Cross Country #1 (IWA-AVQ-E63-IWA)

POST-FLIGHT UPDATE
Landings were really good today! Finally starting to feel it!

It was however very surprising to see first hand how much there is to do enroute during even longer legs of a cross country. Monitoring coms, tracking VORs, updating logs, getting weather conditions from the next destination, orienting to new traffic patterns and runways and all the while maintaining altitude and course headings.

It was a great experience with only one hiccup when we ended up flying through a new training area and were on the wrong frequency and got a little closer than was comfortable to a few planes in the area.

Here is Pinal Airpark from 6500 feet

PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING

Here we go! Nav log prepared and updated (with the help of my snazzy new custom spreadsheet), weather briefing complete (looks like a nice day to fly under a high cloud layer that should keep it much cooler) and plane all preflighted and stocked up with water and snacks.

Today we are off on cross country number one today to Marana (Tucson), then over to Gila Bend and then back to Gateway doing a little dead reakoning and VFR navigation following the major highways i10 and i8.

I am pretty excited for some longer legs cruising and enjoying the views and visiting a few different airports to shake things up on landings. We’ll be making this same trip a few more times and then in a little over a week, I’ll be taking the route myself on my cross country solo!

Armed with a fresh mindset and a few pointers from a fellow pilot friend, I am determined to get control of my landings today and conquer this challenge.

Below is the route we are taking.