Planning 3000 mile week long flying vacation

[skynewbie]

Hi folks,

Last year I got my ticket and have been flying simple local XC flights. Now I'm planning my longest trip yet from Palo Alto, California in the Bay Area to New Mexico then up north to Washington state and south from Seattle back to Palo Alto. I'm flying a 182 for the trip which has a nice Garmin 750 panel stack and I'm bringing my iPad mini with Foreflight and a portable Garmin 696 GPS with XM weather for backup. Flying the 3000 route over course of 5 days and looking for good VFR routes and tips to fly this trip. I can add few extra days cushion to account for unexpected weather conditions since I'm still VFR pilot. Initially I was going to do this trip in the club Piper Arrow but the 182 is way more comfortable for longer trip and has better avionics. I noticed tons of MOAs and restricted airspace between Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico so that's one challenge as well as navigating around high terrain.

Thanks
Ben

 

[Jim Logajan]

Consider adding a check of this website in your flight planning:

http://www.seeandavoid.org
Welcome to SeeAndAvoid.org. Originally created by the Air National Guard Aviation Safety Division, this portal is now funded by the Defense Safety Oversight Council and includes all military services. Our goal is to eliminate midair collisions and reduce close calls through continuous flight safety and proper flight planning. By promoting information exchange between civilian pilots and the military flight safety community, we hope to provide one-stop shopping to help all of us safely share the skies. This portal will allow users to find and link to all existing military Mid-Air Collision Avoidance (MACA) programs in a single web site, while also enjoying new access to information from bases that did not previously have web-based content.

This portal is targeting two user groups. The first group is General Aviation (GA) Pilots, who we encourage to include SeeAndAvoid.org as part of their flight planning. From weather to Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) to flight planning, pilots in general and civilian pilots in particular, use the Internet to get their most important flight safety information. As important as the weather, knowing where the military operational flying areas are, and how to avoid that airspace is crucial to a safe flight. Unexpected turbulence, icing, terrain obscured by fog, or a jet flying low at 500 knots; each one is just as deadly to the GA pilot if not planned for prior to takeoff.

The second group targeted are the military safety officers at all military bases. This portal site provides every participating DoD flying base in the U.S. with the opportunity to create a web-based MACA educational and public outreach program. This web-based MACA program, intended primarily for an audience of 750,000 civil pilots, is modeled on centralized support, with decentralized execution. This website integrates and links with related sites such as FAA Special Use Airspace, AOPA’s Air Safety Foundation, and the new FAA MADE (military airspace deconfliction) program.

 

[Jim Logajan]

The weather is likely to be substantially better in the Willamette Valley than on the coast. And that's where most Oregonites live, anyway.

You gotta land at KVUO. But study the local procedure ahead of time, 'cause it's weird. The 45 smells really good.

Lots of really good sightseeing around Portland. The coast is not at all the best part of it.

East of the Cascades is generally even better odds for clear weather this time of year. Downside of the dry summer weather is increase in fire TFRs in Oregon - as well as California of course.

Crater lake is worth a look:
http://vimeo.com/80165318

 

[Jim Logajan]

Completely agree and the trip is flexible and not set in stone. I will make the final go/no go decision based on weather conditions. I've planned either trip to Oregon or New Mexico based on these factors. I have a week to fly the 1000 -2000 mile round trip so I've intentionally added in a few days buffer for it.

The funky weather in the Pacific northwest should give way to nicer conditions in the next day or two.

Do you have any interest in landing on back country grass/unimproved fields?