Preparing for the long Cross Country
Abstract: The purpose of the seminar will be to consider all of the planning aspects of the long cross-country trip. Have you considered a flight to Sun & Fun or Oshkosh? This seminar will review the planning required for a long cross country by working through the planning required for the trip to Oshkosh this summer. It will be a good opportunity to get "Back to Basics" of flight planning by working through a multi-leg trip to OSH.
Outline
- What the trip entails
- Departure at 0-dark-30
- Multiple stops - Fuel - Food - Bio
- Camping Equipment - heavy loads
- Can you fly over gross?
- Should you?
- Density altitutes - Very humid, hot time of year.
- Bring or Buy
- What to bring
- What did we forget that we really missed.
- Inadvertent overnights / Weather Delays
- Preflight Process
- What are the requirements of a good preflight plan
- Getting the OSH NOTAM
- Knowing your limitations - Pilot Pre-flight
- Weather Planning
- Fuel Planning
- Route Planning
- Route strategy - Max Speed / Max Endurance
- TFRs
- Paperwork
- Radio License, Radiotelephone Permit, Passport (Flying or Landing in Canada?)
- Required records - Airworthiness Cert, Signed Weight & Balance, Registration
- What not to bring
- Loading up
- Fuel considerations
- Weight & Balance. (When was the last time you really did one?)
- Temporary modifications - (Removing those seats - Legal?)
- Securing the load
- What goes where? - Need to reach in flight?
- Life Jackets
- Sleeping bags or other cushions for off-airport landings
- Organizing the paperwork
- Departure
- Last minute pre-flight
- Checklists - Top of climb
- Flight Following
- Enroute Weather
- ATC along the way
- Weather flying
- "Scud Running" post 9/11
- IFR and Weather
- Enroute Weather - Garmin XM Weather
- Thunderstorm tactics
- Enroute Emergencies
- Emergency Landings
- Communications
- Loss of Communications
- Off-airport landings
- Ditching
- OSH Arrival
- Arrival Routes
- Flying the Ripon arrival
- Landing
- Taxi to Camping
- Setting up camp
- Staying Dry
- Move your clothes, valuables into the plane when not around. Weather blows in fast.
- Tents leak! We put a blue "roofing" tarp over the wing and pitch the tent under the tarp.
- Staying Safe - Tiedowns
- Thunder storms and major wind events - doggie anchors are not effective
- Dirt can be very hard - need to drive in stakes
- We use 2 2' rebar driven at angles at each tiedown.
- Gorilla plastic stakes for the tarp - even they pulled out in the thunderstorms last year.
- Getting around
- Bus service circles the camping area stopping at showers, restaurant, connection to museums, shopping. (But long waits)
- Bicycles are really handy especially if camped distance from showers
- What to do
- Fuel & Service
- Departure Planning
- Weather briefings
- Reservation System
- How to make friends with your neighbors
- Powering out of your tiedown
- Scattering all tents, tarps, furniture in the neighboring rows
- (Planning in a tent in the rain in the dark is not the same as planning in your kitchen)
- Soft field technique!
- Taxi ways are on grass - often heavy rains will soften the earth
--
GeorgeClark - 05 May 2006