My first FSE Aircraft N533ET

[stevekirks]

Well, I bit the bullet and found a cheap Piper Cherokee up in North Dakota. With IFR equipment and an autopilot, I'm making the trip "home" to 46CA picking up jobs along the way. Without a GPS, this has truly been an adventure in navigation.

Current flight path:

http://goo.gl/k0K3nR

Lessons learned so far:

• I've become too reliant on a GPS. When flying in the A2A Cherokee in FSX, you can easily disable the GPS and fly on dual nav/com radios so that was my first checklist step. As it turns out, the range of some of the VORs up north (in FSX) haven't allowed me to fly 'point to point' as easily as I thought. That said, there are some NDBs that have saved my bacon.
• Visually identifying a grass or gravel strip at night is next to impossible. I've had to use a combination of dead reckoning, VOR triangulation and in one instance, DME and a radial to get the airport located. In most cases, that also meant descending to pattern altitude and flying a quick search pattern in the vicinity to eyeball the strip.
• Originally I had decided to take the 'northern passage' over the Rockies around Casper, WY and then Salt Lake City, UT and then crossing Nevada. The lack of FSE jobs meant that a southbound trip would make more sense. Right now, I'm on the ground at Two Bar ranch in Wyoming with a plan to hop over to Phifer Field (KEAN) to pick up fuel and jobs for a trip south toward Colorado Springs, CO.
• FSX isn't that bad, but the lighting and such isn't very realistic compared to how X-Plane 10 looks. I miss it already. I am getting good frame rates and makes it pretty easy to fly.
• I know I could have waited for the Baron, but the Cherokee seems like more fun flying around the 46CA area.

[wmburns]

Congratulations!!!

From the looks of it, you really are finding all of the smallest fields along the way. Also a lot of short hops.

What's been your strategy for finding jobs and how well has it worked?

That's really hard core finding and landing at an un-lighted dirt/grass strip at night.

I know in my case I had to use the airport search "near" the current location and take any assignment heading in the general direction. Often I found it necessary to conduct a short "re-positioning" flight in order to pick up PAX. I'm still amazed by how much time the flight preparation really takes. Crossing the Rocky Mountains keeping below 12,500 was also a "challenge".

Truth be told, my trip was really more "around" the Rocky Mountains than "through".

Just wondering. Why does your new aircraft still show in in the "for sale" list?

[tshuff]

I took a similar path ferrying a DA42 from South Dakota. I've brought 3 planes from well outside the coverage area back into the coverage area and have decided it really isn't worth the hassle of finding jobs. More power if you can fund your whole trip though .

That stretch coming up is going to be loooooong and booooooring! Look forward to another PE owned plane down at the Ranch, though!

[Keith Smith]

Hi Steve,

To really get the hang of it, I'd urge you to consider doing a lot of flying with no GPS, no PE online map, no VOR or ADF. Pilotage and ded reckoning are sufficient, with the right planning, to get things done. You can use changes in topography, lakes, rivers, bends in roads and cities all to great effect when planning your VFR flights.

With that done, then you can add VOR cross radials as a backup. Fly like that for a few tens of hours and your confidence in your ability to navigate will skyrocket.

Also, I'm surprised you're surprised that gravel or dirt strips (presumably, unlit) are hard to see at night

[stevekirks]

From the looks of it, you really are finding all of the smallest fields along the way. Also a lot of short hops.

What's been your strategy for finding jobs and how well has it worked?

Much like you said below, I find a job and check for fuel at the other end then search for a couple of jobs at area airports and stack a couple up to wait. Then make the flights, sometimes a deadhead for a few miles to a neighbor airport/FBO to get the next job and fuel.

That's really hard core finding and landing at an un-lighted dirt/grass strip at night.

I know in my case I had to use the airport search "near" the current location and take any assignment heading in the general direction. Often I found it necessary to conduct a short "re-positioning" flight in order to pick up PAX. I'm still amazed by how much time the flight preparation really takes. Crossing the Rocky Mountains keeping below 12,500 was also a "challenge".

Truth be told, my trip was really more "around" the Rocky Mountains than "through".

Agree with the Rocky Mountain issue. At this point, I could VFR through some of the passes, but IFR wouldn't really allow it. Trying to find enough jobs to get to KABQ and then work my way to either Tuscon or Phoenix and home from there. Flight prep is a killer. See my next post to Keith in a sec...

Just wondering. Why does your new aircraft still show in in the "for sale" list?

I stuck it for sale at a higher price just in case someone has the cash to burn. There's a Baron for sale at 46CA and maybe I can work my way up to that with some jobs this week. I flew a PC-12 from Oregon down to San Diego (North Island NAS) with the intent of leaving it at 46CA but I found the Cherokee and couldn't resist since it was priced lower than others and would force me to use my A2A Cherokee and checklists.

[stevekirks]

To really get the hang of it, I'd urge you to consider doing a lot of flying with no GPS, no PE online map, no VOR or ADF. Pilotage and dead reckoning are sufficient, with the right planning, to get things done. You can use changes in topography, lakes, rivers, bends in roads and cities all to great effect when planning your VFR flights.

With that done, then you can add VOR cross radials as a backup. Fly like that for a few tens of hours and your confidence in your ability to navigate will skyrocket.

Also, I'm surprised you're surprised that gravel or dirt strips (presumably, unlit) are hard to see at night

The first couple of times I got lost, I pulled up the live map that the A2A Cherokee has, but decided that was truly cheating. The next time I got lost, I slowed the plane down to conserve fuel and pulled a chart. Found the correct radial and DME for a nearby VOR that would intersect the airport, then flew to join it which was the easy part. The worst one? I was using Hipsher VOR (IIP) to locate Two Bar Ranch (WY59) after leaving WY66 last night. I lost the VOR about 20 miles north of the airport and tried to dead reckon the rest of the way. Lost again, I pulled the chart and found the Camp Guernsey NDB, got the correct bearing off of it, then found I-25 and flew low and slow until I stumbled across it.

At this point, my available time to fly is at night which is making this super hard. Also, I'm trying to stick to IFR rules since I'm carrying passengers and that will lengthen things quite a bit. Overall, if I can get to Rancho and break even, I'll call it a success.

[RNCTX]

I lost the VOR about 20 miles north of the airport and tried to dead reckon the rest of the way. Lost again, I pulled the chart and found the Camp Guernsey NDB, got the correct bearing off of it, then found I-25 and flew low and slow until I stumbled across it.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/91.177

§ 91.177 Minimum altitudes for IFR operations.
(a) Operation of aircraft at minimum altitudes. Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, or unless otherwise authorized by the FAA, no person may operate an aircraft under IFR below—
(1) The applicable minimum altitudes prescribed in parts 95 and 97 of this chapter. However, if both a MEA and a MOCA are prescribed for a particular route or route segment, a person may operate an aircraft below the MEA down to, but not below, the MOCA, provided the applicable navigation signals are available. For aircraft using VOR for navigation, this applies only when the aircraft is within 22 nautical miles of that VOR (based on the reasonable estimate by the pilot operating the aircraft of that distance); or
(2) If no applicable minimum altitude is prescribed in parts 95 and 97 of this chapter, then—
(i) In the case of operations over an area designated as a mountainous area in part 95 of this chapter, an altitude of 2,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal distance of 4 nautical miles from the course to be flown; or
(ii) In any other case, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal distance of 4 nautical miles from the course to be flown.

[Keith Smith]

except he was vfr, no?

[stevekirks]

except he was vfr, no?

I was trying to do it as IFR, but in reality, I kept losing the signal due to range. In general, I'll always fly IFR rules even if I file as VFR (except the the altitude of course) to try to keep things simpler. VFR is pretty easy out this way during the day, but FSX doesn't light things up at night the same way.

[Keith Smith]

Maybe it would be good to practice daytime VFR? The fact that it's night time (real world) when you're simming doesn't mean that you have to reflect that in the sim.