The Great Cross-Country Thread: Rules, Regs, Destinations and Sea Stories

[Jim123]

God help him.

I took a pair of Italian students into Orlando Class B, VFR, at night, first time for any of us. Not sure what I was thinking but it worked out great.

Touchy-feely psychobabble aside, the farther away from home base most students* get, the better they seem to pull their heads out of their nether regions** and actually fly pretty well.

* including myself
** " "

 

[bunk22]

I took a pair of Italian students into Orlando Class B, VFR, at night, first time for any of us. Not sure what I was thinking but it worked out great.

Dude, that's nuts I had a hard enough time dealing with the Italians flying in the local area. Though two of the Italians I flew with were next to the best studs I saw in primary. Both in my top 5, hands down. Their accents however were horrible.

 

[Marco]

There have been stories of pilots in my Guard unit during the F-106 days making "training" flights to Colorado and coming back with a travel pod full of Coors.

 

[nittany03]

There have been stories of pilots in my Guard unit during the F-106 days making "training" flights to Colorado and coming back with a travel pod full of Coors.

I'm all about the beer run. But . . . COORS? Yeesh. :icon_tong

 

[HornyU2]

A buddy of mine and I took a couple Japanese students into DFW's class B in the mighty T-37 (back in our FAIP days.) -1 for Headwork on my part - but, still paid off by being at the Stockyards on a Sat night. The comm disintegrated pretty quickly and resulted in the following:

FTW approach: "Cash flight - from now on, IP's only on the radio. Understood?"

 

[Pags]

There have been stories of pilots in my Guard unit during the F-106 days making "training" flights to Colorado and coming back with a travel pod full of Coors.

Taking Coors east of the Mississippi? That there is bootlegging!

 

[Jim123]

FTW approach: "Cash flight - from now on, IP's only on the radio. Understood?"

Luckily in my case (with the Italians to Orlando) it never got to that point. They're usually pretty squared away by the time they get to advanced, thanks to the T-34 guys putting in the hard work early on...

Although I have got that call from ATC on local flights

 

[Schnugg]

I've did X/Cs from Miramar NAS to:

Pensacola, FL
Gunisson, CO
Reno-Stead Air Races
South Weymouth NAS near Boston, MA
Whidbey Island, WA
The Boneyard at Davis Monthan
Alameeda NAS
Luke AFB

It just takes some prior planning and good wx.

 

[MasterBates]

I have Done Corpus/Krock to San Diego, once in a 45 and once in a 34.

57C from Whiting to Corpus..

Sadly, in 8 years of flying those are the only XC's I've ever been on.

 

[Pugs]

About once a year circa 93 when we'd have enough OPTAR and someone was willing to put together enough training checks in the block to satisfy the skipper we'd do a four corners cross country long weekend.

Whidbey to Brunswick - Maine lobster dinner - check
Brunswick to Key Weird - Spiny Lobster dinner - check
Key Weird to San Diego - Fish Taco dinner - check
Home to NUW for Dungeness Crab (well, really for whatever was in the fridge at home)

Lost track of the other cross countries I went on - Remember starting with a T-47 NPA to NQX and then a TA-4 Hurrivac to Wright Patterson though.

 

[HAL Pilot]

I took a pair of Italian students into Orlando Class B.....

Good thing you took two, the Italian with the stick and throttle in his hands would never have been able to talk on the radio...

 

[puck_11]

T-34s - Corpus to Pensacola (IP wanted to go, no choice)
T-45s - Boulder, Minneapolis, and Phoenix
EA-6b - Fallon and El Centro

 

[MH-Z]

T-34s: P'cola to San Diego

MH-60R: Got the good deal A/C transfer, Jax to San Diego. Ever smell "new helo"?

 

[MPH]

To answer your question (not actually that dumb in my opinion,) military pilots are required to fly a certain amount of hours and training events per year and even per quarter. Different aircraft types have just as different requirements, but currency and proficiency are perishable goods in the pilot world.

Had a pilot who was transitioning from 15's to the 22 come into my work in December while visiting his family. Apparently he flew into John Wayne in his T-38. Sounds like a combo of the "training" and "hours to burn at year end" situations is the best way to go.

 

[HornyU2]

Had a pilot who was transitioning from 15's to the 22 come into my work in December while visiting his family. Apparently he flew into John Wayne in his T-38. Sounds like a combo of the "training" and "hours to burn at year end" situations is the best way to go.

The T-38 at Beale was a sweet deal - all of us rated pilots, with a valid training requirement, in a black T-38 and the CONUS at our disposal. Found myself everywhere from Myrtle Beach to North Island in the same 3-day weekend. Jets and pilots are like boats - it's bad to let them sit for too long. I'm looking forward to taking students on the road again in the T-45 (having had a 6 year break from my last real "student" x-country, I think I'm ready to say that again.) It's great to see how wide eye'd they become when taken away from the flag pole, and they see the real potential that military aviation has.