Cross Country Recommendations for Inexperienced Private Pilot...

[Gav28]

Hello all,

Was wondering if someone could recommend some good cross country routes/places to visit, for an inexperienced Private Pilot?
Will be flying out of Denham and so far have been to Bournemouth, IoW and Goodwood. Not looking for anything too complicated but hopefully some interesting flying so I can develop my skills.

Keen to do some long trips but with the nights closing in and no night rating I probably won't be able to take on anything too ambitious, but would still be interested to hear suggestions all the same.

I imagine this has probably been asked before but my search did not yield anything so if a thread already exists please point me in the right direction, otherwise would be very grateful for any advice.

Thanks very much.

[steveking]

If you want to stay local Penshanger, White Waltham etc there all worth visiting to build experience. For me I just couldn't wait to do a X channel, quite do able even with the short days now and it's not as hard as you'd think. There's something extra special about doing a x channel flight and the vis can be better in the winter than the summer sometimes. Best first visit would have to be Le-Touquet.

[matspart3]

Gloucester's fairly straightforward....lots of beautiful Cotswold countryside, no controlled airspace to worry about, 3 hard runways, good restaurant and a pilot shop.

[jollyrog]

I had a nice day out at Duxford with a couple of mates back in the Summer. Lots of radio nav aids to follow (came from the South) if you like that kind of thing and the aerodrome was easy to spot.

[Wrong Stuff]

Some good suggestions already. In addition...

Old Buckenham - nice, friendly airfield. They used to do excellent food, but I think that's more limited now.

Turweston - have a very good, traditional cafe. Great for an early morning flight for breakfast.

Elstree - see how the other half live. You'll appreciate Denham all the more! Worth a visit while it's still there.

Shoreham - nice airfield and terminal building. Not a bad cafe either. Transair about 10 mins walk away, so you can spend a bit more money.

[julian_storey]

Alderney's lovely and you can walk into town from the airport.

It's a bit like going back in time :-)

[RatherBeFlying]

It's quite normal to check the forecast for the flight out to destination, but you really do want to know that the weather will be OK for the flight back home, especially if your employer will be expecting you.

If you go away for a weekend, the public forecasts will give a reasonable idea of what you can expect.