Hey, ho, let's go
Cross-country strategies for VFR pilots
All available information
Get on the computer; pick up the phone
FAR 91.103 requires every pilot in command to become familiar with all available information prior to a flight, including but not limited to weather reports and forecasts, fuel requirements, alternative airports if the planned flight can’t be completed; and runway lengths at the airport of intended use. Much of this information is readily available in U.S. chart supplements, which are available in paper form and also online. AOPA’s airport directory, and most flight planning programs and electronic flight bags, are helpful resources as well.
But some of these resources are skimpy when it comes to practical, local knowledge such as: Where do I park when I taxi to the FBO? Here’s where a phone call to the FBO or a local CFI will be a quick and easy way to gain additional knowledge.
How about landmarks near the airport that will help you pick it out from the air? You’ll get an idea from a VFR chart, yes. But for a close-up view, try Google Earth or other satellite images that will put railroad tracks, rivers, highways, and other landmarks in context with the airport layout. —JWT
Flight following
Follow you, follow me
You’ve filed your flight plan, launched into the great blue sky, and now all that remains is for you to complete the first (long) leg. The GPS shows a countdown of two hours, 38 minutes to your destination. And suddenly you feel very alone in the sky.
If this sounds intimidating rather than peaceful, get on the radio. Contact an approach control facility or air route traffic control center and ask for VFR traffic advisories, more colloquially known as flight following. You’ll be asked to your N number, location—say, where you are relative to a VOR or an airport—type of aircraft, destination, and route of flight. Workload permitting, ATC will ask you to squawk a transponder code and, when they pick you up on their radar, they will provide radar targets—other airplanes—that might conflict with you or your route of flight. ATC can be a great weather resource, as well. Ask them what they see on radar, and they can tell you what their radar paints as well as what other pilots are reporting.
Now you can settle back, listen to other radio conversations, and perhaps relax a bit knowing that someone is keeping an eye on you. An added bonus: Eavesdropping on the easy give-and-take between commercial pilots and ATC is a great way to become more proficient at radio communication. —JWT
Those statements are true for the most part, although it’s worth noting that many an instrument-rated pilot has had to cancel a trip because of weather. Still, statements like these could lead you to believe that you, “just a VFR pilot,” are consigned to pattern work and the occasional hop to the next town over. Those statements are not a complete picture of visual flight rules flying. You can go places as a VFR pilot. You are not tethered to the traffic pattern of your home airport. You can go 100 nautical miles or 500 nm; you can go to the beach, or to the mountains, or to a fly-in that’s long been on your bucket list. Making these trips requires some extra planning, flexibility, and more flexibility. And an extra helping of flexibility.
Flexible flier
My mantra is, “If I have to be somewhere, I let the professionals take me.” I’ll buy an airline ticket if I am slated to attend a business function; a family vacation where travel connections are involved; or any situation in which my presence is a requirement and/or expectation. I do not want any outside influences on my go/no-go decision.
Conversely, traveling VFR requires a willingness to change a departure time or date, a destination, and a route at any point in a trip. And the same thing holds for the return leg of the trip. It has to be OK not to launch on that planned departure day—it’s OK to wait out the weather, the winds, or perhaps your own mindset.
This may seem counterintuitive to what you are taught during the cross-country phase of flight training: Plan the flight, and fly the plan. It’s not, really. Pilots frequently tweak plans to keep safe. Too much crosswind at one airport? You won’t land there; you’ll look for an airport with a runway that’s more closely aligned with the prevailing winds. Unforecast headwinds? OK, you’ll land short of your destination to take on more fuel, if you need to (“Hope Is Not a Strategy,” p. 34).
Throw a dart
Some pilots want to go places—but they aren’t sure where they want to go. Draw a 100-nm circle around your airport and see what’s out there. At least one of the airports on that radius is likely to have a good airport restaurant. AOPA’s online airport directory (aopa.org/destinations) can help you search for nearby activities such as hiking, boating, museums, golf, and more. The airport directory is a great flight planning tool because it includes frequently updated information on fixed base operator fuel prices; runway lengths and conditions; communications frequencies; operating procedures; and noise abatement procedures (see “All Available Information,” below).
Some pilots know exactly where they want to go, but the idea of flying more than one state—or two, or three—from their home airport is intimidating.
“A long cross-country is just a series of shorter cross-countries,” said Kansas Master CFI Thomas P. Turner. “Don’t be overwhelmed by a long trip; just plan and execute a series of shorter trips, updating the plan at each stop.”
That was a winning strategy for Jody J. Patterson, who recalled flying from Moab, Utah, to Orlando, Florida, as a relatively new pilot. “My friendly neighborhood CFIs just advised me to plan it like I was flying from one airport to another,” he said. “Worked like a charm and relaxed many of my anxieties.”
Weather wisdom
Weather is the primary driver behind your need to be flexible. At the beginning of your pilot journey, your weather minimums are lower and your understanding of forecasts is still developing. Without a basic understanding of weather patterns and forecasts, on longer trips it is difficult to know what kind of weather could be waiting for you at your destination. Or, you lack practical experience of correlating weather theory with forecasts.
Gold Seal CFI Russell Still recommends improving your understanding of weather reporting and forecasting. Many pilots will start looking at the weather seven to 10 days out, but if you like to do this, remember: You’re going to be flexible. As the days wind down to your planned departure, if conditions don’t look like they’re going to align with your minimums, you will consider departing a day in advance or a day later.
“I used to obsess about weather when I was a week out from my planned departure date,” said Georgia pilot Karen Atkins. “Now I look 24 to 48 hours ahead, and check again two to three hours prior, with an abbreviated briefing just before taking off.”
With enough time and fuel, you can skirt weather you don’t want to cozy up to, Atkins said. This is especially true in the summer, when thunderstorms can dictate much of a VFR pilot’s flying activity. Calling 122.2 MHz while you’re in the air will put you in touch with a flight service specialist who can help you determine whether a line of thunderstorms along your route can be avoided by diverting in another direction. Remember that datalinked weather radar from ADS-B or satellites, while helpful, can provide delayed reporting, so don’t try to thread the needle between two storms. Give thunderstorms the wide berth they command—20 nm is a good buffer zone between your airplane and lightning, hail, updrafts, downdrafts, and heavy precipitation.
You can go 100 nautical miles or 500 nm; you can go to the beach, or to the mountains, or to a fly-in that’s long been on your bucket list. Making these trips requires some extra planning, flexibility, and more flexibility. And an extra helping of flexibility.EAA AirVenture usually takes place in late July in Oshkosh, Wisconsin—a time of the year when storm systems can run rampant from the Midwest to the Northeast and encircle much of the South, as well. AirVenture might be a can’t-miss event, but the weather gods may hoot at you if you assume you’ll be able to depart on a specific day or time. (The 2020 event was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.)
In 2018, for example, a line of storms forced two pilots from Maryland to fly as far south as Nashville, Tennessee, to get around a line of storms over the Appalachians; eventually the pilots got back on course and made it to Wisconsin for a week of camping at AirVenture. “It was a great adventure,” one of the pilots said afterwards. “We were going for the experience. It didn’t really matter how long it took to get there.” Now that is a healthy mindset for any VFR pilot.
Jill W. Tallman
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