Ironflight

Ironflight

VAF Moderator / Line Boy
Mentor
How do you get ready for a long flying trip? By long, I?m talking about oh, say halfway across the continent (east/west), or southern coast to northern rim. 800-1000+ miles?something that is more than just ?hey, let?s go fly over to Llano for BBQ!"

I have been averaging a good long cross-country trip almost once a month this year (supporting a long-distance romance will do that to a guy?but, hey, who am I kidding ? I love to fly!), and I am getting it down to a fairly standard procedure.

1) A week or two in advance, I realize that I haven?t done any preparation at all, and that I better at least think about a route! I pull up Skyvector.com, enter my departure and destination airports into their little flight planner capability, and then scroll down the blue line to see what is along the route ? Mountains, long over-water legs, etc ? and to get the overall length.

2) I next go to Airnav, and run a Cheapest Fuel Route search, to get some good ideas for fuel stops. For the RV, I usually give it a maximum leg length of 600 miles and a speed of 170 knots. This gives me some ideas of cheap fuel stops at about the right places. I take a look at these on the Skyvector route, and see what kind of off-direct deviations are required. It is actually amazing that on a 1,000 mile trip you can deviate 20 miles off to one side and only increase the trip length a couple of miles ? as long as you go direct to the fuel stop, and don?t deviate at the last minute.

3) Next, to protect an IFR option, I?ll scroll through the Skyvector plot for VOR?s and Airways along the route, making a list so that if I need to stop and file (or file to get started), I have a good idea of the route I need to my destination.

4) If I feel a little bored and have time, I will print out the Skyvector route map one ?chunk? at a time, and make a little trip kit. Saves me having to pull out my WAC book if I don?t need it. (I almost never have sectionals on board anymore, using the AirCharts VFR and IFR atlas systems to be legal, and having three moving map systems installed).

5) About five days before the trio, I begin looking at weather. If I want a really quick look at what might happen across the country, I go to the Weather Channel?s weekly planner, and scroll through the daily charts ? gives me an idea if it is monsoon time or not. For a quick aviation-oriented look at things, I like the VAF weather page with the Prog charts down the left side. But I always do a quick route run on Weathermeister.com, because not only can I see the entire route in context, it also gives me a quick time enroute estimate that I can use to tell people about when to meet me at the other end, and to figure out when I need to depart. Sure, the winds aren?t accurate until the day of the flight, but the difference is usually no more than 30 minutes either way. Weathermeister also gives me a great look at the NOTAMS, so that I know if any of my fuel stops happen to have their runways plowed up! And, of course TFR?s?.those that are planned or normally in affect are factors in the route, so I want to know about them.

6) I keep watching the weather as I approach the day before the trip, but try not to obsess over it. The day or two before the trip, I run out to the airport and do a final airplane check, and to pack my trip kit ? things I don?t have onboard for local flying, such as tie-downs, extra oil, cleaning gear, lawn chair. (I usually leave tools, canopy cover, passenger headset and survival stuff in the forward baggage compartment out of shear laziness ? I know I should take them out for weight savings, but I?m usually solo, so it doesn?t matter that much to me.) I also check for a couple of piddle packs, granola bars, and that I have water in the hangar fridge. (And I pout a yellow sticky on the EFIS reminding me to get the water out of the fridge!) This is also the day I?ll go back to Airnav and run a fuel price list for all airports within 40 miles of the route ? it?s nice to know where gas is available and cheap if you have to make minor deviations. Major re-routes, well, there is a limit to how much info I can carry! (Man, I wish XM would add a fuel price category to their downlink!)

7) The day before the trip, my weather source is Weathermeister! By this time, I?ve saved the route in my ?route list?, so I only have to select it and put in the departure time, and I get a good, thorough briefing. ETE?s, altitude selection, METARS, TAFS, NOTAMS and lots of good weather charts. I usually also do a quick check of the Aviation Weather Center web site for their excellent interactive TAF and METAR maps. This is when I decide if I might have to make the trip IFR, and if so, I do the necessary flight planning and log in to DUAT?s to file. If I?m still on the fence about IFR or VFR, I?ll go in to DUAT?s and use the flight planner to show me preferred routes so that I have them on hand if I have to air file.

By the time I?m ready to fly, I have a folder with all the fuel prices along the route, printouts from Airnav of the airports I am likely to use, my Skyvector route stuff if I have printed that, and the NOTAM list from Weathermeister (usually run just before I leave for the airport). If the weather is anything but CAVU VFR, I do a quick DUAT?s log-in, just to have a record of it in the system. TFR?s and up to the minute weather are available in the airplane of course ? bless that XM system! If I am not making an early morning departure, and have work or meetings before I can leave, I use Weathermeister or the VAF Blackberry page to keep an eye on the radar on my Blackberry ? a valuable tool for knowing when to say ?hey folks, it?s been fun, but I gotta get out of here!? (Sometimes, it?s even a legitimate excuse for leaving a boring meeting?.)

There you have it ? my long cross-country planning process! For me, it?s all about getting connected with the trip and the weather so that by the time I am ready to leave, I have a very good feel for what the atmosphere is going to be doing for the next day or so. When you get connected, you can almost feel the rhythm. The beautiful thing about our RV?s is that they have enough range and speed to make trips even when the direct weather might be bad ? you can easily deviate by miles and still make the trip in a reasonable time.

And you thought I just kicked the tires and lit the fire, huh? :rolleyes:

Paul

(Headed to Virginia tomorrow, Northern Louisiana the weekend after that, Southern California a few weeks after that?and then LOE in early October! Gotta remember not to look at the fuel bills?.)
 
Fooled me

"Getting Ready"
I thought it was going to be about getting the Plane ready, not the Pilot!!
Was a good read anyway, Thanks Paul.
 
Ironflight said:
I have been averaging a good long cross-country trip almost once a month this year (supporting a long-distance romance will do that to a guy?but, hey, who am I kidding ? I love to fly!),

Poor Louise! Doesn't she understand she is just enabling his flying habit?? :confused:

(just kidding)
Click to expand...
 
Wow, all of that just shows me how spoiled I am doing it the airline way with a dispatcher to do the hard stuff... last week I flew a 5 day trip that included Houston - Bogota, Columbia - Newark then back to Bogota and Houston.

For the EWR - BOG leg (2260 nm, 5:30 flt time), I got to the weather room 55 min. prior to push. The printed wx package/flight plan/dispatch release is waiting; I do a quick check of notams plus current observations and forecasts, then have a look at the computer to check radar, satellite images, upper level wx, etc. Fuel costs and planning? Yep, dispatch is on it, but they filed Cartagena as the alternate... no bueno; too far away, too much fuel burn. Cali looks fine, plus it's closer and we have station people there... gotta get that changed. The Cuban overflight permit number is on the release, just in case Havana Center asks.

Alrighty then, that took 10-15 minutes; what's next? Well, ummm... guess I'll wander on down to the airplane. The FO already kicked the tires, now we just gotta light the fires and go. Easy!

But seriously though, I want to do more long haul trips in my RV; last month's trip to OSH and an RV-4 ferry from California just whetted my appetite to do some actual flying, not just droning along with the A/P and FMC (and dispatch!) doing all the work.
 
a little about dispatch

Hey at least he mentioned us dispatchers!

To the airline pilots out there... our flight planning process for a particular flight starts about 1.5 - 3 hours in advance. But that's just the beginning. Before we even sit down to the dispatch desk we take a full turnover from the previous dispatcher. Because once you log in - those flights are yours and your dispatch certificate is on the line. After hitting the major points (acronym SWEARN - synopsis, weather, enroute, atc issues, rides, notams) we accept resposibility for the flights. Those flights include ones in the air as well as the ones released but not off yet.

Then I usually check out our company's meteorlogy website. It's very good - lots of things at our fingertips. I usually start with the surface wx, notams, sat/radar pics, then launch the ADDS Flight Path Tool... very cool!!

After that's all said and done I take a look at my roster... on any given day you can have anywhere between 25 - 50 flights on your desk. Our company breaks it up by regions. So today, for example, I'm doing long hauls out of JFK (most commonly known as the hardest desk in the office due to ATC! reroutes, weather, JFK, you name it).

I glance over my roster looking for any potential MELs that would limit our operation (pack inop, flt level restriction, no ice clearance, lavatories inop, takeoff/landing penalities, etc). If there's anything I dont like or could be a problem I'll get a sector manager to look for another piece of equipment. Once all that's done then I check out the ATC part of the equation... I look at the advisories (ground stops, ground delays, required routes, etc) and the airport arrival rates. Then I come up with my "plan" for the day. I put in estimated contingency fuel numbers (aka hold fuel) and alternates if we're going to need any.

THEN........ I get busy flt planning. Today is a good example of how a tiny wx system in central PA can screw up NYC really good. Due to the FAA advisory I had to route alllll my JFK arrivals, even the ones from LAX, up to TULEG which is about 150nm NW of Syracuse. However on a typical day we put them on the "ECON" route which is picked by our flight planning system (which I helped build in my engineering days). We can alter the route graphically or manually. We can specify fixes to include or exclude. We can draw boxes over certain areas that we want to avoid. Or we can fly the published ATC pref routes. Basically on the east coast you're stuck on the pref routes. The long hauls ... we have more flexibility.

After that's all said and done we go ahead and finalize the release. It gets sent to the FAA computers about 40 min before departure. The fuel numbers go to the station for the fuelers. Our load control folks and airport load agents are busy optimizing the CG and weight of the aircraft.

Right before push our computers generate the wx briefing package for the pilots. And right at time the crew gets the final weight and balance numbers along with the takeoff power settings for each runway in use.

LIFTOFF!

Once airborne we're responsible for getting the folks there safely and comfortably. This involves keeping in constant communication with the crew. Just the other day I had to divert a plane from BDL-LAX to DEN to get the lavs serviced... seemed that the lazy folks in BDL didnt service them. We handle everything from inflight medical emergencies to lost cell phones at the gate.

Normally on the long hauls ATC will give directs. Often these directs lead you staight into WX downstream. So we as dispatchers take proactive action to advise the crew and make plans in advance. Some take our advice, some we call "path finders" and find their own way thru the Wx. But its our job to warn them.

Just the other day our flt following screen (think of a really advanced version of FlightAware) got SIGMETS and AIRMETS and PIREPS overlayed. We also have any wx map overlayed if we like.



So keep this in mind. While I realize the flight crew is a veryyyy critical piece of the pie. We have about 10-20 flights in the air at any one time that we are talking to. Not to mention the flt planning that must go on for the future flights. And we have to keep up with the Wx and NOTAMS to watch out for any potential hazards.

A day in the life of a flight superintendent.


This must be my longest post on VAF!
 
Pure magic!

Hey Scott, some of us "airline types" really appreciate dispatchers. When I became a chief pilot part of the "training" was to spend a month working in dispatch and crew scheduling. Makes you think twice when all that magic info comes out of the printer. Thanks!

John Clark
RV8 N18U "Sunshine"
KSBA
 
Thanks, Scott and Paul

Scott Will said:
Atlanta, GA
FLYING RV-7A IO-360 @ KLZU
N410's new blog build website
RV-10 In Progress
Click to expand...
Scott, You dispatch out of Atlanta?! Sounds like a BIG job. Thanks for keeping those guys up in Class A most of the time. :D Nice post, Thanks.

PS: Paul, thanks for starting the post, You gave a very nice rundown.
 
Yeah I dispatch out of ATL. But I'll let you guess the airline! yeah it's also the name of a certain plumbing equipment manufacturer, yes we just came out of bankruptcy court... (keep in mind that the AirTran dispatch office is in Orlando). Up until about 2000 Delta had a dispatch office in Frankfurt!

For more reading on what we do, check out the dispatcher.org website.

Tonight we only had aboput 25 total diversions for ATL. DFW had well over 50. Yesterday we had about 50 as well. And a week ago Thursday we had 80+ in ATL and another 80+ at ORD. Thunderstorms can wreck your whole day - both as a dispatcher, pilot and passenger. Never know if you have to divert.

Yesterday we had two flights that we'd like to "do over". One was an international flight that had to divert to BHM. Always fun when you divert an international flight and have to deal with customs and crew issues. Anyway he took off for ATL again and had an air return back to BHM for a mechanical problem. Then there was a domestic flight that had a "double diversion" meaning he diverted again after launching from his first divert city. ATC and WX... two things that do not mix.

Words a pilot or dispatcher doesn't want to hear "HOLD XYZ, EFC ____Z, FOB XX.X" especially when FOB, fuel on board, is getting down to min fuel!
 
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Airline pilots with a fun cross country...

John B,

I think you would have enjoyed the recent trip taken by a couple of friends of mine. They flew a Cessna 182 from the Chattanooga area to Anchorage following the Alaska Highway - VFR all the way. The weather that week was not bad. They had some rain to dodge out of the Chattanooga area on day 1, and a few light rain showers in British Columbia and Alaska, but a good trip.

The previous owner of the Cessna is my friend Wendell, who needed the hangar space for the RV-8 that is coming along nicely. I have my RV-9A hangared at his place and he has been using my tools and advice on building his airplane.

The other pilot on the trip is a Viet Nam veteran chopper pilot (Terry), a CFII with ratings for jets, etc. It is good to have a commercial pilot along on a trip of more than 3000 miles.

They took PLENTY of photos along the way. I downloaded the GPS ground track from the Garmin 396 they used on the trip. I coordinated the photos from one digital camera using time stamps on the photo files with the GPS ground track. The other pilot did not have his camera date and time set, so I had to use Google Earth to find the locations for some of his photos. I needed 41 web pages to document their five days of flying to Anchorage and post the best photos, maps, Google Earth views, etc. I felt like I was in the back seat with them by the time I got those pages posted to my web site.

At least now, there is room in the hangar for final assembly of the RV-8 when it comes back from the paint shop. Wendell wants to get it painted before it is ready to fly.

You can check out the whole five-day mission by starting with this link: http://www.n2prise.org/wakmenu.htm

I am still creating web pages on post-arrival things they did, like going salmon fishing at Kenai, Alaska. I still have to post the actual fishing pages and a page of flying from Kenai back to Anchorage.

You will get a low-level perspective of flying above the Alaska Highway in the remote countryside of British Columbia. I flew my most recent BFR with Terry and he wanted to get the feel of my RV-9A down low, like a chopper pilot. He did more of that kind of flying on their trip to Alaska.

I hope you guys enjoy the trip "experience" they had. Sometimes an RV-8 builder has to make some sacrifices to get hangar space. Wendell is already talking about making a round trip up there next year in his RV-8 with a retired Air Force pilot who is building a Harmon Rocket.

Jerry K. Thorne
East Ridge, TN.
RV-9A - - N2PZ
www.n2prise.org
 
The old days

AAhhh for the good old days......

I ferried about 50 Cessna Agwagons and Agtrucks from Wichita to Louisville in the mid-seventies, VFR, NORDO, no GPS, no gyros. nothing but a magnetic compass and a sectional for the 1000 mile trip. Check with Flight Service, look outside and launch. I followed the line on sectional after sectional (still do) and if a T-storm pops/popped up, divert or land. Still do except with the 496 I have so many more options. KISS ;)

Regards,
Pierre
 
<<VFR, NORDO, no GPS, no gyros. nothing but a magnetic compass and a sectional>>

I need to go get a friend's newly-purchased Legend Cub, currently on the Florida coast east of Orlando. Serial #8, no avionics of any kind, which is fine with me. We hoped to go after it today, but take a look at the weather between Daytona Beach and Montgomery. You can see why I'm spending the day at home in the shop.

Planning this kind trip is a bit different as compared to an RV run. No speed, so you can't really outrun or end-run anything. No gyro or TC, so stumbling into a whiteout can kill you. For a light and slow airplane I tend to focus more on visibility and stability, less on ceiling and winds. A 1500 ft ceiling isn't a concern for a Cub trip over Florida and the south coastal plain, but I want to be able to see what is happening around me. (My personal horror is groping along in 3-5 mile haze under a generally dark overcast and running up under a developing t-storm that I didn't see. Takes a long time to pedal away in a Cub.) Planning tends to be a hard look at TAF's along the route, hoping to see consistency in the cloud levels and vis reports. I don't think AWOS visibility reports are very reliable, so anything less than 6 miles is no-go for a trip if I expect convective activity. I also study frontal movements, because with no groundspeed and a lot of fuel stops the trip can take a long time; things can change. Fuel cost is a non-issue; a Cub doesn't burn much, and detours take too much time. For slow airplanes I'll shift the route a little if it keeps me near more airports, easy to do in the Southeast.

I just signed up with Weathermeister and really like it. My favorite long range page is the animated display of fronts and pressure found here:

http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/day0-7loop.html

Only takes a minute to play it, and doing so repeatedly in the days before a trip gives you a big picture and a feel for how it is changing.

Right now I have a stationary front parked right across the neck of Florida, with a persistent low near Cross City dragging water in off the Gulf. The whole thing is a mess. Oh well, maybe Monday or Tuesday....
 
X/C flight

start by filling the gas tanks. then point the plane in the direction you want to go. the rest will work itself out.
 
Thanks for Info

Paul, thank you so much for your artical. I have visited this sight several times, but this is my first post. I am a 250 hour VFR pilot, working on the IFR written. I purchased an RV-6A last year. I have used the AOPA web sight, standard weather, but have often felt, there must be more. After checking out your resources and locking them in to my favorite places, I feel better able to extract an entire picture of what is happenig with my route of flight and the weather. This will enable me to make a more informed decision as to the "go/no go" question.
Two weeks ago I was spooked out of a trip to New Jersey from Florida for a wedding, because of the weather briefers aggressive attitude. As we drove the 14 hours in the car,(each way), I wished every hour that I had made a more informed decision. Had I known more about the weather and the trends, and winds aloft trends, I could have been more informed.
Thanks again for sharing, I know I have a lot to learn. This sight and the people like you are such an asset.

Ed Conrad
RV-6A
Florida
 
You're Welcome

I am the first to admit that my techniques work for me, and that they aren't for everybody, but if folks like Ed find them useful, then great! I am always jealous of the folks that have flight planning and dispatch departments to do a lot of the legwork for them...and Scott's insight into his world was really cool!

I had a good flight up to D.C. from Houston on Friday - scattered thundershowers were predicted along the way, and they were out there, but didn't really interfere, as I had looked at the trends. Hoping for good weather on the return on Wednesday! I've had a great time meeting RV'ers in this area so far, and hope to meet more at Dogwood Airpark on Tuesday night.

Paul
 
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nowlen said:
start by filling the gas tanks. then point the plane in the direction you want to go. the rest will work itself out.
Click to expand...
You must be retired. :)

There is a LOT to be said for doing it that way. I do that on day trips, but not on x-country trips. I wish it was that easy for me. Unfortunately this "job" thing and various other financial and personal obligations in life always seem to funnel me into the approach of planning my stops strategically to save money & time.

Someday. It would be nice to fill the tanks and just end up where I happen to end up. Make lots of stops, zigging and zagging. Fly low and slow (or not).
 
Went and got the Legend Cub today. Down in a Baron, pedaled back in the Cub as fast as I could go. Long day, but fun. Scattered to isolated T-storms in Florida with good visibility. First time I used XM weather (on a G396). A tool like that combined with all the internet weather self-briefing resources makes me think we're in a golden age.
 
Helpful Info

Many thanks Paul for posting your pre-cross-country rituals and to all others for adding in their thoughts as well...
?Admittedly I?ve been apprehensive about such an undertaking. The info provided (along with encouragement from others at my home airport) will help this newbie have more confidence to strike out on adventures beyond 100nm?Now if I can just get over being ?mic-shy??
 
Good to see you posting here Daphne!

I am always a bit humbled by the amount of experience that the members of these forums bring to the table. Everyone has a slightly different experience base, and has accumulated ideas and lessons from different parts of aviation. I have always tried to be a student of weather, as well as believing that good planning and situational awareness goes a long way toward keeping us safe. And above all, I recognize that no matter how long I fly, I will still always be a student....
 
What an awesome thread this is!!

What a fun thread this one is to read!! Sort of the kind you see in mid January when everyone is hungry for something meaningful in their aviation lives.

First to dispatchers..... I soooooo appreciate the work that goes into planning my ....ho-hum..routine flights across whatever expanse I am about to embark. I show up up for work approx. 1 to 1 1/2 hours before departure time for a given flight, and the flight plans have all been filed with ATC, with thought going into the wx enroute, wx at destination..and alternate if need be, any mx items for consideration, and any other items pertinent to proper pre-flight planning. All that remains for me and my crew is to review what has already been planned and either agree with it and sign off on it, or not agree and call the the dispatcher for discussion and revision. 99% of the time, you guys are dead on!!

As a GA pilot though, I am all of it, pilot, dispatcher, mechanic, etc.. Paul, I really enjoyed your read here and sorry I missed your presentation at Dogwood Airpark. Know a few folks there, but work/family committments dictated otherwise.

Once flew a NORDO Citabria from Dallas to Chicago with a fellow airline type. One of the best, most memorable flights I can remember! Pure VFR pilotage!! A red line on a sectional practicing the skills taught in private pilot ground school was a total, satisfying rush!! Nothing quite like dipping down low enough over a midwestern town to read the water tower to confirm your position!!!
 
I read this thread several days ago but haven't had a chance to add to it until today. I too appreciate Paul and others taking the time to share with us how they plan their aviation adventures. I had the pleasure to meet Paul earlier this year and the added pleasure was to get a ride in the Val. Just being around Paul lets you know he believes in and lives planning. (Well, with his job, let's hope so!)

I was a little surprised that only one person mentioned the AOPA Real-Time Flight Planner

I have found it to be a very friendly and dependable way to plan my trips. I must admit I plan a lot more (daydream) than I actually fly. It takes a little time to set up, but I would recommend it. And after all it's free! (Assuming you are an AOPA member.)

I did not know about the Skyvector route plotting feature until Paul mentioned it. Sure makes it easier than the old student pilot days when we had to match the sectionals to draw a route line from one to the other. Some of you may be too young to remember that! And the option to print out parts of the sectional is handy too.

Thanks again, Paul...and others.

Don
 
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