KVNY ? FlightAware You can see where I suspended flight following when about 10-15 miles inbound from KIZA and then where I pick it up on the way back. I always ask for flight following where ever I go as LA has such crowded airspace, with B, C and D all mixing and crossing it is an invaluable tool.
Damien, congrats and well done! Funny thing, it's been 38 years since my x-country solo but I still remember it well. Sadly, we didn't have a "Go-Pro" or anything like it to aid in memorialize the event. So, I'll just say I made no mistakes at all and perfect landings. Well, maybe not perfect...but....And no sissy-tricky-fangled-electro-devices like the GPS. Nope, back then it was all guess work and luck that got us back home. Congrats again!
congrats. i'm hoping to attempt my first ever solo in the next couple of weeks. everything feels pretty good just the radio still frightens me a bit. I still can't imagine navigating i don't even have the g1000 glass as an option to use!
Take that as a positive. When a glass failure occurs you'll be much better off than someone who has used glass from day 1. I love my glass cockpit, but I also appreciate that I got along fine for 32 yrs without it. Pilotage is fun, and flying VFR it MAKES you look outside, which is where your eyes should be anyway. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Agreed to a point, I enjoy flying the steam cockpit 172 more, like you say I do more "flying". Regards your point about G1000 failure, on my practice cross country with the instructor, once safe to do so he turned the screens right down so they where blank, so all I had was the compass, the 3 back up gauges, my map, my flight plan and the windows.. actually found that flight a little more interesting. One thing the steam cant compete with ( at least in the 2 planes I fly) is the traffic awareness. I also love being able to zoom in and see exactly where I am on the ground at a strange airport.
If I ran the GA training world, there would be no such thing as 'GPS' navigation for the first 30 hours. Pencil, E6B, stopwatch, chart. Oh - and 6 hours min in tailwheel planes before flying a trike. The gray things under your feet are called 'rudder pedals'. Unless of course you are in an Ercoupe, then it's like a Buick, just a brake pedal. I did my solo from San Diego to El Centro. The best advice I got was 'if you see a lot of military planes on the ground, DON'T land there! Look a little to the east, and look for crop dusters, land at that one'.
