USA trip

[LondonPilot23]

Thinking about doing an East - West USA trip later on in the year...

Has anyone done it before and if so, any tips/hints for the journey?! Must see places, etc?

Thanks.

[youngskywalker]

Done West to East in a Seneca ten years ago. LA to Gulfport Mississipi and back. Plenty to see and do in the Mid west states. New Orleans, Dodge City, Taos, El Paso, Lake Havasu City, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, LA etc...

Be aware though that some parts of the journey may inlvolve crossing the Rockies, need to check the aircraft performace, also some airfields in the mid west have very high density altitudes like Grand Canyon for example.

Other than that, it's a blast, much easier than trying to go anywhere in the UK. Read the FAR AIM book before you go to get used to the airspace and various regulation differences, oh, and take plenty condoms :ok:

[Ni Thomas]

Did it 3 years ago from east coast to west coast (and back again) in a Grumman AA5B. Total time about 48hrs

Fully agree with YoungSW's warning regarding being fully aware of Density Altitudes - worst encountered was at Rawlings with D.Alt. of 10,000ft (but it did have a 7/8,000 ft runway!).
Other than that - it's relatively easy, far more so than in Europe :ok:

Routed Bridgeport (KBDR) - Clarion County (KAXQ) - Warsaw (KASW) - Grinnel (KGGI) - Broken Bow (90F) - Rawlings (KRWL) - Wendover (KENV) - Battle Mountain (KBAM) - McClellan(Sacrimento) (KMCC) then a quick flight to the actual coastal area (to tick the box!) and back to Bridgeport roughly the same route.
Suggest you get your up todate charts and Flight Guides (you'll need all three) via internet (I used Airnav's link - using the people you're hiring from as the postal address (with their agreement)).
Get yourself some old USA Sectionals to study before you go. It'll give you a heads up on their airspace and stuff. The Flight Guides give you lots of useful information in regards to the various aspects of operating over there.
You do have a USA license, yes?
If not you'd better start organising one, either on the back of your UK one or a stand alone edition - all of which will involve time and probably a bit of work!
Fly safely

[gcardinal]

A good resource is www.runwayfinder.com (http://www.runwayfinder.com)
Complete sectionals for the continental USA.

Cheers