Posted: 11/30/2016 10:27:18 AM EDT
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After a standstill on training due to instructor taking another job, got on with a new instructor and doing my X Country solo today!
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I remember my first XC solo. We had a last minute change of equipment. Same airplane, but I didn't have a moving map GPS. I actually had to use my paper VFR charts with the worksheet and E6B calculations that I'd done beforehand to locate the airports (heavens forbid!). The first was KFAY (Fayetteville, NC), which was easy enough to find, but the second was a tiny strip with trees all around and I wasn't that high leaving KFAY, which was just a few miles to the east.
If you do have the luxury of a moving map GPS, like a GNS430, and are using it to navigate. Here's a trick to help you with your approach: Press the OBS button and rotate the CDI instrument to the runway number that you're expecting to land on and you'll get an extended magenta centerline on the moving map display. This can help you locate your airport and figure out your pattern entry, provided that you don't fuck up your GPS settings otherwise and confuse yourself. Also, don't forget to put your mixture back in prior to landing 
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Quoted:
What is this GPS you speak of??? My first XC, we had paper maps, a knee board and a wheel-type calculator (that I don't recall the technical name) I did about 450 miles with 3 legs and stops on 2 grass strips!! Fun times. 
Found the calculator (it's an E6B) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7e/E6b-front.jpg/220px-E6b-front.jpg Same here, except I didn't use a kneeboard. 375 miles around Florida during thunderstorm season with charts, watch and whiz-wheel. OP- have fun and enjoy the flight! |
| Paper charts for me too. GPS units were still VERY expensive when I got my PPL. My first CFI even made me do a cross country via only pilotage and dead reckoning. Not even a VOR or NDB for help. To make matters worse the airport was in a valley so if you weren't right over it you weren't going to see it. Landing in a valley was strange too. During final it felt like I wasn't descending. |
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Quoted:
What is this GPS you speak of??? My first XC, we had paper maps, a knee board and a wheel-type calculator (that I don't recall the technical name) I did about 450 miles with 3 legs and stops on 2 grass strips!! Fun times.
Found the calculator (it's an E6B) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7e/E6b-front.jpg/220px-E6b-front.jpg No kidding! Mine was around 30 years ago. Was the internet in existence back then? I still remember it. Coming back to Madison following hwy 51, straight as an arrow for so many miles, my instructor had taught me some aerobats and he told me the best way to know if you are doing proper loops was to practice while following a highway. Soon.... lol |