No particular destination

[UnAnswerd]

Maybe I'm not thinking responsibly here, but has anyone ever taken off with no real destination??? I mean, what if after getting a certificate, I just wanted to fly around the local area, with no determined course. First, is there any harm in doing this? Second, how do you go about it. I usually have to tell ground-control where I'm headed so this might seem a little strange. "Utica Ground, this is Cherokee 1234W, and I have no destination".

 

[Flechas]

Nothing wrong with that, you just have to know how much fuel you have in your tanks IN TIME, NOT GALLONS.
Just tell ground you are departing to the south or wherever you are going first, after you take off, you can go wherever you want, Its actually a lot of fun. I used to do that a from time to time. Just take off, do a few spins, a couple landings in a grassfield, hit a couple airports and stop for lunch somewhere. Then if needed get some fuel and head back home. Sometimes the best trips are the ones you don't plan.

Have fun and be safe!

 

[UnAnswerd]

Nothing wrong with that, you just have to know how much fuel you have in your tanks IN TIME, NOT GALLONS.
Just tell ground you are departing to the south or wherever you are going first, after you take off, you can go wherever you want, Its actually a lot of fun. I used to do that a from time to time. Just take off, do a few spins, a couple landings in a grassfield, hit a couple airports and stop for lunch somewhere. Then if needed get some fuel and head back home. Sometimes the best trips are the ones you don't plan.

Have fun and be safe!

Thanks for the information. It's good to know that you can indeed fly around the local area without much restriction...

 

[DrewBlows]

Ha ha reminds me of my first flight with passengers after earning my private pilot certificate. I woke up early on a Sunday morning to take one of my friends and one of my ramp co-workers on a pancack breakfast trip from BTL to JXN (Jackson, MI, almost staight east from Battle Creek, MI). I was still pretty unsure of my pilotage ability at that time so I inputed my route into the LORAN (yes, LORAN, I have many story's about LORAN, most are bad). Well I entered JAX into the LORAN, without looking at my sectional chart (JAX, not JXN). The LORAN gave me a course of something like 160 degees, and I blindly followed it. The only problem was that I told the tower that I was "VFR east." So, I'm tracking this course that is going to take me to an airport 1200 miles away; fat, dumb, and stupid, when I see a C-130 heading directly at me at my altitude. We both made evasive maneuvers (right turn, those right-of-way rules actually work!), then I hear the tower ask "Cessna blah blah blah, what direction did you say you were going." It was at this point I realized my mistake, so I replyed "east, but we are sight seeing to the south east (thought that was pretty ingenious at the time)." Then I pulled out my sectional and figured out where the heck I was and proceded to JXN for my $100 pancakes. My passengers thought it was all good fun, just goes to show even if you have no clue what is going on, as long as you pretend you do the peeps will stay calm.

I learned my lesson on that trip. As with all computers, stupid in means stupid out. It wasn't until much longer afterword which I learned that even a fancy computer (Okay, LORAN) can fail.

 

[Metro752]

I did this when I got my license. I had 60 hours, and would just take off and head west while looking at the sectional and then choose an airport.

I kept track of fuel in time like above.

About the time I had 110 hours, and had been building time regularly, the flying club started bugging me asking me where I was going, so I'd tell them Iowa City, Dubuque, Quad Cities, etc. Somewhere west. Sometimes I wouldn't go that far, sometimes I'd go farther.

Then they started bugging me to plan routes, and then show them, so they could approve them before I could even pre flight the plane.

Sure I showed them when I did plan flights, which was like a little over half the time. I'd just go home and let them eat the loss of a 4 hour block on a weekend when I didn't plan the flight.

I haven't rented there since they asked me to start giving them full routes and to explain why I did things. I never did anything wrong, all my buddies thought it was nuts (none of them rented from this airport.)

They'd even have an attitude when they heard I had rented somewhere else, or flown a big cross country with a buddy in another places plane. Like they owned me!

I spent nearly $7000 Part 61 on my private license at that flying club over a year( I had become wise to the fact their CFI was milking me for hours after doing stalls and ground refernce manuevers. I passed the checkride no problem, and in very little time. I called American Flyers and Illinois Aviators and then kinda commented that I was thinking of finishing up there, and all of a sudden, I had my ticket in a month...jerks) I had taken my disco there 4 years ago, and they knew who I was.

They drove me nuts, they sucked. Every time I wanted to fly, I would get to the plane in the hangar, the engine wasn't plugged in so it was impossible to start in the cold winter, it would need fuel, and oil. Every time!! Then I had to find someone to give me the "key" since some pyscho tried to take on of their 152s on a joyride.

The lineman, some old guy, would complain about having to put 10 gallons of gas in the tanks, "you don't need to have full tanks every time.." Shut up, and do your job, you sit around all day, and the most work he did was attempt to marshall the lone bizjet that came in every other week by raising his arms above his head, if he did that. HA! Nice coushy city job!

We won't even get into the leaseback planes, which they had one 172, which was on leaseback. 2 times when, after I had PRE FLIGHTED, the owner, just shows up, and takes his plane. Hey it's his plane, but the flying club needs to enforce their scheduling rules if its part of the contract!


end rant!


Flying around with no purpose is fun.

 

[DrewBlows]

I kept track of fuel in time like above.

Small point, but this is the only way to keep track of fuel. I'm going to step onto the soapbox now, but this is something that may save your life some day. GA aircraft are only required to be accurate when the tanks are empty, and in my limited experience I have found this to be true (no, I have never run a tank empty, but I have compared the fuel required to fill a tank to the fuel shown on the gauge). It makes sense that a very flat tank gauge is not very accurate. However, I have found that if you operate an airplane according to the AFM, the rate of fuel burn is quite accurate. So, when I get in an airplane I look at my watch and make a mental note that if I'm not on the ground by such a time, I will be looking for a spot to land immediately.

Only once have I hit my landing time, and it was one of the most gut-wrenching times I have ever spent in an airplane (we ended up landing with plenty of fuel, but I stll prescribe to the theory that "it's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than be in the air wishing you were on the ground."

 

[LearLove]

Maybe I'm not thinking responsibly here, but has anyone ever taken off with no real destination??? I mean, what if after getting a certificate, I just wanted to fly around the local area, with no determined course. First, is there any harm in doing this? Second, how do you go about it. I usually have to tell ground-control where I'm headed so this might seem a little strange. "Utica Ground, this is Cherokee 1234W, and I have no destination".

Yes I do it all the time when I rent from the FBO. Just fly around here and there for about an hour.

 

[urflyingme?!]

I plan on doing it the day I get home.


With a beautiful girl I left behind.....