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Light Sport Cross Country Flying: Let’s Go!
My wife Nancy and I got our Flight Design CTLS in August 2008, and since then we have made two, Thanksgiving with the family, trips to San Diego, CA and back to our home in Pensacola, Fl. In addition, we have flown many other XC trips to TX, VA, NC. LA, AL, GA, and FL and other places to visit family and friends. However, during trips, we continue to be surprised at the number of people we meet who are unfamiliar with LSA aircraft, and many who also expressed misgivings about flying an LSA (the small plastic airplane) so far away home. Nancy and I view our trips, not as exceptional events, but as a continuing General Aviation (GA) activity—a recreational event-- facilitated by aircraft ownership. We enjoy our flying excursions and want everyone, most particularly the LSA folks, to do the same. LSA Cross Country X/C flying is yours to do and this article will discuss how we do it, how you can do the same, and to urge you to FLY TO THE FOUR CORNERS OF BEAUTIFUL AMERICA!

Today there are growing number of LSA aircraft available: Flight Design, Technam, *****, Jabiru, Cessna, etc., that will take two people, with some baggage, on long (hundreds of miles) non-stop trips, at 100+kts, in comfortable cabins, and at low fuel cost—overall capabilities unavailable only a few years ago. Cross country flying capability is available now to, not only GA flyers, but to current and future LSA owners; it should become a familiar, frequent activity. To begin, and at the risk of dating myself, I offer my--heretofore secret-- “Magic Formula” for Cross Country Flying (and also Flight Preparation,) the 5 “Ps:”: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance! (I acknowledge USAF Aviation Cadet input!) Cross country flights as I (we) view them are ones that leave the local area (perhaps 10 to 20 nm) to go and land elsewhere with, of course an eventual return. For example, a trip of 120 nm to see my brother in Dothan, AL, have lunch, and return to Pensacola, fits this definition. Moreover, when flying any flight, within or out of the local area, and I follow a “tried and true process” that is comprehensive, common sense; uses and builds on skills you already are familiar with.

Training and Experience: For many of us, particularly, long-time aircraft owners, flying X/C likely is a regular activity. However to those who do not go cross country I (we) say you are missing wonderful experiences. If you do not fly cross country (LSA and GA) to ask yourself why not? Try a personal assessment to see what training, experience, and knowledge you have to plan the flight and then fly what you plan. Ask yourself “Do you have training and experience to fly cross country? “ Surprisingly, many pilots likely will answer “I don’t know,” “no,” “not really”, “I don’t worry about it because I never go very far away from home,” “it is too complicated/ too much trouble” or something similar. Bah Humbug, I insist most of you are selling yourself short! NO, the correct answer is, in my view, yes you do!

Look back, to your pilot training when you studied and learned many areas, some of which may have seemed a bit esoteric such as: weather, navigation-map reading, GPS, VOR etc,, instruments, and radio communications, to mention a few. My point is that you, at a fundamental level, acquired a manual skill that allowed you to manipulate the controls of an anti-gravity machine to facilitate controlled flight. After a lot of practice and when your instructor felt it was time—you soloed! Then the hard work of flight training began as you found out that integrating flight skills was, surprise, X/C flying, It brought all the “other stuff” together in a practical manner. In fact, X/C flying became a highlight of your training –life is rewarding, but also can be complicated.

Remember the exhilaration (or relief) at completing your solo cross country? Yes, you actually used a bunch of acquired skills to navigate to an unfamiliar area; land at a different airport, communicate with ATC, and return home. Yes, you already know something about cross country flying and have some practical background experience and training to build on. Now, I want you to do it on a regular basis, visit other places. My point is that going cross country is not totally new and now, unlike your checkout flights you , not your instructor, will pick the places to go, use this freedom. The freedom to fly where you want is really what this is all about. I assure you that gaining or regaining cross country flying proficiency and seeing America from the air is a spectacular experience; notwithstanding it also is a great conversation piece at a party.

Now that you are fired up and want to go, but because you have not exercised these skills for awhile or even since your initial checkout, you may feel more training or experience is needed. Well, good news, it can be done, without an instructor, close to home and on shorter flights; some short trips we take regularly, are to visit my brother in Dothan, AL (1+20) or to Louisiana (1+40) to see the grand children. These short trips encompass every skill you need to competently fly across the country. including: flight following, flying in controlled airspace; flight along an airway; flight avoiding MOAs (Military Operating Areas), a TRSA (Terminal Radar Service Area- Gulf port, MS), Class B (New Orleans), and Restricted Areas; using flight following talking to controllers; and landing at both towered and uncontrolled airports. Building your cross country flying skills and confidence can begin, simply, close to home, and on limited flights. You can ask for flight following every time you depart your home base, you will get more practice speaking to controllers. You also can go to all the fields within a specific radius of home, map read for practice; do a touch and go at a “strange” before going home. Take your wife or a friend for lunch away from home, navigate to your planned destination, then navigate to a nearby field for practice in finding (and landing at) a strange field, as would be the case on a deviation on a longer cross country flight. PRACTICE IS THE KEY!

Okay, you are hooked and decide to visit relatives 600 miles away. You also note that my suggested first step is to call for flight following. Using the ATC system as much as possible, has a myriad of benefits, including: allowing you (usually) to go a more direct route; avoid restricted areas; fly in controlled airspace; get traffic advisories; and you can get immediate help, should you need it (many controllers are also pilots). Experience flying in an ATC environment and being comfortable talking to controllers is an invaluable skill. As you suspect, I urge everyone, but LSA pilots in particular, to get a thorough checkout in flying in controlled airspace; as they must, before flying solo into controlled Airspace (Class B, C etc), LSA pilots, if they have not previously held another rating, must get a checkout and the instructor’s endorsement to do so.

Now with your ability (training and experience) to fly in controlled airspace, you will have all the basic skills and training necessary for successful cross country flying. So, the training you got during your initial checkout was useful and purposeful. I hope, while flying on your own, you think in terms of broadening and strengthening these flight skills so they remain sharp for your use. I also suggest that flying with other pilots can be a help and in many cases a shortcut to learning, particularly as it is an easy, no pressure, way to gain insights and experience rapidly. I am not an instructor, but, I have with many years of military and GA experience as a military air traffic controller and I flew B-52s and RF-4Cs. Additionally, I have flown with a number pilots, to help them learn to better communicate and navigate.

As you become comfortable flying with flight following, you will note that ATC not only monitors your position and where you are going; they also expect you to go as planned or as directed, and will request you notify them prior to changing heading or altitude. ATC expects accurate navigation, particularly, if you are going between two VORs, avoiding restricted areas, entering a MOA, or flying a route the controller has requested. Today accurate navigation is facilitated with many really good, multi-function, reasonably priced GPSs (panel mount/ portable); I use a portable Garmin 496 with XM Weather and I never, ever, fly without a GPS and Sectional or VFR Terminal Charts necessary for the planned flight. I also believe that map reading is a skill (art) I strongly emphasize to back things up. For example, one can, with only sectionals, literally, fly coast to coast, stay in uncontrolled airspace, (a compass is nice, but not necessary) never talk to a single controller, and only make radio calls to land at uncontrolled fields. While this system of navigation is possible, it also is very inefficient, particularly for longer flights. Take heed, although I am an old guy, who learned navigation long before GPS, I still won’t fly without a functioning GPS.

The last step in successfully flying cross country is planning the flight(s) because it ties everything together. Planning starts when you decide to take a trip; as you ask or ponder the questions: “where are you are going?” “When you are coming back?’ “What airfield are you going to land at?” Planning is not difficult, but because facilities and amenities vary widely and some study is needed. Consider: distance of a suitable airport to your actual destination; does the field have self-serve fuel – being a cheap skate SS fuel is normally less expensive. Can you get a rental car or motel if you have to delay for weather or an aircraft problem? Knowing ahead of time and making an informed decision makes things easier. I advocate calling ahead and ask the FBO questions; most FBOs are happy to help you, they want your business, and often they have a website. Data about individual airfields is contained in publications such as: Flight Guide (which I carry), AirNav on-line (a particular favorite of mine); AOPA Airport Directory, NOTAMs, and Government Publications to name a few. Route planning also includes planning for intermediate refueling stops: we plan three to four hour legs. We use a personal “rule of thumb” of 100 nm per hour and this seems a comfortable distance and facilitates regularized planning. We also like to use smaller fields because they tend to be in business because they like airplanes and the vast majority are run by genuinely nice airplane people.

Planning longer distance flights can be tricky because it is tough to pick a route without the “larger” view of things: I use WAC charts and /or IFR charts to determine the most efficient route. ONCs are nice but they are a large a scale and too much detail is lost (mostly smaller towns and airfields), however for overall general route planning they are fine. Once I rough in a whole route, I go back and plan the various segments as necessary, planning for fuel, overnight stops, side trips for sightseeing, and the return. I use the DUATs flight planner to plan and print a no wind flight plans for reference. I then sit down with Sectional and VFR Terminal Charts to get a good look at the route for “problem” areas such as high terrain, controlled airspace, alternate airfields, restricted areas, MOAs etc. I also, as concurrent activity, begin to consider weather factors (trends) to get as good a picture of the weather that can be expected going and returning. Not to insult anyone, I do use the KISS (keep it simple) method of planning; direct as possible and assume good weather.

Weather planning is the major go-no-go factor and should include attention to the return trip. Here, I will mention that my CT is equipped for IFR, including an ILS, and I am an experienced instrument pilot, I now am flying under LSA Rules and I consider it the height of folly, if not stupidity, to press the weather. On our recent trip we pretty much flew our planned route to San Diego, the exception was for head winds which caused us to add an over-night stop, on the return trip we made deviations because weather conditions dictated changes from pre-planned routes. However, pre-planning to include alternates and having a good idea of the routes and limits, made deviating much easier. We originally planned to leave San Diego early to go to Deming, NM (DMN) with a refueling stop but, we had a late departure from San Diego due to unexpected fog and with a forecast of late day snow at Deming; so we went to Benson, AZ (E95) and stayed the night. Continuing, the next day, we went to Ft. Stockton, TX (FST) rather than San Angelo TX, (SJT) the direct planned route, to avoid a major storm then passing through Ft. Stockton from south to north. In fact our deviations and re-routing for weather can be considered a somewhat “normal” result of long distance flying. (Don’t forget that with legs of 200 to 500 nm ranges weather is a major consideration – deviate early and avoid the rush and frustration!)

The forecast of light snow caused us to deviate a 100 miles south of our preplanned route, choose a new destination, stay overnight (Benson AZ, enjoy a cool small town), and not make a second flight that day. LSA and most GA aircraft are not equipped to cope with cold and moisture together; icing is just dangerous. Common sense, an understanding of weather trends, and resisting “get homeitus” will occasionally make the trip longer, but it will be safer. Other deviations, mostly unplanned, may also occur; we left Ft. Stockton, planning to stop to refuel just short of the Houston Class B and continue through (under) the Houston Class B to Louisiana. However, the airfield we planned to refuel at was unexpectedly closed (no NOTAMs, self-serve pumps locked)) so no fuel there. We had (planned) plenty of gas (est. 10+ gallons), so we simply went to another field. Lessons learned: despite a large weather system, we could go long distances, underneath as planned and never, ever out fly your fuel!

Notwithstanding, all the possible reasons for deviations and changing weather, you likely will fly your plan far more often than not, but when you don’t or can’t you must (can) be prepared. As noted above, much of what I said about our last flight, deviations, weather, and XC flying really comes under the DUH category of common sense rules, as it should. I approach flying cross country or locally for proficiency in the same manner; never leave the ground without a good look at the weather, carry the appropriate charts, take the GPS, and have a plan, always have a plan. Now, you have the magic formula-the 5 Ps, you now can appreciate LSA cross country flying is well within your capabilities. As Nancy and I recently took a trip of just over 3200 nm in three weeks and even flew the legal part of the Colorado River (Grand Canyon) going to Las Vegas from Phoenix; we know exploiting LSA cross country capabilities will let you meet neat people, see friends, relatives, the country, and generally open up fresh vistas for you. The above is a summary, or if you like a framework, of how Nancy and I zip around the country; but our main purpose is to ‘beat the drum” for LSA cross country flying.

Because there are a number of things that don’t fit exactly, we also offer a few “Points to Ponder:”

a. There is no set formula of what to take and what to exclude, but we originally over estimated what we needed, you likely do the same the first few times out, but you will figure it out. Also, ensure that everything is /bagged, no loose stuff in the rear.
b. Packing/loading an LSA requires innovation. We suggest all light soft bags with smooth outsides so nothing catches on cargo space openings, several smaller bags for restricted baggage space works well, We found a few hang up articles, on flexible wire hangers, can be rolled; they will in fit well, and will not be too wrinkled. I use bungee cords to secure the load from shifting in flight. Just ensure that there is no loose stuff. Packing is not rocket science, but it really can be frustrating if you don’t think about it - nuff said! We pack for a CT, but the basics still apply all, so with a bit of thought and planning what you need, you will be astonished at how much room you really have.
c. Sitting in the airplane for hours at a time can be a bit tedious for the passenger, so you might consider taking something along to pass the time: DVD/CD/MP3, book, crossword puzzles, etc. We also take some water/soft drinks, and snacks: granola, gummy worms, or whatever else appeals to you.
d. Take a light weight plane cover (I use a Bruce’s travel cover) and use it at every over-night stop. The cover is needed to protect the windshield from windblown ramp “stuff” and people’s injudicious throttle use. I also carry a small kit with Plexus windshield cleaner; spray wax-cleaner, several microfiber cloths, some oil, coolant, Decalin fuel additive, and a leatherman. Windshield protection and keeping the aircraft as clean as possible is good preventive practice. Having some Rotax engine oil, coolant, and fuel additive makes sense as I have yet to see it for sale at any FBO.
e. Speaking of FBOs, consider taking all the charts and publications you need, because of the FAA’s new distribution policies, many FBOS do not stock them anymore.
f. Do not hesitate to call an FBO ahead of time to ask questions or get information, also check websites. Our experience is that a call to an FBO really can pay dividends and make the trip easier, by asking if there is anything unusual about flying in or out the field can be helpful, particularly if there are terrain factors to consider, Boulder (BVU), NV comes to mind.
g. Self-service fuel is decidedly less expensive, but when the temperature is under 50 and the wind is howling, refueling can be chore, you may want to wait till the next day or eat the additional charge. However, I have found than many places will help you out, to include offering a hanger spot. Having a small composite aircraft makes it more likely that an unused corner of some hanger is available.
h. Sightseeing is not restricted to terrestrial activities; there are amazing sights to see from the air. Towns, cities, isolated ranches, ruins, rivers, dams, irrigation patterns, farms, rivers, valleys, mountains, wind farms, oil fields, We also take two binoculars and our camera with us — just try annotate them soon as you can, sometimes it is difficult to remember where they were..
i. If you airplane has an autopilot—USE IT! It really reduces fatigue. I have a chart out and it is fascinating to see how much data actually is on a chart if you look for it. Also, on both trips to the West Coast we lost GPS signals a several times, knowing where you are reduces anxiety.
j. Lastly, relax and enjoy the trip, America the Beautiful, Bountiful, and Brawny is well worth the effort!! If you have any questions, drop us an email and we will try to help you out.

Dr. Kenneth Nolde, Major USAF(Ret.)EAA 604884
Nancy Nolde, Patient Wife and Frequent CTLS Flyer