Dual Cross Country

Objectives

  • Introduce cross country planning

  • Develop skills needed to navigate by pilotage and dead reckoning

  • Develop skills needed to navigate by use of VORs

  • Introduce the bare basics of GPS navigation

  • Satisfy the requirements of 14 CFR 61.109(a)(1), which is three hours of cross country instruction

Session Details

This is the whole point, isn’t it? To go places. There is much involved in getting from point A to point B, and this is where we dive into those details. This will entail multiple flights, with the first one being (ideally) a flight to an uncontrolled field somewhere over 50nm away. The outbound leg should be one done by pilotage and dead reckoning. The return leg should be one which uses VOR navigation. I’d prefer that the return leg be a "dogleg" so that we are not simply backtracking over the original outbound course (i.e. I bore easily, and like to see different stuff coming back than we saw going).

For a flight to count as a cross country, for the purposes of the required aeronautical experience for a private pilot certificate, the straight-line distance between takeoff and landing must be greater than 50nm. Anything less will not count as a cross country flight.

To get a good sense of what one has to do to prepare for a cross-country flight an an article written by George Scheer is a great place to start. I’d view it as mandatory reading prior to our first X/C flight. I will expect the student to fill out a cross-country flight log prior to the day of the flight. Obviously, it can only be filled out just so far as it has to be completed with the actual forecast winds on the day of the flight.

Subsequent cross country flights will be of longer duration, and will involve both pilotage and VOR navigation. The FAA requires 3 hours of dual X/C training, then a total of 5 hours of solo X/C time. Suffice it to say that I won’t sign you off for solo X/C flights until I’m confident you can get there and back again safely. Finally, the FAA also requires that one of those solo X/C flights be 150nm in total distance, with full stop landings at a minimum of three places, and with one leg having a straight-line distance of more than 50nm.

Resources/References

Articles

  • [XC PLANNING PACKET]

Lesson Plans

These are individual lesson plans, keyed to the ACS, which discuss the topics included in this flight lesson. Each of the references below will have further references to additional FAA documents which address the individual topics in depth.

  • 2.F : Airplane Weight and Balance

  • 2.G : Navigation and Flight Planning

  • 2.K : National Airspace System

  • 2.L : Navigation Systems and Radar Services