Long PPL Cross-Country Flight: A Crucial Milestone in Flight Training

There was one more important stage for me today: I flew my long cross-country with two full stop landings in different aerodromes. In my case, there were Hradec Kralove (hurray, concrete runway!) and Pribram (hurray, asphalt runway!). I already mentioned that I like concrete and asphalt runways more than grass or turf ones.

The landscape was incredible, the weather was great, and the flight was a pleasure.

My route on the map

Today, I flew a different airplane – a Cessna C-152. I like it less because there are some more vibrations, control forces are higher, and ground roll is longer than the airplane I used to. However, it has a VOR receiver, its airspeed indicator is in knots instead of mph, and one does not need to hold the flaps lever for some seconds to set flaps to the required position. The flaps switch looks like this:

Can you see what happened with fixed position limiters due to wear and tear? The photo is not from that airplane, but it is a common problem. You have to guess the proper switch position.

To be honest, I like electric flaps in the C-150 more because it is easier to set them to the required position (I have to count 3 seconds for flaps 10, and 1 more second for each higher position), and the airplane also has a flaps position indicator.

Generally, it is not that important, and I enjoy flying both airplanes.

As I want to finish my PPL ASAP, I flew one more time after my long cross-country. The destination was LKMB, an aerodrome with two grass runways for different wind. It is not very common in the Czech Republic, usually aerodromes have only one strip. The approach there is a little bit scary; I had to fly pretty low above the hill.

I am almost done with my PPL syllabus!


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Milestones

04/09/2017: My First Flight
04/25/2017: EASA PPL written exam (6 exams passed)
05/21/2017: Radio Operator Certificate (Europe VFR)
05/22/2017: EASA PPL written exam (all passed)
05/26/2017: The First Solo!
05/28/2017: Solo cross-country >270 km
05/31/2017: EASA PPL check-ride
07/22/2017: EASA IFR English
08/03/2017: 100 hours TT
12/04/2017: The first IFR flight
12/28/2017: FAA IR written
02/16/2018: FAA IR check-ride
05/28/2018: FAA Tailwheel endorsement
06/04/2018: FAA CPL long cross-country
06/07/2018: FAA CPL written
07/16/2018: FAA CPL check-ride
07/28/2018: FAA CPL ME rating
08/03/2018: FAA HP endorsement
06/03/2019: EASA ATPL theory (6/14)
07/03/2019: EASA ATPL theory (11/14)
07/15/2019: FAA IR IPC
07/18/2019: FAA CPL SES rating
08/07/2019: EASA ATPL theory (done)
10/10/2019: EASA NVFR
10/13/2019: EASA IR/PBN SE
11/19/2019: Solo XC > 540 km
12/06/2019: EASA CPL
12/10/2019: EASA AMEL
02/20/2020: Cessna 210 endorsement
08/30/2021: FAVT validation
05/27/2022: TCCA CPL/IR written
05/31/2022: Radio Operator Certificate Canada