Commercial Long Solo Cross Country

N571DS - DA40 - 5.1 hours

One of the requirements of the commercial certificate is to fly a 350 nautical mile flight to three points, with one of the points being 250nm or greater from the original point of departure. I work in DC, but since the pope is visiting DC from Vatican City, we were advised to avoid the area since roads and public transit would be packed. What better reason to get as far away as possible, and knock out a requirement in the process?

Back in June, I joined one of the DC-3 crew members on a flight in his Baron down to Elizabethton, TN (0A9). The airport is nestled in between a few ridge lines, with one right under the base turn to 24, making it slightly more challenging to get in and out of. The flight down in the Baron left enough of an impression on me that I figured it would be fun to visit again. Its distance from Leesburg (JYO) being 273nm made it perfect for the long cross country. As if any more reasons were needed, I also remembered that the airport had a pilot shop, and I was in dire need of a replacement mic muff, since the one on my now 12 year old Clarks had all but fallen apart.

I had the tanks topped off as I got myself situated, briefed, and so on. While I'd initially given them a hard time for being slow, ProJet has definitely improved on its timeliness of getting out to fuel planes. In any case, I knew I'd be spending a lot of time in the plane alone today, so I spent a while getting everything situated so that I could reach it - iPad, charts, pen, paper, and various things to take pictures with. Once everything was set, I brought the plane to the runway and headed toward 0A9.

The flight down was a long one, which I helped pass by calling Potomac for flight following around the time I passed by Shenandoah (SHD). Despite being above clusters of scattered clouds, I was still able to pick out several landmarks on the way down: JMU, Virginia Tech, Mountain Lake, and the scenic mountains in general. As I got closer to Britol (TRI), I dropped flight following and brought the plane into 0A9.

After refueling, getting a new mic muff, and expressing shock over the low fuel price they had down there, I set back off toward Pulaski (PSK) and Blacksburg (BCB). To be honest, the stop through PSK was simply to "connect the dots" if you will. Back in college, I'd flown with Phil from PSK to Pineville, WV (I16), so my flight map had a random flight that had been seemingly orphaned from the rest. After an admittedly firm and ugly landing at PSK, I hopped over to BCB to visit Virginia Tech and grab food.

The walk around campus took up a decent amount of time, but it was worth it. Owens dining hall hasn't changed much, and the food was still as good as I remembered it being (not even kidding - it's nationally recognized).

The final leg was relaxing, but also interesting. In order to take advantage of the wind I saw in the forecast, I brought the plane up to 11,500. While I'd been about that high in a Cessna 207 before, I'd never taken the DA40 that high. After a little while, though, I brought it back down to 9500 as the wind was actually stronger there. Closer to JYO, Potomac asked me to drop it a little lower to get under the arrivals for Dulles (IAD), which also set me up to stay below the Class B airspace.

With the plane back in its spot, I had 5.1 hours more time under my belt, along with the long solo cross country requirement of the commercial certificate.

Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 5.1 - 122.3 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 28.8 (of 40)
Dual Complex: 0.0 - 5.0 (of 10)
Total Time in Aircraft: 5.1 - 191.0 (of 250)