Qualifying Cross Country Tomorrow

TW Mr Tayto

Well.... bricking it, would be an understatement.
I flew it through with my instructor yesterday. Is simple enough:

• Weston
• Birr
• Abbyshrule
• Weston

Thank god I only have to do 100nm, being a heli.

So, who wants to share any horror stories, or encouraging stories?

For anyone who will be around those times, the reg will be EI-JOR.

Zyox

No horror stories just enjoy it!
Best of luck, tis a great confidence builder

Growler!!!

No horror stories either.

Just enjoy it, remember what your instructor taught you.

Best peice of advice my CPL instructor taught me was that on your plog, the timings are never wrong!
The wind may change but not by any significant amount. So, if you remain on your selected heading for the specified amount of time then your waypoint will be slightly left or right of you depending on the change in wind. Then you can work out your 1 in 60 rule to get back on track to the next waypoint.

Edit: And best of luck

TW Mr Tayto

Thanks
Once I'm down I'll be going straight to The Blue Max.
Toasted Special. Red Bull. Sorted.

ronnie3585

Like the others, no horror stories.

Just take you're time and enjoy it.

I actually found mine a bit boring, two hours of flying with nobody beside you to have a chat with.

xflyer

I remember my qualifying cross country from Weston. To Kilkenny via Gowran Grange. I can now confess that that I landed at neither, in fact I was strictly warned not to touch down at Kilkenny because the ground was soft. They can't take my licence off me now can they?:o

The only advice I can give is to have your ETA ready when you talk to ATC. It seems to be a blank spot with pilots in this country. Generally a confident pilot pops up on frequency, spells out his details, 'Echo India blah blah, out of Weston enroute to Kilkenny, 2000 feet.' In return ATC offers the QNH and asks for an ETA. As often as not this results in, 'QNH 1013, um er..............standby for the ETA'. I always imagine the scene in the cockpit then, a frantic swirl of plog pages, stopwatches and mental calculation as the now flustered pilot desperately works it out. Then they forget that aviation is on GMT and the time gets corrected by the controller.

Save yourself the sweat and grief and have the ETA ready before you call. You've enough stress without a self inflicted distraction like that.

That's not the worst I've heard. Recently I had a good laugh when a pilot called Shannon ATC, started well but stopped, hesitated and still holding the mike key, obviously turned to someone else in the aircraft and said: 'Where's that place we're going?':rolleyes: Of course he didn't know the ETA either.

Have fun!

TW Mr Tayto

xflyer wrote: »

I remember my qualifying cross country from Weston. To Kilkenny via Gowran Grange. I can now confess that that I landed at neither, in fact I was strictly warned not to touch down at Kilkenny because the ground was soft. They can't take my licence off me now can they?:o

The only advice I can give is to have your ETA ready when you talk to ATC. It seems to be a blank spot with pilots in this country. Generally a confident pilot pops up on frequency, spells out his details, 'Echo India blah blah, out of Weston enroute to Kilkenny, 2000 feet.' In return ATC offers the QNH and asks for an ETA. As often as not this results in, 'QNH 1013, um er..............standby for the ETA'. I always imagine the scene in the cockpit then, a frantic swirl of plog pages, stopwatches and mental calculation as the now flustered pilot desperately works it out. Then they forget that aviation is on GMT and the time gets corrected by the controller.

Save yourself the sweat and grief and have the ETA ready before you call. You've enough stress without a self inflicted distraction like that.

That's not the worst I've heard. Recently I had a good laugh when a pilot called Shannon ATC, started well but stopped, hesitated and still holding the mike key, obviously turned to someone else in the aircraft and said: 'Where's that place we're going?':rolleyes: Of course he didn't know the ETA either.

Have fun!

Had a chuckle myself at that!
I was asked for a few ETAs en route yesterday. I gave an ETE, only realizing my mistake now. They didn't seem to mind. Not perfect, I know; but it worked for them and worked for me too. :cool:

xflyer

I think they're well used to it. It happens a lot. It's more likely to cause you stress than them. Better still if you tell them your ETA on first calling them they won't have to ask. If you make a mistake just give them a revised ETA.

My main advice is to relax and enjoy the flight. In any case it's a chopper you can always stop and have a cup of tea while you figure out how lost you are!:D Fixed wing has no such luxury.

Manic Moran

Only problem I had on my cross-country solo was one you're not likely to have in a helicopter.

My second stop was a rather small field with a 50' runway. (Oddly, it was about 4'000' wide).

Upon evaluating the situation, I decided that maybe I should take the risk of missing my alignment, as, though my short-field landings were pretty good, I didn't think they were that good. Even today, however, I'm still not exactly great at hitting the centreline.

So coming in, I've got a bit of a drift to the right. Sure enough, I screw it up, and I'm pretty much in the flare when I conclude that my wheel is actually going to impact on one (or more) of the lights marking the side of the runway. Well, never too late to go around. Push in the throttle, engine roars, and up I start going. P-factor also results in the aircraft turning left, bringing me right back onto the centreline. Quickly chop the power, bounce the wheels off the runway, and get going again...

NTM

alphaLaura

Make sure you go to the bathroom before you take off

InTheTrees

I did mine from Kidlington in Oxfordshire, up to an airfield outside Birmingham, then down to Cheltenham, then back to Oxford.

I've never been much into horse racing. Neither was my instructor.

SO we werent aware that it as the week of the Cheltenham races and the normally reasonably quiet airport was like heathrow in august but with private jets. Looking back I dont know how I made it, I remember the controllers giving me a lot of help (as I dodged learjets in my 110hp Tomahawk, or Traumahawk as they were known)) and I remember parking and getting my logbook signed off but not much else...



Anyway! Best of Luck, I hope its memorable without being exciting!

Manic Moran

xflyer wrote: »

Generally a confident pilot pops up on frequency, spells out his details, 'Echo India blah blah, out of Weston enroute to Kilkenny, 2000 feet.' In return ATC offers the QNH and asks for an ETA. As often as not this results in, 'QNH 1013, um er..............standby for the ETA'.

Was tootling around Stockton last week. The California Coast is a common destination for aspiring commercial pilots from Asia to come and learn to fly. Near year-round VFR, not overly crowded.

The problem is that (a) they're obviously not very good yet, and (b) their mastery of the English language isn't quite where it needs to be. (Another reason they come to California: They're forced to learn English).

I'm coming in for an ILS into Livermore, and hear the following.

"Cessna 4QF, hold at RIEGA, 4,000, VFR, #2 to land Livermore 25R, follow Cessna passing 2 miles to your East"

In thick Chinese accent:
"4 QF, say again?"

"Cessna 4QF, hold at RIEGA, 4,000, VFR, #2 to land Livermore 25R, follow Cessna passing 2 miles to your East"

"4QF, hold RIEGA, land Livermore..."

(Slowly and deliberately)
"Cessna 4QF. Hold at RIEGA. 4,000. VFR. #2 to land Livermore 25R, follow Cessna passing 2 miles to your East, Sir."

"4QF...."

"OK. We'll try this one more time, Sir. Hold at RIEGA.... four..thousand.... VFR... #2 to land at Livermore.... Runway two, five, right.... Follow Cessna which is passing to your East."

"....."

"4QF, did you understand?"

"4QF. Hold Riega. 4,000. Follow Cessna passing East"

By this point I'm just waiting for NorCal to say "Radar service terminated, squawk 1200, resume own navigation"

In actuality, I'd passed by RIEGA by that point, so the instruction was "Cleared for approach to Livermore 25R, contact tower 118.1, Good Day"

NTM

xflyer

MM's story reminds me of a possibly apocryphal yet plausible story of a visit to Dublin airport by a private pilot from the provinces some time in the seventies or eighties. A flight plan was filed. But R/T wasn't and frankly still isn't the strong point of PPLs who learned to fly away from the the few airports that existed. In any case, at the expected time. A blip appeared on radar just at the zone boundary at the appropriate time. 'Is that you Alpha Bravo at zone boundry' called the controller. 'Yup' was the reply. 'Ok, you're cleared to the reporting point, call when reaching'. Sometime later a dot in the sky is spotted by the tower controller at the reporting point. 'Is that you Alpha Bravo at the reporting point?' 'Yup' '
'Ok cleared to approach runway 24, call finals' 'Yup' Presently an aircraft was seen approaching but no call. 'Is that you on finals for 24? 'Yup'. 'Alpha Bravo, cleared to land 24 and can you phone ATC after you've landed'.


On another point Mr Tayto, you had a lucky escape, Birr is now a centre of intensive parachute ops for several days a week, not Wednesday this time though. Kilkenny also does skydiving but they don't seem very busy.

TW Mr Tayto

xflyer wrote: »

On another point, you had a lucky escape, Birr is now a centre of intensive parachute ops for several days a week, not Wednesday this time though. Kilkenny also does skydiving but they don't seem very busy.

I've been following them on FB, they certainly have been busy!

Oscar Bravo

"Golf November Delta"(G-VAND) is flat out climbing to 9000ft these days!!

aviteire

Well done Tayto

I remember doing mine a few years ago in the HU269, weston-birr-abbeyshrule-weston, the same as you !

Great experience.

Keep at it anyways, the PPL is a wonderful thing to have in your back pocket.

Since I started my first lesson in 2006, as a PPL holder I have managed to log just over 150 hours on the HU269, 70 hours on the R44 and almost at the 100 hour mark on the MD500 now.

Safe flying and enjoy every minute of it.
Keep us updated on your training...

pclancy

Well done Mr Tayto. Great thread I love reading people's flying stories.

Bearcat

i got chewed yonks ago on my first country for personal hygenie , I was sweatin like a pig and I dont think the deoderants then were any good then and I landed at the wrong flap setting(intermediate as against full)....examiner thought I was using same due to windy conditions.:D

donkey balls

When I did my 150NM CC the FBO at the airport(Gainsvile) collected me from the plane in a buggy(golf car thingy) and brought me back to their office to get my paperwork signed and have some refreshments before bringing me back to the plane,The second destination was St Augustine were some of the ATCO are known to be knobs on approach the ATCO told me to hurry the f**k up as a Lear 45 was right up my arse:eek:.
Upon landing the FBO came along in their buggy and brought me back to the office for the paperwork to be signed off,The amount of private jets parked on the ramp was unreal the lad who gave me a lift told me that they all belonged to famous golfers who were playing at some game( sorry I'm not into golf:p).
There was also two hueys parked up I met the USMC lads that flew them they told me which direction they would be heading,As I took off heading south towards Daytona I saw the two choppers flying below me side by side some sight I will never forget.

Manic Moran

There was also two hueys parked up I met the USMC lads that flew them they told me which direction they would be heading,As I took off heading south towards Daytona I saw the two choppers flying below me side by side some sight I will never forget

Heh.

I was doing night laps at E-Town, right next to Ft Knox, when some AH-64s decided to come along and do the same thing.

"Apache 37, left crosswind"
"Cessna 41B, take-off 23. Hey, I'll trade you a ride in my Bradley for a ride in that thing"
"Sure, if you can get a two-star to sign off on it"
"I can get a colonel, close enough?"
"No, sorry"
"Bugger."

Those things leave a heck of a lot of turbulence on the runway, by the way.

So, OP, how did you do?

NTM

Lustrum

My cross county solo involved a t&g in Shannon, no major problems, but had a shamrock A320 holding short as I had been cleared to touch and go. Had a little smile to myself as I gave them a wave sitting there on the taxiway.

Great flight, loved being on my own and making jet noises in my 172!

Bree123

I'm doing my cross country to Shannon from Kilkenny via Waterford on Sat (30th) in the clubs trusty TB9 (EILEM) A bit nervous to be honest, Shannon Tower is a lot more intimidating than Waterford Tower.

I've managed to do 3 good solo cross countrys in the last week, really love it, the more I do it the more I want to fly.

Something interesting happened today, I was flying solo from Waterford back to Kilkenny routing via Enniscorthy (the East side of Mt. Leinster) The Low Level Winds charts must have been way off, they were predicting 040/05 at 5000. After a runway 21 departure, following my planned HdgC and doing a quick FREDA chack, I found my self leaving the Waterford Zone Boundry overhead New Ross, about 8 miles left of track. I decided to remain on my current track and join my Enniscorthy-EIKK leg overhead Goresbridge as the sun was due to set in about 40 mins and I didnt want to waste anytime plotting my way to Enniscorthy.

10 mins later (with the sun glaring straight into my eyes) "Echo Echo Mike, Kilkenny city in sight, switching to Kilkenny Radio on 122.90"

Another few minutes pass by. What I thought was Kilkenny city in the distance turned out to be nothingness. After a little looking around and map reading, I determined I was just a few miles North of Thomastown.

I'm a little worried about something like this happening on my trip to Shannon, as I am not familiar with the area in the same way as I am in Kilkenny. Lets hope the visibility stays good!

Manic Moran

Bree123 wrote: »

I'm a little worried about something like this happening on my trip to Shannon, as I am not familiar with the area in the same way as I am in Kilkenny. Lets hope the visibility stays good!

Assuming you're not going VFR on top, you should be able to come up with left/right limits for your trip. For example, from Kilkenny to Waterford, as long as you've not crossed the N9 on your left or the N76 on your right, both of which should be fairly easily identifiable, and as long as you haven't flown over the Suir, which should also be fairly easy to spot, you know you're more or less not going too far from Waterford. Similarly, the N24 should be a good left-boundary for the Shannon leg, though I admit I'm not sure what I'd use for a right boundary. May be an idea to err to port.

NTM

TW Mr Tayto

Grand!
Outbound from Weston, FIS reported R15 active, by the time I was overhead Enfield R16 had activated. I was told to go 122.00 Bal, I mistakingly heard 122.02 after about a minute no reply I swapped back to 118.500 to confirm and I got the correct freq.

Called Bal, it was pretty easy just confirmed my intentions. Told not above 1,500. I reduced from planned 1,500 to about 1,300 to leave a gap for error. Halfway I was about 3 miles off course after the whole deal with Bal. Identified myself by Tullamore, could just about see the mountains by now: haze was a nuisance on this leg.

Found Birr pretty easily this time: no traffic at all. Simple as.
Love being able to chuck things in Lee's (instructors) seat! Setting down at Birr, I ended up on a little bit of a slope, a small one but it caught me by surprise..

Outbound from Birr had my plan. Was a piece of Air Corp traffic, that was all. Pretty simple leg. Found a whole new BUNCH of confidence this leg. Pointing out tiny towns to myself, even the odd a-road. Felt chuffed to be honest.

I didn't see Abbyshrule airfield until about a mile out. 30 degrees of bank got me on a late right downwind for 10. In hindsight, when I heard no traffic call me back from when I was 6 miles out I should of taken an overhead join for a left downwind. The bank worked out though.
If you've ever wanted to visualise the vortices from main rotor, fly near some dandelions!

Skids down, text Lee, adjust map, breather and up.

Last leg was into wind, pretty simple, the lake beside Mullingar stuck out like a sore thumb. Called Weston overhead Enfield, job done.
110 knots blast past Kilcock and Maynooth.

Overall, wind calm all day, no traffic at either stop, or even on return to Weston. Heights + or - 70foot but usually solid. Speeds could of been better + - 10 knots. Heading constantly within 5 degrees.
I've seen better vis, much better, I've also seen worse.

To be honest: I think I was let off lightly.
Might try it backwards next Saturday, see if I can!

Did I mention that was the first time I've gone past Kilcock solo? Didn't work out too badly.

I love hearing these stories guys, as I'm sure we all do! Keep them coming :cool:

InTheTrees

TW Mr Tayto wrote: »

Love being able to chuck things in Lee's (instructors) seat!

And now you can let out the occasional Whoop and Wohooo without embarrassment.

TW Mr Tayto

InTheTrees wrote: »

And now you can let out the occasional Whoop and Wohooo without embarrassment.

On another nav yesterday, I found a town I was looking for, and exclaimed.. this thing is my

b*tch

:P
Looked around to see if anyone was in earshot! :rolleyes:

Manic Moran

As long as your finger wasn't on the 'transmit' button...

NTM

TW Mr Tayto

aviteire wrote: »

Well done Tayto

I remember doing mine a few years ago in the HU269, weston-birr-abbeyshrule-weston, the same as you !

Great experience.

Keep at it anyways, the PPL is a wonderful thing to have in your back pocket.

Since I started my first lesson in 2006, as a PPL holder I have managed to log just over 150 hours on the HU269, 70 hours on the R44 and almost at the 100 hour mark on the MD500 now.

Safe flying and enjoy every minute of it.
Keep us updated on your training...

Are you the N-reg buzzing around Weston? :eek:

newcavanman

2 lads made a very dramatic arrival at Harveys Point hotel yesterday afternoon in a Hughes OH-6 . after watching Top Gun last weekend, it definitly looked THE way to arrive in style !!

Names

Congrats....looked good from where i was! R/T was good,well done.:D

Stovepipe

Hi all,
A couple of things that I never see done here: students not using a set-heading point or carrying out a Gross Error check. For the first, pick a distinct landmark, on track, within five miles of the departure field and use this to confirm that the DI and compass agree. For the second, if there are any really prominent features on your track, such as a distinctly shaped body of water or a very prominent building or structure, use these to confirm that you really are heading West or East or whatever.
Apart from that, a student should set up his/her equipment for ease of access and utility, ie, maps folded correctly and oriented correctly (my CPL examiner insisted that I fly with the map correctly oriented to the Earth so that, even if I had to read it upside down, any expected lake/bridge/major road was on the correct side of track.
regards
Stovepipe

aviteire

TW Mr Tayto wrote: »

Are you the N-reg buzzing around Weston? :eek:

No Tayto, That aint me. N-reg alright but based in Castlebar co mayo. I havent been east of the river shannon yet since the new year :cool:

Manic Moran

Stovepipe wrote: »

ie, maps folded correctly and oriented correctly (my CPL examiner insisted that I fly with the map correctly oriented to the Earth so that, even if I had to read it upside down, any expected lake/bridge/major road was on the correct side of track.
regards

Depends on what your primary method of navigation is. If it's looking out the window with terrain association, I fully agree. If you do a lot of work with radials, North-up seems to make more sense.

NTM

Sky King

(my CPL examiner insisted that I fly with the map correctly oriented to the Earth so that, even if I had to read it upside down, any expected lake/bridge/major road was on the correct side of track.

Yeah i was encouraged to navigate like this as well.. I don't get it - it makes far more sense for me to hold a map north up and do the rotating in my head, instead of looking at the thing upside down and having to twist my head to read place names and stuff like that...

I'd be a 'north up' GPS man as well... Like... that's the way you'd look at a road map isn't it?

Each to his own I suppose

TW Mr Tayto

kilkenny flyer wrote: »

Yeah i was encouraged to navigate like this as well.. I don't get it - it makes far more sense for me to hold a map north up and do the rotating in my head, instead of looking at the thing upside down and having to twist my head to read place names and stuff like that...

I'd be a 'north up' GPS man as well... Like... that's the way you'd look at a road map isn't it?

Each to his own I suppose

I'm just like yourself here. I would usually find it more comfortable with a north up map. I've noticed my navigation has actually improved since I've started turning the map. My instructor tries to get me to put it roughly on the heading I'm on. I prefer a rough turn - such as heading 105, just have it pointing east. If I have a cluster of towns coming up I'll just point my planned track on the map at the front of the bubble for small ease of use bonus.

I think the "rough" way I talked about above keeps the map on your knee much better. I'm not sure what the small fixed wings are like; but in a heli there's not much "safe" space for something to fall. I imagine fixed wing can put the map BETWEEN the front seats, but we have a vital control lever there. Grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side I guess.

Note: There is space on a heli between your own seat and the door; but there is a vent there - if you open that I wouldn't leave anything down therefor the sake of Murphy's law!

bombs away

donkey balls wrote: »

When I did my 150NM CC the FBO at the airport(Gainsvile) collected me from the plane in a buggy(golf car thingy) and brought me back to their office to get my paperwork signed and have some refreshments before bringing me back to the plane

Hehe did my cpl cross country into gainsville 3 weeks ago, funnily enough two usmc choppers came in bout 10 mins after I landed seems they get around , nice place.

Flew to Key West the nxt day, now that was a trip

xflyer

Funny, even though I have a Garmin 430. I'm still old school. Always keep a chart handy. One day the gadget will go blank. So I always have a vague idea where I am and which direction I'm heading.