Long x-country...

It's a throwback, but a fun one. The solo student gets a big welcome
and congrats from whoever is there, but now with many airports with
minimal coverage it can be hard to find someone.

It worries me that these rites of passage are apparently becoming rare
in parts of the country. These are important things that we shouldn't
allow to die.

Tearing off the shirt of a solo pilot is apparently not the tradition
it once was, either, but our little family now has three of those very
special mementos hanging on our wall. The solo stamps/signatures in
my logbook (and the feeling of being "welcomed to the club" at every
airport I visited as a student) trigger wonderful memories, and served
to give me more incentive to actually finish up the private.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Back in the day" I remember, on one occasion, having to walk 1/2 mile to
the nearest farm house to get a signature for my long cc. The housewife I
encountered was familiar with the procedure as apparently I hadn't been the
first to present her with the request. She was as happy to sign it as I was
proud of asking her. We both knew I had accomplished something.

There are several reasons this tradition should continue, whether required
by the feds or not. It gets the pilot out of the airplane and forces him to
encounter the local pilots and public. They learn about the layout of the
fbo, fuel systems, and services available. All of which they may need some
day or worse, some dark night when that night time roughness develops.

Without exception, I know of no pilot that would hesitate to scribe his name
and a short congrats in a fledgling's log book. I've signed several and
I'll admit most where because I initiated the conversation and asked to sign
their logbook. Part of an instructors job is to expose their student to the
world of aviation that exists outside his local airport. The FAA
requirements afford the instructor ample opportunity but the instructor
should know how to take advantage of those situations. People are aviation.
Airports and airplanes are simply their tools. Ask your student to have
his/her logbook signed. You never know who he/she may encounter or what
they may learn.

Jim

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
It's a throwback, but a fun one. The solo student gets a big welcome
and congrats from whoever is there, but now with many airports with
minimal coverage it can be hard to find someone.

It worries me that these rites of passage are apparently becoming rare
in parts of the country. These are important things that we shouldn't
allow to die.

Tearing off the shirt of a solo pilot is apparently not the tradition
it once was, either, but our little family now has three of those very
special mementos hanging on our wall. The solo stamps/signatures in
my logbook (and the feeling of being "welcomed to the club" at every
airport I visited as a student) trigger wonderful memories, and served
to give me more incentive to actually finish up the private.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Oct 29, 4:55 am, Jay Honeck wrote:
Well, as I type this our 17-year-old is on his long cross country
flight, on a picture-perfect Midwestern fall day.

Imagine yourself a teenager again, alone in a clapped out old Cessna
150, high above the harvested cornfields of Iowa, trying to find
Grinnell, Ames and Iowa City without so much as a GPS on board!

Luckily he's inherited Mary's sense of direction, so he stands a good
chance of making it...


Aww, c'mon he has got a compass, watch and a Xcountry flight plan!
He's spreading his wings and will soon leave the nest!
:-)

Cheers

On Oct 29, 8:48 am, buttman wrote:

Don't they run like that everywhere? When I got my training in Ohio, I
was never taught to use the furrow/fence lines in navigation, and I
never even noticed that they could be useful for such. Once I started
instructing in California, I happened to notice they can be really
helpful in navigating, and I now can't imagine trying to navigate
without them.

I'd say that assuming cardinal ground reference is inferior to the
proper use of a magnetic compass. In my limited experience fence lines
can and do run in all directions...

my 2c

Cheers

"Peter Dohm" wrote in message
.. .

"Matt Barrow" wrote in message
...

"ManhattanMan" wrote in message


Nope. In hilly terrain, they run any-which-way.

That rules out 95% of Iowa (and the rest of the plains)...
Fence lines typically run along property lines, and since the
overwhelming majority of property lines are configured N-S and E-W, it
only stands to reason that fence lines would also, regardless of terrain.


--
Matt Barrow
Performance Homes, LLC.
Cheyenne, WY

I believe that a lot of property in the original 13 states has been
subdivided from plots that predated the grid system. A lot of the old
descriptions follow ridge lines, rivers and streams, and a lot of old
roads and trails.

As you said: subdivided. Those old boundaries are long gone. Even at that,
the layout of the plots were done in sectors, and layout out a property with
weird angles was just that much more difficult.

In any case, I can attest that landmarks along cardinal compass points
are the exception rather then the rule in the western parts of the
Carolinas and Virginia.

Landmarks, or grid references? They're not the same. No surveyor or
reference plotter is going to make his work that much more difficult. Though
I'm sure some very old plots run all over the board, any property subdivided
in the last 200 years is going to use cardinal directions.

OTOH, magnetic north is close enough to true north in those same areas to
easily place the next waypoint/landmark in easy view. Therefore, the
hardship is not nearly so great as it might be further west.

Surveyors knew to layout true north long before.


Just my $0.02
Peter

Hi,

In article ,
Peter wrote:

Have they really gone back to that insanity of requiring logbook signatures
at landing airports on cross countries; or is this just his particular
instructor?

I realise it's different over here, but in the UK the QXC pilot is given a
pre-flight authorisation form which allows him to visit only the airfields
on that form. A representative at that airfield (usually someone from ATC or
similar) has to sign the form, and rate the landing and overall airmanship
at each of the (I think) two landaways. If he lands anywhere else,
authorisation for the flight is immediately cancelled and cannot proceed
without permission of (I think) the Chief Flying Instructor of the school
concerned.

Andy

Have they really gone back to that insanity of requiring logbook
signatures at landing airports on cross countries; or is this just his
particular instructor?



I open my first log book and note the signatures from my first X-country in
1955 and it brings back the memories. Long gone airports---long gone
people---

Paul
N1431A
KPLU

Sounds like he had a good long XC. I didn't realize that anyone required
logbook signoffs at each leg anymore. When I did my long XC (and the other
XCs too) over four years ago it was strictly honor system. Which was a good
thing for me, as there was no one at any of the tiny unregulated airports I
landed at. Except for an unknown pilot at one of them, who radioed, "Cessna
150, thanks for dropping in." And a deer who ran across the runway at
another just as I was on final.

Well, shame on your instructor for not sending you to more populated
airports. We've got plenty of unattended airstrips in Iowa, but Joe
didn't consider going to any of them as part of his training for
precisely this reason.

Anyway, congratulations to Joe. I hope the
rest of his training goes as smoothly.

So far, so good. I'm afraid the written test is going to be his
biggest hang-up, as (I suspect) it probably is with all teenage
student pilots. It's just really hard to sit down and STUDY when
you're 17...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

[Snip]

So far, so good. I'm afraid the written test is going to be his
biggest hang-up, as (I suspect) it probably is with all teenage
student pilots. It's just really hard to sit down and STUDY when
you're 17...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay,

Even though I am not a pilot, I would like to make a suggestion. Maybe
what will help Joe is if he would join this NG, or R.A.S, under his own
handle and take advantage of the great aviation knowledge here. Maybe a
little bit of interactivity might help him out.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Rick

Even though I am not a pilot, I would like to make a suggestion. Maybe
what will help Joe is if he would join this NG, or R.A.S, under his own
handle and take advantage of the great aviation knowledge here. Maybe a
little bit of interactivity might help him out.

Just my $0.02 worth.

He lurks here once in a while, but doesn't like to post. I don't know
why -- he's a good writer.

He's on line a lot, but it's all Facebook, IM'ing, and such --
"hanging out with friends" is all done via computer nowadays.

I also think he looks at Usenet as hopelessly quaint. Imagine, typing
in non-real time!

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"