Taking your family to the beach. Visiting in-laws for the weekend. Getting to your vacation spot in a quarter of the time. These are some of the reasons we learn to fly. Using your talent for interpreting weather, planning the flight, and executing it safely is a huge sense of accomplishment. Learning how to bring all this together is what you’ll do during the cross-country phase of flight training, and the reason we’re bringing you this cross-country theme issue.
The first time you strap into the airplane with the anticipation of going somewhere other than the practice area or the traffic pattern is immensely exciting. Not knowing what you’ll see or how well your planning will serve you on the flight leaves many students feeling anxious and nervous, but brimming with anticipation. It’s as if we cast off from shore in a boat and go beyond sight of port armed only with some knowledge, a chart, a compass, and the faith one must have for such an adventure.
In reality, of course, we have many tools to help us, not the least of which is the flight instructor. But after only a few short flights, you and you alone will be responsible for finding the new airport and landing without incident.
During your training you will learn how to plot a course on the sectional and create a navigation log that will tell you time, speed, and distance—and in doing so, you’ll learn how to use a flight computer. Much of this will feel antiquated to the point of qualifying for Antique Roadshow. Keep an open mind because there is value.
During a summer in college I flew about 100 hours in a Piper J-3 Cub. It was among the most exciting and rewarding flying I’ve ever done, and all of it was with a chart and a compass. Being able to fly confidently across all the southern states with the most minimum of equipment was a huge confidence-building exercise for me. Even if you aren’t planning to take a job as a barnstormer after you get your certificate, I’m convinced the skills associated with pilotage and dead reckoning (referencing position via the chart, and using time, speed, and distance calculations, respectively) are valuable in terms of confidence, judgment, and decision making.
In the modern world of aviation, even if you learn how to properly navigate via pilotage and dead reckoning, it’s likely you will rarely use those skills after obtaining your pilot certificate. And that’s a shame. But with highly sophisticated GPS-equipped cockpits, you will more than likely be a direct-to pilot.
If this is you, take a few hours every now and then to turn off the GPS and get out the chart, a pencil, and a flight computer. These skills atrophy like you wouldn’t believe, and it will boost your confidence knowing that when things with your electronics go really wrong, you’ll have the ability to guide your family home safely.
Finally, a bit of advice on those cross-country lessons. The first one or two will seem impossibly overwhelming. But once you have a few hours of cross-country pilot-in-command time in your logbook, you’ll find navigation to be much easier. I always say the hardest part of the flight is arriving at a new airport. Study the layout ahead of time, get a sense for how you’ll enter each traffic pattern, and you’ll be miles ahead of the airplane—which is exactly where you want to be.
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