Outbound to Chicago DuPage.
I did this trip by myself. |
| From | TO | Identifier | Hours | Altitudes | Conditions of flight |
|---|
| Seattle | Twin Falls, ID | KTWF | 3.4 | 13,000 | IFR |
| Twin Falls | Rawlins, WY | KRWL | 2.6 | 11,500 - 17,500 | VFR | Spent the night here |
| Rawlins | Sioux City, IA | KSUX | 3.7 | 9,500 | VFR |
| Sioux City, IA | West Chicago/DuPage, IL | KDPA | 2.8 | 7,500 | mostly IFR |
| Total: 12.5 hours over two days |
|
The return trip home.
My friend Jan came along on this segment. |
| From | TO | Identifier | Hours | Altitudes | Conditions of flight |
|---|
| Chicago | Rochester, MN | KRST | 2.0 | 6,500 | VFR | Spent the night here |
| Rochester | Rapid City, SD | KRAP | 4.1 | 10,500 | VFR |
| Rapid City | Billings, MT | KBIL | 2.6 | 14,500 | VFR | Spent the night here |
| Billings | Spokane, WA | KGEG | 3.3 | 14,500 | VFR |
| Spokane | Seattle Boeing Field, WA | KBFI | 2.0 | 12,000 | IFR |
| Total: 14.0 hours over three days |
|
Tips for when I do it again...
- Don't spend so much time planning the route! The route I planned versus what I went on was ultimately dictated by weather. I hoped to fly on a more northerly route, but severe T-storms over Montana, the Dakotas, and Illinois dictated a southerly choice. Planning the night before worked out fine.
- Bring lots of music. I picked up an MP3 player and ripped a dozen of my favorite CDs.
- Don't buy VFR sectionals for the entire route and theoretical side trips. Instead, get the WAC charts, they're twice the scale, but since you're going to blow by a lot of area, you don't need the detail. Sectionals are great for stopping in the area. I found IFR enroute to be much more useful because they identified navaids and took all of the guesswork out of altitudes.
- Buy IFR charts ahead of time. None of the FBOs had IFR charts or approach plates stocked. (But all of them had local sectionals..) I did have an approach certified GPS, but nothing beats a piece of paper for planning purposes. The Jepp plates were pretty expensive, until you factored in the price of the included enroute charts. I think I'd buy select Jepp charts (like Minnesota) for the plethora of enroute, and rely on NOS plates for the airports where I'd probably not land unless the weather sucked.
- Flight Guide publications totally rock. Two 5" x 5" x 1 1/2" books contain essential airport airport information in a handy-to-use format. You still need the A/FD books for current updates, but these give you a quick insight into the orientation of
the runway, its length, basic frequencies and whether there is food and gas on the field or nearby. I have had a subscription for five years and really appreciated having it on this long trip.
- I really appreciate the Flight following services provided by Seattle, Salt Lake and Minneapolis approaches. They were exceptionally friendly and provided another set of 'eyes' while I was flying across country. It's unfortunate that Denver and Chicago approach don't have the capacity to offer VFR flight following, since their congested airspace, with a lot of high-speed commercial operations, is where I'd need it the most.