solo cross country - done.

[localflighteast]

150 miles (give or take!)
2 stops
and One happy pilot!

It wasn't exactly smooth sailing. Both airports seemed to stubbornly hide from me.

First one was located when I matched up the shapes of the lakes in front of me with the ones on the chart.

Second one took a couple of orbits over a nearby town before it finally came into view.

Still can't quite believe I actually did it!:ok:

[Jan Olieslagers]

Congrats! Well done!
Fly there again when you can, you'll wonder how you ever needed to search, so prominent the fields will be. You just need to know what you are looking for. This time you didn't, and yet you managed. Well done indeed!

[Jude098]

Congratulations and well done.

[PPLvirgin]

well done dude - great effort.

i did mine in September last year, also went well but with a few mishaps shall we say lol.

where did you fly from, to?

reards

Tris

[localflighteast]

Thanks guys,

I flew from Toronto, to Muskoka and then to Peterborough before returning to Toronto

the google map is here, it doesn't allow you to select "flying" as your mode of transport!

https://goo.gl/maps/IqoKb

Mine wasn't perfectly smooth either, nothing major but had to do some improvising for sure. Didn't help that we've had a major thaw here and the scenery looked very different this week to what it did last week when I did my dual.

[Jan Olieslagers]

Just as a sidenote, for displaying your route graphically there are worse options than LANDINGS Welcomes All Pilots & Aviation Enthusiasts to Aviation's Busiest CyberHub (http://www.landings.com) even if it takes a bit of getting used to

Flight Route Planning (http://www6.landings.com/cgi-bin/nph-dist_apt?pass=193800885&&airport1=cytz&airspeed=&elevcolor=YES&trackwidth=10&endurance=&airport2=cytz&display=map&waypoints=cyqa;cypq&display=elev)

[localflighteast]

Thanks , a very cursory glance at the moment but it does look useful.
Appreciated

[slam525i]

@localflighteast

You'll find a cheapie basic VFR GPS is of immense help. I have an Aera 500 and it's fantastic. I also have an old Garmin GPS III Pilot I can be convinced to part with since I no longer use it as my backup. For backup, I use an iPad with an external GPS and Foreflight.

Winter and non-winter flying is drastically different in Toronto. In winter, everything is white, including the lakes. Much easier to navigate in the summer.

Have you considered joining the Buttonville Flying Club?

[GGR155]

I can share your elation. Well I remember completing my QXC in 1977. Terrific flight and to this day one of my most memorable.

Well done mate

[localflighteast]

Thanks slam, but I'm kind of transport limited at the moment.
The joke is that I don't drive, so for the moment I'm kinda limited to city. I don't know how easy Buttonville is to get to by TTC

The plane actually has a basic GPS unit but I really didn't want to use it. Before this flight I had very little faith in my map reading abilities and that is what scared me about the whole thing.

Getting momentarily lost and finding my way by pure map reading was an amazing moment for me. Did wonders to build up my confidence but for sure on any real flights I'd use whatever is at hand.

I might be interested in the GPS, you can contact me via my gmail account if you like (myusernamehere @gmail.com)

So is Buttonville staying open then? Last i heard the nimbys were forcing you out.

[slam525i]

So is Buttonville staying open then? Last i heard the nimbys were forcing you out.

It's not the nimbys that did us in. It's the "We're selling the airport to build a mall as soon as Daddy dies."

[Andy_P]

Congratulations!!

I know what you mean about locating airstrips. I guess its something you eventually learn to overcome as most people I know that have been flying for a while seem to be pretty good at it.

[tmmorris]

Well done!

Yes, finding airfields definitely is an acquired skill. I've lost count of the times I've said to passengers 'look, the airfield is right there!' And they've been unable to spot it until we are virtually overhead.

On my QXC, two of us did the same route about 5 minutes apart (causing the EGBJ controller some amusement). The chap ahead of me got lost finding one of the airfields (Tatenhill) and almost went into CAS though asked for help in good time and still 'passed'. Wonder where he is now? Can't remember his name...

I had an unfair advantage, though - Tatenhill was about 5 miles from where I used to live...

[slam525i]

I remember my flights in a tail dragger off a grass strip. I managed to lose the "runway" just staying in the circuit. :ugh:

(All green fields look alike. You have to look for the hangers instead of the strip.)

[localflighteast]

one of the airports is usually really easy to see. It sticks out like a sore thumb. I couldn't believe it when I failed to spot it.

I seriously thought I was going to be the first student in living history who failed to find it.

Peterborough is renown for being tricky to spot when you approach from a certain direction, so I wasn't too concerned. Once I realised I was overhead the town I just did a couple of orbits until I spotted it.