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#21
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This is an interesting statement that begs for an explanation. Why do you like to fly "very low"? Gosh, doesn't everyone? My primary reason for flying at 2900 feet AGL (if you consider that low--I do!) is that it frees me from having to think about airways while getting me above the controlled airspace near my home. I almost never go higher, and I am so accustomed to this altitude that I feel a bit uncomfortable flying lower, though I will do so if there's a strong headwind. There aren't many pastures where I fly, and I like the extra gliding distance. The view is great from 2900 feet. If the poster means that he likes to smell the newmown hay--well, that's another matter. all the best -- Dan Ford email: see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com |
#22
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2900 Feet AGL is Low???? Just kidding. Army helicopters, if anything other
than the rotors are above the trees, your too high. But when I fly PP-ASEL anywhere, I get up there. There is nothing like altitude. What is that saying? Two things that are useless, Fuel on the ground and air above you? Fred "Cub Driver" wrote in message ... This is an interesting statement that begs for an explanation. Why do you like to fly "very low"? Gosh, doesn't everyone? My primary reason for flying at 2900 feet AGL (if you consider that low--I do!) is that it frees me from having to think about airways while getting me above the controlled airspace near my home. I almost never go higher, and I am so accustomed to this altitude that I feel a bit uncomfortable flying lower, though I will do so if there's a strong headwind. There aren't many pastures where I fly, and I like the extra gliding distance. The view is great from 2900 feet. If the poster means that he likes to smell the newmown hay--well, that's another matter. all the best -- Dan Ford email: see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com |
#23
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"Bob Gardner" wrote in message newsmRAb.53585$_M.258452@attbi_s54... You are taught pilotage as a shield against the day when you computer flight planning software crashes. You do need something to fall back on. Bob Gardner Correct, of course, but if you're not using pilotage, it'll be too rusty to use when you need it. Something you perhaps should schedule in a few times a year (a pilotage-only route)? |
#24
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For most VFR flights of significant length I plan carefully, especially
since I like to fly very low. This is an interesting statement that begs for an explanation. Why do you like to fly "very low"? If you fly antiques the likes of Cubs and Champs, there is no need to fly high. 300 to 500 AGL will get you anywhere you want to go. With a max cruise speed of 75-80 MILES per hour, obstruction avoidance takes a long time. Something a mile ahead of you will give you 40-50 seconds to maneuver around. You can pull back the power and yell at people on the ground. Any patch of ground without trees or wires is a potential landing area. Long drivways, country lanes and fields, big yards, beaches, etc. Not only can you land, you can takeoff. I have flown Columbus OH to Oshkosh WI and never gone above 500 AGL. When I flew Columbus to Lakeland FL for Sun N Fun this year, the only time I climbed above 1000 AGL was to cross a few mountains and swamps. |
#25
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On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 19:31:34 -0500, Roy Smith wrote in
Message-Id: : You certainly want to look at a chart and make sure your proposed route makes sense. I have one cardinal rule regarding XC flights: Don't get in the airplane without a course line drawn on the chart. The rest varies... |
#26
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"Nasir" wrote in message news Having received my PPL recently and been on several cross countries, I was wondering how extensive of a flight plan do people prepare before the trip? Nasir, I am a relatively low-time pilot and just made a small cross country just yesterday. My experience has been that I still do some flight planning manually, but I let my computer do the number crunching. My flight planning consisted of looking on my sectional for a destination, drawing a line, making note of landmarks for checkpoints, measuring the distance and True Heading and estimating time en route with my E-6B. This took all of 10 minutes (It would have been shorter, but the Sunday morning news was on and I would plan during the commercial breaks). Then, I went to my computer, started up the AOPA's free flight planner, typed in my departure and arrival points and voila, my flight was planned. All the wind correction, magnetic variation, fuel calcs and times are computed almost instantly (for both forth and hence), saving me many minutes of planning. Here's the important step: I checked over the Navigation log to make sure that it somewhat matched my crude manual numbers. This way, if I made a mistake somewhere, it would be a red flag telling me to look over my plan again. I then went to AOPA's AFD and printed out my destination's info and diagram. I let the computer's flight planner do the wind correction angle, fuel calculations, fuel at each leg, time en route etc. Manually, doing these calculations is the most time consuming part of flight planning. I usually fly totally by pilotage since I don't have a GPS. I rarely even use the VOR, since most of my flights are over the country to small airports. Some day, I'll get a GPS though, because I think it would be a great insurance policy against that sinking feeling that you've just passed your destination airport and you've got to turn around (or do you?). -Trent PP-ASEL |
#27
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"Trent Moorehead" wrote:
Here's the important step: I checked over the Navigation log to make sure that it somewhat matched my crude manual numbers. Excellent idea. The problem with computers is not that they make errors, but that they don't notice or care if you feed them bad data. Garbage in, garbage out. Type in the name of a GPS waypoint wrong and the computer is perfectly happy to send you to Nebraska instead of New Jersey. I once sat in the cockpit of an airline flight during the pre-flight preparations for a flight to Bermuda. Between the plane's computers and the airline's dispatch department, the flight was planned about as carefully and accurately as possible. But the pilot still pulled out a chart and a plotter (looked just like the one you got in your student pilot kit, except that it had the airline's name printed on it and looked like it had accumulated a lifetime's worth of dings and scratches), drew some lines, and went over it leg by leg verifying that the headings and distances the computer spat out looked reasonable. |
#28
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Well, a cross country is just a series of one hour flights strung end to
end... To go for a one hour flight I simply check the weather and notams, and if there are no show stoppers we get into the plane and launch in the general direction of where we want to be... To go from one end of the country to the other, I do exactly the same - wx / notams / fuel / go... Fuel stops are usually not preplanned, about two and a half hours out I start looking ahead an hour for the fuel stop... I try to go to a different airport for fuel on every trip even if it is the twentieth time I've flown the route.. I do avoid the jet ports simply because they have high fuel prices, though... The Howie Keith Charts are the easiest I've found and I have used them off and on for decades... The GPS195 keeps me from blundering into controlled / restricted airspace, and the airport database makes it easy to look an hour ahead for an airport with fuel.. Out west where the airports are further apart I do a smidgen more preplanning on the fuel stop, but that's all... So, my flight planning is the absolute minimum possible in todays airspace... The reality over most of the country is that you are within ten minutes of an airport... Relax and look at this beautiful country instead of sweating over check points and being exactly on time with your flight plan... Denny "Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:r4SAb.459877$Tr4.1276545@attbi_s03... Having received my PPL recently and been on several cross countries, I was wondering how extensive of a flight plan do people prepare before the trip? Last spring we flew from Iowa to Florida, with a stop in Alabama, with less formal flight planning then when I prepared for my first few 50-mile student cross country flights. We subscribe to Aeroplanner, an on-line flight planning service, and create Sectional Chart "Trip Tiks" in .pdf format upon request, printing them on my color laser printer at work. This pretty much wraps up our "flight planning" in the traditional sense, except for programming everything into our AvMap GPS. Aeroplanner literally does everything for you, including drawing the line on the charts, right down to the 10 nm "ticks"... (It also creates sectionals on 8.5 x 11 inch sheets, in flip-chart form, so you don't have the "octopus arms" of charts in the cockpit.) That said, it's the weather prep that really matters on a long cross country flight -- and, if anything, this has gotten MORE extensive over the years. For several days before a flight, we'll study the weather patterns on The Weather Channel. I'll get a really thorough outlook briefing the night before a flight, and then a standard weather briefing the morning of the flight. I'll virtually live on ADDS and a host of other weather websites, tracking the METARS and TAFS along our route of flight. I'll try to be aware of trends and anomalies in the weather pattern. If they're predicting crap weather the day before a flight, and it's sunny, I'll be very aware that the NWS has no clue what's happening. Finally, for vacations we always plan at least three flights. If the weather is socked in to the North, we'll choose our "Southern Option". If it looks bad that way, too, we'll choose our Western Option. We always leave our options open, and we always leave at least one "contingency day" in our flight plans. This procedure has worked well for almost ten years, and almost 900 hours. -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" "Nasir" wrote in message news Do you guys do all the checkpoints on a map, calculate time/distance/fuel to each leg? Do you just draw the line on the map and mark checkpoints that you expect to see but not calculate other things? Do you always calculate winds aloft and fly the appropriate heading? I have found myself getting lazy and I dont do all that I did when planning x-countries when I was training. I tend to draw my line and mark checkpoints, make sure I have plenty of fuel to get to my destination (plus an hour more) based on 6gal/hr average. But I dont calculate time/distance/fuel to each leg. I also have a GPS so that makes getting lazy easier! How much do you all plan before each x-country? Am I the only slacker? Nasir |
#29
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My primary reason for flying at 2900 feet AGL (if you consider that
low--I do!) is that it frees me from having to think about airways I was presuming he meant lower than 2900 AGL. -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
#30
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In a previous article, Cub Driver said:
My primary reason for flying at 2900 feet AGL (if you consider that low--I do!) is that it frees me from having to think about airways while getting me above the controlled airspace near my home. The problem with flight below 3,000 AGL is you keep encountering other aircraft. Every time I'm down there, I feel like I'm a World War II fighter pilot over Germany, because there's always somebody whizzing past in one direction or another, and if I stop scanning the skies for even a second in order to sight see, I'm going to get killed. I like to cruise between 6,000 and 10,000 - there's NOBODY up there. I flew for five hours yesterday, and the only traffic pointed out by ATC was down in the weeds, and I saw a few Dash-8s climbing or descending through my altitude, but otherwise it was pure bliss with the world stretching out as far as the eye could see in all directions. -- Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/ It's fun to mock old people. They're going to die soon anyway. -- Mike Sphar |
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