Chris and Dan's excellent adventure

Every new pilot dreams about jumping into an airplane and taking off on a long trip - longer than the 150-nautical-mile solo cross-country required to earn a private pilot certificate. A journey across the state, perhaps, or to a neighboring state.

How about a flight across the country in a Cessna 172? Two private pilots in the Carolinas--Chris Hildreth of Durham, North Carolina (on right), and Dan Douglas of Columbia, South Carolina--decided to fly from First Flight Airport in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, to Catalina Island off the California coast. "When we were trying to earn our private (certificates), we joked that we were going to have to do these 'cross-countries' of 50 nm," Hildreth said. "We wanted to do a real cross-country. We thought flying from Kitty Hawk to Catalina would be the ultimate cross-country."

Hildreth--the more experienced pilot of the two, with 500 flight hours compared to Douglas's 150--was the instigator, Douglas recalled. "Part of it's his personality; part of it's his level of experience. He was definitely the one who came up with the idea and kind of nudged it along. I knew it sounded like a good idea, but there were a lot of things I wasn't sure about. I dwell on the unknowns, and Chris is like, 'We'll deal with that when we have to deal with it.'"

A strong weather system off the North Carolina coast kept them from visiting First Flight Airport where, in 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright conducted the first powered flights. So on Sunday, September 28, 2008, they took off from Person County Airport in Roxboro, North Carolina, and headed west. "Dan was a little skeptical--he didn't think we'd get to California," Hildreth recalled. "He didn't think we'd get over the Rockies. I told him, let's at least point the airplane west and see how far we get. Even if we only get to Knoxville, Tennessee, at least we got out and went somewhere."

"Chris said, 'Let's just see if we can get to El Paso.' When he said that, he relieved a lot of stress on me. I guess Chris was using a little psychology," said Douglas, who was apprehensive that they might get stuck somewhere and spend days waiting for the weather to improve. "I've got to work for a living and I was concerned that time could get away from us."

Except for the low-pressure system that prevented the excursion to the North Carolina coast, however, the weather was cooperative all the way across the country for the VFR flight. The pair made decisions each day based on weather, the winds aloft, and their desired destination.

"It couldn't have been better," Hildreth said. "We had a slight tailwind while we were flying west the whole time--and we had a slight push coming back, too." They averaged three legs per day, with most between 2.5 and 3 hours; the total trip was 45.8 hours.

Overcoming an obstacle

Hildreth, who mentored Douglas during his flight training, had taken him on a trip to Key West, Florida, shortly before Douglas' private pilot checkride. "I told Dan that if you go out and do these trips, you won't believe what you'll get out of it. At one point (on the trip to California), he leaned over to me and he said, 'I was thinking about giving this up.' I could see in his eyes that that thought was gone."

Douglas explained that turbulent air had made him uncomfortable. "One day I was going to go to Cleveland, Tennessee, by myself. I was 30 minutes out of Columbia and I felt really uncomfortable&it was bouncing me to pieces, I wasn't enjoying it, and I didn't want to spend two and a half hours that way. I was a little frustrated because I wasn't getting acclimated to (flying) the way I wanted to be. If I was going to use my certificate the way I wanted, I had to get more comfortable in the plane."

The leg from Big Spring, Texas, to El Paso was particularly turbulent, he said. "By the time we got to El Paso, I was really into it. I had flown from Pine Bluff to El Paso. The flight to El Paso was so rough. But we got there at the end of our second day, and the wings were still on the airplane. I was excited about it and ready to head on. So Chris' psychology worked."

Douglas' confidence grew even stronger on the flight back. "We were flying between those peaks coming back, and I felt myself transition from being a passenger in that airplane to becoming a part of that airplane. We were still rocking and rolling pretty good, but I settled down into my seat, and knew I'd be able to do it.

"I pushed through a few walls to get the ticket, and I had to push through that wall to use the ticket. It has made a huge difference, just getting the experience." Douglas believes there are a lot of other pilots who aren't using their certificates the way they want. "You don't hear a lot of people say it, but you've got to believe that what I was going through is one of the factors. You don't put that much effort into something and then not do it."

Preparations

Like most pilots, Douglas and Hildreth spent a lot of time planning their trip. "We did a lot of planning about the time of year. As it turned out it was an absolutely perfect week for us to do it." Douglas said they wanted to let things cool off enough that they'd avoid thunderstorms, but not wait until winter weather patterns set in. "They said 95 degrees was a cool day in Thermal, California," he quipped. "The weather was a real blessing. We had no delays because of weather. We fully expected to wait out at least a full day somewhere for the weather."

Both pilots participated in a mountain flying seminar in North Carolina. "We knew that flying at altitude in that airplane was going to present some challenges," Douglas said. "Another thing that we did that I thought was smart was that we took flares, thermal blankets, and sleeping bags--just in case. That could make a real big difference in whether you have a good outcome from an off-airport landing."

They also made use of local knowledge, asking pilots at each stop for advice. In some cases--such as Cochise County Airport in Arizona, they called ahead. "Even though we ended up not flying over Cochise, I called a couple of FBOs in the area. I talked to a guy out there who gave me some great tips on flying in the area."

The West Coast stop

"When we got to Catalina, the first phone calls we made were to our (flight) instructors," Hildreth said. "After all, they were the guys who made the trip possible--the only reason we were able to do it was because of our instructors."

Hildreth's flight instructor, Paul Hesse of Durham, North Carolina, remembered the call. "I congratulated him, and I was really proud he was able to do what he did. I enjoyed the fact that he had the pleasure and enjoyment of being successful," Hesse said.

"It's always good to see somebody become successful as a result of your efforts. As a teacher you don't often see that," he continued. "Unfortunately, with the cost of aviation, the fun part of flying has been lost. What they did was make this a fun flight--they made it an adventure. When they did this, they put the romance and adventure back into flying."

Memorable moments

Douglas and Hildreth enjoyed the camaraderie they experienced with aviators and airport personnel throughout the trip. Controllers, and particularly flight service briefers, were especially helpful when they found out what the two pilots were doing, Hildreth said. They also heard some interesting radio calls. "It's amazing what you hear when you do 40 hours of flight following," he commented. Turning base at Tucson International Airport they were told, "Cessna Two-One-Zero-Seven-Eight, you are cleared to land One-One Left, caution wake turbulence' you have a coyote on the runway." "I can't say I've heard that before," said Hildreth.

"We had two pretty interesting encounters with traffic," Douglas noted. One, over California, the air traffic control called traffic at the Skyhawk's 8 o'clock, at 5,500 feet. "We were at 5,500. Chris spotted the traffic and I turned--it looked like an enemy aircraft. I pushed the nose down and we took off 1,000 feet pretty quick." In the other, they did a 360-degree turn during their approach into Ozona, Texas, so a faster Beechcraft Bonanza that was overtaking them could pass.

One memorable moment for Hildreth was when they traversed the Rocky Mountains at Dos Cabezas, Arizona, flying at 9,500 feet. The Spanish name translates to "two heads" in English. "That was funny, because it was our two heads in the cockpit that got us there," Hildreth said, explaining that they had settled into a comfortable cockpit resource management routine. "We were struck by the realization that 'Wow, we're doing what we had talked about.'"

"I'm used to the Appalachian Mountains, but seeing some of those peaks in the Rockies--that was pretty cool," Douglas added. "In areas of west Texas, it was neat to see oilfields as far as you can see--and then the new technology of windmills under construction." Hundreds of massive wind turbines were under construction, with their blades lying on the ground.

When they landed in El Paso, a tumbleweed rolled across the ramp, and they could see prairie dogs everywhere.

Arriving after dark in Alexandria, Louisiana, offered an unexpected challenge. "We landed on a 10,000-foot runway and I thought we were going to have to take off and land again to get to the taxiway at the end of the runway."

The only time the pair stopped for lunch was at Rutherford County Airport in North Carolina--on the last day of their return trip. "There was just a little shack there, and the guy was making literally the best hamburgers you ever tasted," Douglas said.

Where to next?

Most pilots have--or will--engage in the aviation tradition of the "$100 hamburger," flying to another airport for something to eat. The hamburger may only cost $5, but the aircraft expense pushes the cost of the meal to $100 or so. Hildreth and Douglas, who spent a total of about $3,000 on their 4,361-nm odyssey, said the trip could be characterized as "a $1,500 T-shirt."

As they were unloading the airplane in North Carolina at the end of their trip, a local pilot who flies a twin heard about their six-day trip to Catalina and back. "He popped his head into the cockpit and was looking around and immediately asked where the autopilot was," Hildreth recalled. "We replied that there isn't one. His response was, 'Holy cow, you guys hand-flew this plane all the way out and back?'"

Hildreth said Douglas is already planning for a flight to the Bahamas.

"We're seriously looking at the Bahamas," Douglas acknowledged. "It's going to be another neat experience for us, and another neat story to tell." The pair have posted an account of their trip online. "We're going to take a little 172 to the Bahamas, just because we can."

Mike Collins is editor of AOPA Flight Training magazine.

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Flying adventure

Why Catalina?

Are you wondering why Chris Hildreth and Dan Douglas chose Catalina Island as their ultimate cross-country destination? Well, Santa Catalina Island is about as far west as one can go in the contiguous United States, and the island boasts one of the most beautiful and interesting airports--its "Airport in the Sky." Catalina is 20 miles off the coast of California in the Pacific Ocean. It is a 42,000-acre oasis surrounded by 48 miles of rugged coastline. The famed airport has an elevation of 1,602 feet, which might not seem that remarkable until you realize that the airport was made by blasting the tops off of two mountains and filling in the gap between them. Residents of Catalina live at the lower elevations, most in the only town of Avalon, so to them, the airport is really in the sky. The runway is 3,000 feet, and many pilots wish it were longer as there is a steep dropoff at each end. This is a nontowered airport and the runway is higher in the middle than it is at both ends. For more information on Catalina, consult AOPA's Airport Directory Online or you can find good information for pilots at the Catalina Web site.