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Long Distance Cross Country
By Glen White
Flying cross country can be one of
the most enjoyable portions of flying any aircraft. Whether you’re flying
your first cross country, flying your family to a vacation destination or
flying customers to far away locations, long distance flights offer a
different view of our normal surroundings. However flights over large
distances are mostly reserved for fixed wing aircraft. Helicopter pilots,
even though they may fly for long hours, rarely travel more than 100 miles
from their starting point. Helicopter pilots get accustomed to flying in a
small geographical area, so traveling outside that area presents the pilot
with situations that they are not accustomed to.
The following flight was taken in a
Bell 407 helicopter from Ft Worth, Texas to Oxnard, California in the month
of July. This flight offers a good overall example of a lot of different
situations not only helicopter pilots can get into, but fixed wing
pilots that rarely travel outside their local area as well. When planning this
flight I had to take in account airspace, fuel stops, FBO operational hours,
weather, and terrain elevation.
The straight line distance between
Ft Worth and Oxnard is 1096 nm, but airspace and fuel stop locations make a
direct line of flight impossible.
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