Visiting airfields prior to Q x/c.

[AerBabe]

Evo7's post about his Q x/c got me wondering... how many of you visited your landaway fields prior to your Q x/c? I didn't, and there was never any chance that I would. It has its benefits in that it makes the flight less stressful as you know what to expect. However, isn't it better to go to places you've never been to as a confidence booster?

Discuss! :)

[QNH 1013]

AerBabe,
Like you when I did my PPL I was sent to two airfields I had never before visited. I assumed this was required as part of the demonstration to show that I could plan the route, read the landmarks, and successfully find and land at unfamiliar airfields. The airfields I was directed to find and land at involved a MATZ penetration as well. All part of the course I assumed.
Sounds like a bit of coaching has gone on if you've previously visited the "land-aways" with your instructor.

[Evo7]

Flying into somewhere for the first time on your QXC is undoubtedly 'good' for you - maybe in the same way that a five mile run and a cold bath before breakfast is 'good' for you - but I must admit that I'm bl**dy glad I'm not going to be doing it. :)

I've only been to two other airfields so far, but both times I was glad to have an instructor along for a ride (for example, when approaching Bournemouth I added 90 degrees onto the heading that I needed to fly for a right base join for 26 - rather than subtracting it - and might have headed off in completely the wrong direction :o ). Having a first look removes most of the worries, so my QXC is something I'm looking forward to rather than something stressful that I'm dreading...

On the other hand, I'll get my PPL having only experienced four airfields, one of which I trained at, and maybe visiting seven or eight removes the worries about turning up at a new place. Who knows? I just figure that there's plenty of time after the PPL to go new places, and I'm happy enough as it is. :)

[tacpot]

Both the time I gained my PPL, and recently when revalidating it, I first flew with the Instructor to the first of the airfields on my QXC, but not to the second. This seems acceptable (to a degree). I had the confidence when I set off on the QXC that I knew where I was going, and what to expect when I got there, and then the excitement, challenge and satisafaction of finding and landing at the second field, never having been there before.

But when you think about it, using this approach the new PPL will have only ever been to one airfield once, without having been first with an instructor.

Hmmm.

[str12]

Prior to my QXC the CFI being a wily old sod suggested that I drive over to a certain airfield to give it a once over, not fly to it mind you, just drive to it.

I didn't in the end but it would have been useful because being an ex-fighter base, the runway was longer and much wider. As we all know from Human Factors and Perf. this can result in flaring too early.

I did fly to it on my QXC but didn't drive to it first. I did a pretty good landing and even delayed the touch-down so I wouldn't have to taxi the extra kilometer :eek:.

Safe flying,

str12

[Trinity 09L]

I visited both airfields, Wellesbourne & Gloucester (from Blackbushe) before the QXC. The second was because of a substantial weather gap etc etc.

However, on the actual QXC did the reverse route. Approach to Gloucester from the east, & at Wellesbourne, a go around, due to a slow touch and go in front. :rolleyes:

[Grim Reaper 14]

Did my first 'landaway' on the Qx/c at Rand (Germiston) near Jo'burg. I'd seen it on the charts and it is like an inverted MATZ panhandle (?!). The stub that goes in to Rand, is surrounded by the Jo'burg CTR. The help I got consisted of "make sure you stay to the left of the Central Business District, but don't go too far left or you'll infringe the CTR. When you see a big silver ball on the hill, fly past it, and Rand is over the hill on the other side, but if you don't see it straight away, don't carry on or you'll infringe etc etc. If you turn too late for your base leg, you'll blah blah blah."

I made it....but tense?!?!? I can't even begin to explain, especially as another trainee had 'missed' it the previous week and been ball locked by the SA CAA....:(

I wish I'd been there before :rolleyes:

[Lawyerboy]

I always thought (in fact, I've been led to believe) that a landaway to an airfield you've never been to before was a required part of the PPL syllabus.

I've been up to Cambridge from Stapleford a couple of times now, and that'll be part of my QXC (when the *$^%!&^ weather improves), but I've never been to the other QXC airfield, Leicester.

[Evo7]

I always thought (in fact, I've been led to believe) that a landaway to an airfield you've never been to before was a required part of the PPL syllabus.


GID 21 - Requirements for a JAR-FCL PPL(A) (http://www.caa.co.uk/srg/licensing/fcl/default.asp?page=375) just says that you must complete

"one cross-country flight of at least 270km (150nm) during which full stop landings at two different aerodromes different from the aerodrome of departure shall be made"

This is taken directly from JAR-FCL1.125(b), which probably explains why it is so badly worded :)

[sennadog]

I did mine into Goodwood and Southend. The FTO wanted me to take an instructor into Southend as it is very different to the normal approaches and join that I've done elsewhere so I would say that from a safety point of view - it is a neccessity.

Luckily, during my PPL training I managed to visit 8 other airfields so I had practice doing overhead joins to the deadside which I hadn't done at Redhill which gave me plenty of confidence going into Goodwood.

I can understand people thinking that pilots should go in "blind" to new airfields for the experience and that it is "cheating" to do otherwise BUT in my opinion it is good airmanship to get as much information about a new airfield as possible. In this instance, I'm referring to anecdotal information from local pilots and when I went to Goodwood I got some in depth information from Evo which was brilliant! Consequently, I arrived at Goodwood in a better state of mind than I would if I had just used Pooleys and a chart. Therefore, I was a safer pilot on that day, in that situation and subsequently a better pilot for it!

In future when I'm visiting new airfields I will be asking on this forum for any information that I can get. That's not to say that I couldn't manage it on my own but when you have tools such as this forum to use - then why not use them if it helps improve your safety in the air?

[RotorHorn]

On my Qxc a few years ago in an R22 I had to complete the Qxc with an instructor in the morning and then complete the same course again in the afternoon solo.

The flight with the instructor in the morning was the first time I'd ever been to these airfields (Liverpool and Caernarfon). Glad they did it that way as Liverpool was very different to Blackpool, e.g. even though they both had ATC,

at Liverpool
- needed to request start
- copy the departure clearance prior to departure (prior to taxying in my case)
- they may route you via a VRP that wasn't the one you wanted!


Other than the torrential weather ("if it gets really bad, stick it in a field and sit it out"), the actual navigating didn't seem that demanding - keep the blue stuff on the right on the way there, and on the left on the way back

;)

[topunicyclist]

yep, visited both Nottingham and Leicester with my instructor prior to QXC when doing my PPL at Cranfield. He did however, send me on a navex where I had to find and overfly Wellesbourne all by myself before returning to Cranfield. He even phoned Wellesbourne before I got back to check I'd managed to find the airfield!

[Aussie Andy]

At BAFC at Wycombe we did QXC with instructor first time, and then in reverse direction to same airfields (Goodwood, Bournemouth and return) for the actual QXC. Even on earlier XC's we first visited the airfiled in question with instructor aboard.

I agree with sennadog that its good airmanship to be as informed as possible before putting yourself into new / unfamiliar situations. This may decrease with experience of course.

[Carlito]

Where I fly in Ireland we do landaways (touch and go) with an instructor before doing them solo and we do the QXC with an instructor before doing it solo.
I should be doing mine in the next week or so and I'll be glad to have been there/done that with a FI first.
Having said that, there aren't as many airfields to choose from in Ireland so by the time you've done a few XCs you've seen all the airfields within 150nm anyway.
Carlito

[AerBabe]

Seems quite unusual not to visit Q x/c airfields then. I'm still glad I didn't though. A few of my solo navex's were turning overhead airfields I'd not visited before, so I guess that made me more confident. Checking my log book, one of my solo landaways before my Q x/c was to somewhere I'd never been dual too.

[Lawyerboy]

I stand corrected then. Haven't done a solo landaway yet, but due to do one to Cambridge (where I've been before with my instructor) next week before the QXC the week after. Different strokes, I suppose.

[Evo7]

Cool - I was supposed to do my first solo landaway at Shoreham today, but the weather had other ideas. QXC planned for 14th or 15th :eek: :) :)

[Hersham Boy]

I visited both with an instructor AND did solo landaways at both before the full qx/c. Club rules... wasn't given the option. I'm happy to save the first time solo visit stuff for when I feel more confident (ie. after a few qualified hours).

Hersh