Alphabet Challenge - Leg 1 - Apple Valley to Bakersfield

[Nelson L.]

Fantastic - all of my questions answered. The mention of Part 91 led me to the magical wonders of ctrl+F in the FAA Regs, which led me to:
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Aircraft operating under 14 CFR Part 91 are not required to comply with established takeoff minimums. Legally, a zero/ zero departure may be made, but it is never advisable.
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Guess I need to brush up on my research skills - Google doesn't always interpret what I search correctly Thanks for all the help Keith.

[zerofay32]

Complete this first leg. Started with filing the wrong altitude (1,000 instead of 10,000). The flight went all according to plan and even had a bonus. Another aircraft was inbound to Bakersfield and ATC vectored me around a bit to come in behind him. For me normally I'm out in the boonies where there isn't even any drone traffic! Also, a note to myself, make sure I have the HSI switched from GPS to NAV. I kept waiting for the glideslope to come in and was pretty high once I finally realized what was going on. I guess I need to get a GPS that has vertical guidance capabilities

On to Leg 2!

[jstew]

So I'm very new to PE and flying with ATC and following the rules, but wanted to start Alphabet Challenge yesterday after finishing up V2 & V3 on Saturday. I wanted to go through some of it here if you all don't mind and get any opinions on what I could've done better.

So I did some basic planning without wanting to see what everyone else had done. I planned to fly VFR in a C182 @ 8500 along V386 to PMD and then V197 up to Bakersfield. This route kept me clear of MOA's and any airspace issues as far as I could tell, and of course just high enough to clear terrain NW of PMD. I called Victorville tower from the ground and got Delta transition clearance to save me from flying around some. Was this okay/the right thing to do? Controller seemed fine with it and cleared me through. Asked for permission to go back to UNICOM to announce departure and was told to monitor his FREQ. This went fine and flight was very uneventful until around PMD and got quite the show of jets flying everywhere, which made me really nervous. I saw I was flying through several VR routes and wasn't sure how to know I was safe? What should I have done in this situation? In hindsight I probably should have grabbed flight following (which I did on Leg 2), but besides that what are my options? I just kept my eyes out and everything was fine, but it was nerve racking. After that, I had an uneventful descent and landing at BFL.

Overall I found the experience much more rewarding than flying around for fun or even doing FSE offline. PE is awesome!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

*Edit: Meant to include this http://peaware.pilotedge.net/flight.cfm?id=116086


James

[Flying Penguin]

This went fine and flight was very uneventful until around PMD and got quite the show of jets flying everywhere, which made me really nervous. I saw I was flying through several VR routes and wasn't sure how to know I was safe? What should I have done in this situation? In hindsight I probably should have grabbed flight following (which I did on Leg 2), but besides that what are my options?

Well, if you already know where the Visual Routes are, your best option is to be above them as they are only used up to 10,000. If that's not possible then eyes on swivels is your only other option. Traffic on them is operating visually and is not required to have Mode C so you won't necessarily get traffic advisories either. Obviously within the confines of PE you are looking at drones (hence no avoidance), but IRL the reliance is still on good old see and avoid.

On a related note, the same altitude restriction applies for Instrument Routes, just IRL you can't rely on them seeing and avoiding...

[jstew]

Thanks for the information, somehow I missed that these were only less than 10,000. I could have easily climbed to 10,500 for that part of the trip. It seems crazy IRL they aren't required to use Mode C, but IIRC from one of Keith's videos you could call flight services and see if they are active. This was my first real flight on PE, and the drones sure kept me awake!

[Hesynergy]

ok...guess I screwed up and didn't file a flight plan because I was flying VFR with flight following from KVCV...I checked the records and that is what I am shown to fly...KVCV .

I saw Suggested Rules:

All flights should be logged on PEaware (file a flight plan)

on on the MyFlight page...I thought since it was a VFR flight, I wouldn't have to file...because all flights on PE are recorded...BUT

1. Is filing the only way to get in the records for an ABC Flight?
2. Are we credited....If properly filed as an AB flight with MyFlight, if flown in reverse?

Thanks,
Chas

[kullery]

1. Is filing the only way to get in the records for an ABC Flight?
2. Are we credited....If properly filed as an AB flight with MyFlight, if flown in reverse?

1. I believe that filing a flight plan is the only way to insure that PEaware properly records your departure airport. By requesting flight following while in route, I suspect that the controller is simply guessing what your departure airport was based on your location when you make contact. In addition, your departure time will reflect the time you made contact with ATC so your recorded departure time is not correct.

2. Flights flown "in reverse" are not credited.

I manually "corrected" your flight to show the departure airport as KAPV. You should be able to continue the challenge from KBFL. I suggest filing a flight plan on all future flights.

[Anders S]

The king air 350 should fit good to all airports in the challenge?
Plan to use it you see leg 1 is complete the with the c195

[Keith Smith]

Anders, the aircraft choice is up to you. Part of the fun is to plan the cross country flights as you would in real life, which includes performance requirements for takeoff and landing distances.

[Hesynergy]

1. Is filing the only way to get in the records for an ABC Flight?
2. Are we credited....If properly filed as an AB flight with MyFlight, if flown in reverse?

1. I believe that filing a flight plan is the only way to insure that PEaware properly records your departure airport. By requesting flight following while in route, I suspect that the controller is simply guessing what your departure airport was based on your location when you make contact. In addition, your departure time will reflect the time you made contact with ATC so your recorded departure time is not correct.

2. Flights flown "in reverse" are not credited.

I manually "corrected" your flight to show the departure airport as KAPV. You should be able to continue the challenge from KBFL. I suggest filing a flight plan on all future flights.

Kullery,

Thanks, but I want to do this right...gonna do a different route since I have that freedom in VFR...HARD TO GET THAT THROUGH MY HEAD!...having chosen the "safety" yet constrained nature of IFR for the last couple of years.

Chas