CPL X-country

[ravenx]

what sort of routes have the CPL people on this forum used for their 300 nm x-country. I seem to be going all around the coast line to make up the distance without hitting the busy areas of london, luton and stansted.

Also, is there still the requirement for you to have a 150nm leg (I mean if nothing else this will make buying trousers extremely difficult) and land at 2 airports.

[vicarofdibley]

Well I think I have done two.

East mids - Haverfordwest - Southend.

Or East Mids - Lydd - Le Touquet - East Mids

I have done all of my hour building in the UK/Europe.

I can recommend Haverfordwest, Leicester do the best breakfast, Caernarfon was probably the most enjoyable ( over Snowdon on a clear day).

Depending on your starting point Newcastle are friendly, Leeds are good, Teeside I can recommend.

There are so many good airfields about I am struggling to think of the best route.

Ostend were great, Dublin was brilliant (overnighter).

What is your starting point? That might help....

Vicar

[A and C]

What ever you do go abroad and get the drawback on the fuel , Its worth about £50 in a PA28/C172.

And if you have not done a channel crossing the experience will do you no harm.

Its a long time back but I think that I did Luton -Calais- Ostend- Luton but that was in the good old days when the fuel at ostend was as cheap as the channel islands.

[ravenx]

for some reason I have a bit of a "fear" or maybe just aprehension about flying out of the country. I'm sure it's nothing more than just donning the life jackets and filling in the paperwork - but it's just one of those phsycological barriers I have to get over.

My starting point will probably be Coventry

[spittingimage]

For the record, the one that counted :

Blackbushe - Plymouth - Swansea - Blackbushe.

I have done quite a few others since.

[eyeinthesky]

If you have a '"fear" about flying out of the country' then your career as a commercial pilot might be a bit limited!;)

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

Coventry - Filton - Cranfield - Coventry perhaps?

Both Filton and Cranfield are not mega expensive, are easy to find, have nice big runways and ATC that is very accustomed to dealing with student pilots and their endearing ways. ;)

Make it as easy as you can. Its a big hurdle and you really don't need to set the bar any higher than necessary. Thats what hour building is for in the coming years.

Good luck and don't forget two things:

1) Get the paperwork stamped
2) Ask for a radar service every chance you get and tell them the minute you think you might be er, maybe, slight, Ummm unsure of position... else you end up flying through drop zones etc.

Good luck and enjoy.

WWW

[A and C]

Ravenx

You are not going to be much use as a pilot if you fear flying abroard , the sooner you get across that channel the better , the more diverse that your flying experience the better when is comes to the flying tests.

Also why not fly in few air rallys that will sharpen up your navigation skills and its lots of fun .

[P.Pilcher]

Well, it was a long time ago, but I and a few friends decided on a weekend in Jersey. I therefore used my newly acquired twin rating to fly us from Coventry to Jersey (in a PA39) where we had an excellent weekend, then on the way home decided to drop in at Guernsey for lunch. It was only much later that when starting my self study CPL (in the days of "get 700 hours and take the tests") that I realised that this was the one and only cross country I had flown which met the distance requirements. Happy memories!!

[FlyingForFun]

Ravenx,

Find another pilot who's never flown out of the country, and go together. All the information you need is either in either Pooley's, or the CAA's Safety Sense leaflets (specifically the one on VFR flight plans). By taking another pilot, you'll be sharing the workload and you'll give each other confidence. And by finding someone else who's never done it before, you'll be forced to find all the information you need in the relevant documents. It'll be worth it!

My CPL X-country happened by accident. Was hour-building, based in Phoenix, AZ. Decided I fancied visiting Las Vegas. Flew to North Las Vegas airport, which was about a 3 hour flight if I remember correctly. About an hour into the flight I realised I needed to use the toilet. After about another hour I released I wasn't going to be able to survive all the way to Las Vegas, so I diverted to Needles, California, just west of the Nevada river. Amazing place - the only thing which was missing was tumbleweed blowing across the runway! Old man with missing teeth pointed me towards to bathrooms and a phone, but became very grumpy when I told him I didn't need to buy any fuel. 20 minutes later I'd done what I needed to do, updated my flight plan, and set off for Las Vegas. So my CPL X-Country is Chandler, Arizona -> Needles, California -> North Las Vegas, Nevada -> Chandler, Arizona. Cool! :) Now I just gotta pass those ATPL exams!

FFF
---------------

[foghorn]

Plettenberg Bay -> Beaufort West -> Swellendam -> Plettenberg Bay, in ZS-KBK, shortly afterwards retiring to the seafood restaurant opposite the Plettenberg Bay Hotel for dinner and a beer. Ah, memories :cool:

[David Balchin]

Had a great time doing mine.
Borrowed a PA12 from Eaglescott in Devon, was asked to take
old Richard who cuts the grass at the airfield with me to say thanks to him for looking after the Runway.
So off we went first to Compton Abbis then over Cowes and along the coast to Brighton and NE to Headcorn.
Had lunch, borrowed a Tiger Moth from the Tiger club so Richard could have a go in that too. we did a few aerobatics, did a formation with the other Tiger Moth down there, Then to cap it all off mixed it in with a BBMF Spitfire and Hurricane who were in the area doing fly-bys (it don't get better than that in my book!)

when't over the 'Needles' on the Isle of Wight and straight back to Eaglescott to insure I was well over the 150nm leg stipulation.
A Grand day out but I would say it could so easly have gone wrong (as with every flight) Make sure you have checked your aircraft carefully, the compass on the PA12 was well out by 15 deg. And that could really spoil your day!
Do also use RT where possible, even though Flight info. is a waist of space most of the time but its good practise.

[Teroc]

Just out of interest I did an Orlando to New York flight in a cessna 172 as my qualifier. Took approx 9.5 hours each way with 2 full stops along the way for re-fuelling.....obviously I stayed overnight in New Jersey.
However I didnt and still dont have any piece of paper signed off by anyone.

Do the CAA look for this when you submit your application for your CPL licence ?

Cheers..
T.

[foghorn]

No, they just need to see the flights in your log book.

[ravenx]

ok ok enough of the smart replies about my "fear" of flying abroad. You all knew very well that I meant my aprehension of leaving the shores of the UK for the first time :)

Thanks for the responses anyway.