Today was my first navigation flight with a full stop at a different aerodrome. I spent a lot of time planning the flight, including map routing, checking NOTAMs, assessing the weather, estimating fuel usage and time, and more.
I would like to make a comment about logging cross-country time. I have explained this in detail in another post along with more differences, but to summarize, the FAA requires a cross-country flight to be more than 50 nm from the departure point, whereas EASA does not have such a requirement. Furthermore, there is no specific column in my logbook for logging cross-country time. EASA only requires that flight preparation and navigation procedures be used, meaning that even a 5 nm flight between adjacent aerodromes can qualify if proper procedures are followed. Moreover, even landing at the departure aerodrome without landing elsewhere qualifies. This makes it difficult to calculate my totals accurately. Currently, I am following EASA regulations since I am in Europe, but I plan to follow FAA rules for my later time building since they are more limiting.
Navigating in the Czech Republic was relatively easy, with plenty of landmarks like roads, villages, towns, rivers, and lakes (or ponds?). I mostly tried to use pilotage to navigate (which means I had to rely on different landmarks enroute), and the rivers were the most straightforward to follow.
Our destination was Roudnice (LKRO), which was easier to land at compared to some other airports I’ve been to, as there were no trees on final, which meant less turbulence. However, the runway was upsloping, so I had to keep the nose higher than I was used to.
During our flight, we encountered precipitation and had to divert from our track for a few miles. I’m glad that I didn’t have any difficulties locating our position after that.
Unfortunately, I failed to accurately estimate our flight time, as our actual time was about 10% longer than my initial computation.
Nonetheless, it was a great learning experience for me, and I’m looking forward to my next navigation flight!
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