solo x/c for commercial

Fly low. Very low. The whole time. With no GPS. This will challenge
your pilotage, dead reckoning, and flight planning abilities (and such a
flight =must= be planned well!). Down low you won't see all that far,
and many of the landmarks you'd count on from a few thousand feet up
will be beyond the horizon. You'll need to hold a course with very good
precision, recognize and utilize landmarks of a totally different scale,
and keep your eyes out for towers and such. After three hours at five
hundred feet (a thousand if you're over towns), it's a nice feeling to
see the destination appear right in front of you, exactly where it belongs.

Of course, don't fly unsafely low; you need to take the hazards poking
up from the ground into account. You also need to consider the risks of
an engine failure into account. But the skills gained in navigation and
aviation this close to the ground may save your life one day. Besides,
it's real pretty.

Jose
--
The price of freedom is... well... freedom.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Everyone, thanks for the great suggestions! What I was looking for was
an attitude adjustment so I could look forward to this flight, and you
guys have helped provide it. I've fallen into the habit of thining of
the plane as a tool and I've even gotten in the habit of thinking in
terms of nm per dollar rather than knots. Not good.

A few notes:
Thanks for the clarification on 61.129(a)(4)(i). It does not say it
has to be VFR. 61.129(a)(4)(ii) does, however, so the 10 hours at night
can't be under IFR. The regulation is...interesting. I had one
instructor that was fond of saying night flying is instrument flying,
regardless of the rules you fly under. I usually think of it that way.

Also, I do almost always log (in addition to the weather, kind of
approach used, etc) who came with me on a trip in my logbook, what we
did, etc. I use my logbook as a little bit of a history of my life. You
can tell who I've dated from the past five years from it. It may be
good idea to stop using it that way, split that stuff out, and make my
official logbook clean.

FYI . I'm starting in Palo Alto, CA. I was thinking of heading to the
Oregon boder and back. Never been up there before.

Finally, I should get a dog.

-- dave j

Oregon boder and back. Never been up there before.

Finally, I should get a dog.

...to help a steak at Harris Ranch.

wrote:

I had one
instructor that was fond of saying night flying is instrument flying,
regardless of the rules you fly under. I usually think of it that way.

Sometimes, but not always.

My night XC for the commercial was under a high overcast. There was enough
light that it was definitely *not* instrument-like.

It was a spectacular flight in one respect: The moon was hidden by the
overcast, but for a while I could see it reflected in the Hudson. A moon
below, and none above...nice.

- Andrew