Cross-Country Flying

What's the first thing that you think of when you hear the words "cross-country flying"? The first thought that probably comes to your head is one involving a flight halfway across the country. Maybe a flight to Arizona, Nevada or some place out west? Well, that is cross-country flying, but the destination doesn't have to be quite that far away. Cross-country flying (abbreviated by pilots as the letters "XC") is defined as any flight to a destination that is 50 nautical miles from the point of origin. It's not uncommon to go on a XC flight and never leave the state you started in. This was the case today...

All week long I have been contemplating going on a XC flight just as a fun activity and to sharpen my navigation skills. I am getting so familiar with the local terrain that I needed something else to challenge me. It has been many years since I have made a XC flight so I figured I would start small. I looked on my map for any airports that are located a few miles beyond the 50 nautical mile ring from Dayton Wright Brothers airport. I found one, at 53 miles away, and that was Pickaway County airport in Circleville, OH. Just to make my trip a little more interesting, I found another airport that was 50 miles away from Pickaway County and would put me back near Dayton. This airport was Grimes Field in Urbana, OH. This way I didn't take the same route home and got even more experience with unfamiliar areas.

The night before the flight, I mapped the entire route out and chose some landmarks I could see from the air to help me know exactly where I was and if I was on-course. When I was all done mapping it out, the course resembled a triangle. The total distance of the flight was 144 nautical miles or 166 statute miles (car miles). Each leg of my trip, I got out of the plane and walked around to stretch and snap a picture. Each airport was fairly busy and I got to chat a few minutes with some local pilots at each airport.

My First Flight in the New Plane

A couple of days ago I flew with my instructor for a check-out ride in a new plane (read about it here). Today is the first time since my check-out that I am going to fly the Zodiac. The most intimidating part about it, is the fact that my instructor won't be with me this time and the winds were also blowing pretty good.

I got to the airport about 20 minutes early and I saw that the plane was just landing. A student and his instructor had the plane scheduled until the time I was going to fly it. They got out and said the plane was flying just fine today and the winds were not too bad since they were coming almost straight down the runway.

The winds were being reported by the airport to be from the south, 180 degrees to be exact, and the speed was 11 knots. Luckily the runway, referred to as runway 20 or runway 2 if coming from the other direction, faces mostly north to south.

Just to make this easier to understand, the runway numbers are determined by the magnetic direction they point. So runway 20 means the runway is pointing in the direction of 200 degrees. Just add a "zero" to any runway number to get the magnetic heading of the runway. Landing the opposite direction is runway 2, which points toward the north with a magnetic direction of 20 degrees. Getting back to the winds reported by the airport, they were coming from 180 degrees. Planes need to take-off and land into the wind, which means the runway most facing that direction will be the preferred runway. So, 200 degrees is closer to the wind direction of 180 than 20 degrees. The difference between the wind direction and the runway direction is the crosswind. 200 minus 180 equals 20 degrees of crosswind. 90 degrees of crosswind would mean that the wind would be blowing perpendicular to the runway. The closer to 90 the crosswind is, the more difficult the take-off and landing will be and more skill is required. I was comfortable with a 20 degree crosswind.


I did some final pre-flight checks, taxied to the runway, and off I went. I didn't go anywhere this time up. Instead I just circled around and landed and took right back off again. I really wanted to work on my take-off and landing skills to get a better feel for the new plane. I did this circular pattern of taking off and landing about seven times before calling it quits to get some dinner. I am happy to report that all went better than I expected and my confidence in flying this plane has been boosted. Maybe this weekend, I will be able to take to the skies with one of my favorite passengers, Jill.

Flight Info:
Wind: 180 degrees @11 knots
Visibility: 10 miles
Ceiling: Clear Skies
Route of flight: Stayed local to KMGY

Learning to Fly a New Plane

I recently had the chance to learn to fly a new plane. The Dayton Pilot's Club, which I am a member of, has several planes in it's inventory: Two Piper Archers and one Zenith Air Zodiac. Until now, all I have been flying were the Archers because that is what I learned to fly in and I just feel comfortable flying them.

I decided to step out of my comfort zone and take on a new challenge; flying the Zodiac. What made me decide to take on this challenge you may ask? It's partly just that, a challenge. I also wanted to learn to fly that plane because it's better on gas. It's almost half the cost of flying when compared to the Archers. As with any advantage, there are also disadvantages. Yes, flying is no different in that aspect. I'll explain that later.

I met with Andrew, one of the club's flight instructors, and he spent about 20 minutes showing me all the idiosyncrasies of this particular plane. We talked about fuel consumption rates and weight limits and then we got inside the cockpit. He continued to point out things in the cockpit that were different from what I was used to and then he had me start the engine. As I taxied out to the runway, he continued to talk about the different characteristics of the plane. Once I lifted the plane into the air I could feel the difference and really had to concentrate on good technique since I got so used to flying the Archer. For the first 15 minutes, I felt like I was starting my flight training all over again. After a bit, I started getting a feel for the airplane and the instructor had me make sharp turns, perform a few stalls, and make a few landings. When we got back on the ground, I had a little bit of paperwork to do and my instructor signed my logbook. At that point, I was now officially endorsed to fly the Zodiac.

Picking back up on what I mentioned earlier about advantages and disadvantages. The main limitations of the Zodiac are speed, seating capacity, and fuel capacity. The Archer gets about a 125 knot cruise speed (that's roughly 144 MPH) compared to the Zodiac which gets a 100 knot cruise (115 MPH). The Archer seats up to four people including the pilot while the Zodiac seats one other person besides the pilot, so a total of two. The Zodiac cannot carry as much weight as the Archer so the amount of fuel on-board is much less. The Archer has a usable fuel capacity of 48 gallons while the Zodiac only has 28 gallons on-board. Even though the Zodiac carries less fuel, it burns it at a slower rate. This levels the playing field, so to speak, with the Archer. The Zodiac can be in the air for about 4.5 hours without re-fueling, which is very close to the same amount of time the Archer can fly without stopping for fuel.

To sum it up, the Zodiac, although not as fast, is perfectly economical when flying by myself or with a single passenger. The bubble canopy design offers an awesome 360 degree view, letting you see everything, except what's right below you. Even though I feel a little nervous when I fly the Zodiac, after a few more hours flying it by myself, I think I will really enjoy it.