Solo Cross Country

[Rodge91]

When I last had a lesson (august) I was doing basic instrument flying, vor navigation, and the solo navigation fight (being a hero pilot racing the weather which i now know is wrong). I'm continuing my training in the next month so i'll have the solo cross country soon, I haven't met the instructor yet so are was wondering if there are any upper limits, now i'm aware of the lower limits regarding distance. I'm just wondering about the upper limits of time and distance as I was thinkin of flying down to an airport quite some distance away and have dinner with someone I know there before returning to Barton.

Thanks.

[BackPacker]

I'm continuing my training in the next month

have dinner with someone I know there before returning to Barton.

Although it is not quite that straightforward if you read the letter of the law, the intention/interpretation by most people (including the CAA) is that the solo navex is a single integrated exercise and has to be flown on the same day.

So do you plan on a really early dinner (called lunch), or are you going to fly back at night? It gets dark around 5pm these days you know.

As far as the original question is concerned, no, there is no upper limit, other than what can be reasonably accomplished in a single day. But you'll probably have to convince your instructor that you're going to be able to fly the route you intended. If that route takes you much, much further than what you've done on dual navexes, you'll have to find a very brave instructor that's willing to sign you out.

My advice: do the QXC according to the requirements, and don't add additional complications like meeting up with someone. This just puts unnecessary pressure on you to be on time, and so forth. If your QXC went well, simply schedule another solo navigation flight on a later date to have lunch with your pal. But on that flight you don't have to worry about getting forms signed, minimum distance requirements, number of airports to visit and so forth. Or wait until you've got the PPL, then you can even take your friend for a short local flight before returning home.

[jxc]

[QUOTE]I haven't met the instructor yet/QUOTE]

When you come to do your qualifying XC they will have a pre planned route to airports that you will probably have flown to before so you don't get lost, I'd doubt very much they will let you go where you choose to

good luck

[Lister Noble]

jxc,
You were lucky,we flew to the nearest together then I did my first solo nav there,for the QXC I had to find an airport some distance away that I'd never been to,then back to the one I'd visted before.
Lister

[joelgarabedian]

Lister, you were lucky too

I also did my first solo landaway to an airport where I'd previously been with an instructor, but I was given Southend and Manston for my QXC, neither of which I'd been to before. They were probably chosen because they were quite easy to find though

[Rishy]

I don't know about anybody else, but I was 'in the zone' for my QXC. Dinner consisted of a bacon butty and a cup of tea at Carlisle.

My advice would be to stick to the route your instructor suggests and concentrate on the job in hand. Looking back, I consider the QXC as being a much greater achievement than first solo. Don't be distracted with trying to find unfamiliar airfields (if you can help it) or meeting people for dinner or whatever. Plenty of time to do that when you've got the little brown book.

Rish

[Brooklands]

I was thinkin of flying down to an airport quite some distance away and have dinner with someone I know there before returning to Barton.

Unless they're changed the requirements for the QXC recently you have to land at two different airports, before returning to your point of departure.

Brooklands

[worrab]

Ooop North it's diffrent tha knaws

really early dinner (called lunch)

The rest of the world may call the mid-day meal lunch, but where English is spoken proper it's breakfast, dinner and tea... and fir tea it's tripe 'cos we 'ad us butties fir dinner.

[Lister Noble]

Joel

Look at my age,they were probably trying to help the "old man"!
i
I was 62 when I did the QXC and skills test.

Lister

[englishal]

I thought that you HAD to have flown the route previously with your instructor? They then have to sign you off only for that route....

[joelgarabedian]

62's not old Lister

Englishal - I don't recall seeing anything about having to have flown the route dual prior to the QXC. I think it's just subject to the same rules as the "solo cross country time", with minimum distance / landaway constraints. My instructor and I studied my route and the approach to each aerodrome beforehand, and he was happy that I could complete the flight safely. I relished the challenge and loved every minute of it. I agree with Rishy - I got a much bigger buzz from my QXC than my first solo

[Lister Noble]

I'm 66 now,still occasionally race cars,sail and fly most weeks,try to walk at least an hour a day,plus a large garden to look after.
Answer,surround yourself with young at heart people and have a very special wife!
Lister
Oh and I've got a pacemaker,that sure helps a bit

[DX Wombat]

I do hope this isn't going to be a repeat of the student, sent off from Barton, in a C150, to EGBO [which was the first stop on the QXC] when it was known that the visibility at EGBO was only 3.5K and then told by the FI concerned that the onward flight was approved if the student was happy to continue. The visibility had improved at that point - to 4K. This is NOT a fairy story, I was at EGBO at the time.

[joelgarabedian]

Lister If I'm half as active as you at 66 I'll be a happy man!

[flybymike]

Answer,surround yourself with young at heart people and have a very special wife!
Lister

And if I was 66 with a nubile Thai bride I would be a very happy man too....

[Keith_P]

Certainly, when I did my QXC (admittedly 8 years ago), the route wasn't one I had flown before (dual or solo). The first of the land aways was a new airfield to me, the second was one I had been to before with an instructor. As far as I know, it's a minimum of 2 land-aways, 150nm and performed as one exercise (unless you can show mitigating circumstances).

The official quote, I believe is:

"The cross-country flight should be regarded as a single planned exercise including landings at two intermediate aerodromes and completed during the course of a single day. Flights completed over the course of more than one day will not normally be acceptable towards license issue. Should an applicant claim that there were mitigating circumstances that prevented the flight from being completed as originally planned, the applicant must send in a written submissin to PLD explaining what happened together with any relevant supporting documenation/information for consideration."

so it looks like you could get away with splitting it on the same day but as others have already suggested, why add complications. It's more sensible to concentrate on the QXC and organise lunch/dinner with friends another time. (and I would expect most FIs would want you back so they know it's all sorted safely)

[OA32]

I thought that for the QXC you had to go to 1 airfield you had not previously visited, at least that's what myself and others at my local club used to do....

[Lister Noble]

Yep,that's what we all do at Old Buckenham.

[Rodge91]

Thanks for all the advice. I've not flown for awhile now so i'm starting to get excited about it all again, and reason has gone out the window

I think my original route was ambitious even for when i've got my PPL.

Also i've noticed alot of people at Barton seem to fly south to the midlands, this might be because I don't know alot of people there, but i'd prefer to fly to the north, it seems a more interesting place to fly, just wondering if anyone else has noticed this?