RV's and Cross Country Thinking...

[Ironflight]

Back when we were student pilots, we flew cross-country training flights in slow machines whose range matched the length of that “long” cross-country we were required to take before qualifying for a license. What was that – three legs of at least 100 miles? Wow – it sure felt like I was a far piece from home. Then again, I was flying a J-3 cub, so I WAS a long way from home! That training set certain expectation bits in our minds – what we think about speed, distance, and fuel required derives from those early lessons. Deviations from the straight line course were costly in terms of time to get where we were going – get ten miles off course, and watch the ETA drift on out.

RV flying is a whole different kind of animal. With cruise speeds that make those 100 mile legs disappear in less than half an hour, and endurance enough to fly for close to five hours, it is amazing how our perception changes. Lay out a course on Skyvector or your other favorite flight planner, say 1000 miles. The Texas coast to Central Minnesota. That’s one fuel stop by the way. Now let’s say you go looking for cheap fuel, and there’s none along the route. But way out there in central Kansas, someone is having a sale on gas. Too good to pass up. You pull the course line way over there, 100 miles out of the way – as long as a full student cross-country! How much does it increase your overall trip distance? Well, simple trig will tell you the answer - or you can rubber-band it on Skyvector - and find that you’ve added about 20 miles overall - that’s about six or seven minutes, over a six hour trip.

The ability to deviate cheaply and with little impact to the overall trip length is one of the great safety and utility advantages of an airplane like the RV. I must admit that in my low and slow days, I had to debate about punching through bad weather because getting around it would just take me too far out of the way. In an ideal world, that kind of debate should never happen - but in the real world, it does. There shouldn’t be any debate about safety, but when it comes to many in-flight decisions, it isn’t black and white - there are too many shades of gray - like the color of the clouds up ahead. (By the way, if those clouds turn green, you do NOT want to be there….). So having the ability to go around a big weather system with little impact to fuel or schedule is a big deal, and that is what the RV gives us.

Out west, it’s not the weather - it’s the airspace! I was plotting a trip to the Grand Canyon just the other day, and a line from Houston to Flagstaff cuts cleanly across the middle of the White Sands Missile range. This huge block of Restricted Airspace stretches well over a hundred miles north to south, and at first blush, it appears as a terrible obstacle to such a trip. Well I happen to know a little bit about what goes on there, and there is no way I’m NOT going to deviate around it. So I drag the course line up to the north in a big dogleg - and discover that this huge change in initial course adds about ten minutes to the trip - if that. OK, so maybe the airspace grabs aren’t quite as bad as we think they are - at least when we’re traveling a long distance.

The key to taking advantage of all of this (along with the speed and range of the RV) is that you can’t fly right up to the point where you need to deviate, and then make a 90 degree turn. Do that, and you add 100 miles to the trip. To take the sting out of the deviations, you need to start out heading towards the elbow of trip. This minimizes the total distance flown. If you are trying to avoid airspace or immovable objects such as mountains, you might as well head off on the “detour” form the start. And if the deviation is going to be for weather, then making the decision early (based on trends and knowledge of what usually happens to thunderstorms in the summer) is not only more efficient, but safer as well. Such a deviation keeps you farther from the weather and keeps you from being tempted to penetrate that which you shouldn’t if you have gotten up close before deviating.

I remember one of those trips from Minnesota back to Houston a couple of years ago. Thunderstorm potential was high for the Ark-O-Tex region, and while it was still morning, and nothing was showing, it was clear that the course was going to be clobbered by early afternoon when I arrived. So instead of heading for southern Missouri along the direct line, I pointed the nose at Dallas - 100+ miles out of the way. By the time I got to Kansas City, I could see a huge area of reds and yellows on the radar from Paris, TX eastward across the Mississippi. The view out the windshield confirmed the presence of monsters - but they were all to the left of my nose. I was sailing over east Oklahoma and headed for the Metroplex, the total length of my trip about 10 minutes longer than if I’d try to go straight. And trying to save those ten minutes would clearly have cost me a day - and a night spent sleeping on a pilot lounge couch somewhere.

When you start flying one of these RV “magic carpets” on long cross-countries, you will have to adjust your way of thinking as well. Plan the flight that gives you the widest weather berth, or stops at the cheapest fuel spots. The deviations will be trivial if you make the decision early. I generally use Airnav to get the fuel prices for a 100 mile swath along my route before I leave home - and I am not afraid to go out of my way - because I have done the math, and realize that doglegs really don’t matter - not when you have the speed and range to laugh at going 100 miles out of the way.

Paul

[Bavafa]

This is all so true, not too long ago (my first plane) was a coyote S6 and we were taking "long" x-country trips with it. These trips were in 200-300 NM ranges that we were allowing a full day for it. Often on the way back when we were ~ 60 NM out from home, we would comment that we have only an hour or so left to get home.

With the RV, our first x-country trip was to the same airport PVF-->L52 (Oceano) and before we knew it, we had arrived in our destination. Since we finished the RV, we have been taking day trips to location that was not possible before and that is one of the things my wife and I really LOVE about the RV. Many locations now are only a day trip for us with plenty of time to enjoy & visit the destination.

[JDRhodes]

A good friend of mine flies Gulfstreams professionally. He adopts the same philosophy for weather deviations. If you deviate 2 deg from 500 miles away, the passengers (who are Type A people, and complain notoriously) never notice the wings bank or the sun change angles in the windows and think you just flew a staight line the whole trip.
But, if you fly to within 50 miles of the storms and then have to turn 30 deg to go around, the type A's start complaining about how much faster we could get there if the pilot wouldn't make so many turns.

[RV7Guy]

Paul, you are right on these points. I love traveling CC in the RV. Recently, I've noticed a greater disparity in fuel prices from airport to airport and State to State.

My personal planning regime takes on a couple of different thoughts.

1) Since I often fly to the same destinations, the plans are easy. On a couple of my regular routes, I don't require fuel stops. Whenever I plan a flight, I make every effort to have 12 gallons remaining. This is for CG issues (often have baggage in the back) and overall safety.

2) I try to not have legs longer than 3.5 hours and plan on a fuel stops at that time interval. This is for the bladder and back. I don't like in flight bladder management. Secondly, this is just good CRM. A planned rest is great for your mind and body and increases your safety level.

3) Fuel management and stops. I look at a couple of options but usually don't fly too far out of the way to save money. Unless it is $.75 - a dollar, or, the distance is under 30 nm, the BS factor exceeds the savings. When I fly to Osh or to South Dakota (my home State) My first stop from P19 is Dalhart TX. Good fuel prices and meets my stop criteria. I could go more direct but learned early on that flying over the Rockies can make the flight much more exciting. Also, most fuel stops will involve airports with big winds!!! Dalhart always has winds, but they've got runways to cover it.

There are a few other factors as well. I don't like to lock in a day to travel but remain flexible due to weather. The 496 with weather has already paid for itself in hotel savings, rental cars and food costs. I can now have weather information that allows safe deviations. In the past, if in doubt, I'd just stop for the day. Don't need to now.

Great topic and much of the US begins their flying season.

[JonJay]

I believe one of the quotes is from a SR-71 pilot " you're never really lost until your lost at Mach 3" or something like that.
When I was riding a lot of back country on my dirt bike it was "you can ride for an hour farther than you can walk in a day".
With our RV's you can fly for an hour farther than you can walk in a week!

A short flight recently over the fresh snow in the Northern Cascades of SW Washington with a friend as she commented "It's a long way to walk out of here if something happens".

Of course, my survival kit was sitting comfortably back at the hangar, a casualty of my last Condition Inspection. I usually carry it with me at all times.

[L.Adamson]

Do you plot this route into the GPS, knowing that it's easy to make in flight changes, or plan it all out using the VOR system, and then actually use the VORs with GPS as backup?

Just asking, since I'm once again in a semi-friendly argument with a "favorite".... on line CFI. I'm personally for GPS myself. Use VORs as backup if desired, but not as the first line of defense. At least not in this day & age.

L.Adamson --- RV6A

[David-aviator]

And on the other end of the spectrum, if a local airport hopping trip is in order just to stay spun up on take off and landings and pattern work, the RV is very satisfactory also.

Yesterday saw .8 on the Hobbs with 4 landings and 4.5 gallons of fuel missing.

I like that part also.

[David-aviator]

Originally Posted by L.Adamson

Do you plot this route into the GPS, knowing that it's easy to make in flight changes, or plan it all out using the VOR system, and then actually use the VORs with GPS as backup?

Just asking, since I'm once again in a semi-friendly argument with a "favorite".... on line CFI. I'm personally for GPS myself. Use VORs as backup if desired, but not as the first line of defense. At least not in this day & age.

L.Adamson --- RV6A

I don't have a VOR receiver in the airplane. Have not missed one bit. GPS direct with a line on a sectional chart seems to work just fine.

[RV7Guy]

In the 430 I always have 2-3 flight plans saved. Preferred and two alternates. I mirror the plans in the 496. With the 496 and weather, I can check TAF's and Metars at all the potential "1st stops" and decide. Rarely does the weather change enough from pre launch weather briefings to warrant a change. Best chance of that is summer afternoons with Tstorm build ups. Personally, I try to fly in the early mornings.

Still old school as well and have sectionals out with course lines plotted. To kill time and fight boredom I like to triangulate with the VOR's to confirm positions. ALWAYS use Flight Following. Pretty nerdy huh? Homey doesn't plan on getting lost.

Originally Posted by L.Adamson

Do you plot this route into the GPS, knowing that it's easy to make in flight changes, or plan it all out using the VOR system, and then actually use the VORs with GPS as backup?

Just asking, since I'm once again in a semi-friendly argument with a "favorite".... on line CFI. I'm personally for GPS myself. Use VORs as backup if desired, but not as the first line of defense. At least not in this day & age.

L.Adamson --- RV6A

[terrykohler]

Originally Posted by L.Adamson

Do you plot this route into the GPS, knowing that it's easy to make in flight changes, or plan it all out using the VOR system, and then actually use the VORs with GPS as backup?

Just asking, since I'm once again in a semi-friendly argument with a "favorite".... on line CFI. I'm personally for GPS myself. Use VORs as backup if desired, but not as the first line of defense. At least not in this day & age.

L.Adamson --- RV6A

Larry:
I flight plan using Victor airways but also list "VFR GPS on Board" in the remarks section of the flight plan. Once airborne, I'll typically request "direct to" some intermediate, straight line point. Most times, the request is granted. I've even had a "direct to" on departure climbout at Pontiac, Michigan all the way to South Carolina. Enroute, I keep a cross check on my position using my VOR. If I lose GPS (not happened yet in 500 hours), I'll advise ATC and request an airways routing.
Terry, CFI
RV-9A N323TP