First x Country
 

so i have my first X country coming up this weeks and i'm a little nervous about it, my instructor assume me that i'm ready and i know i'm cable as well, but i just cant shake the nervous feeling off. is it just me or did anyone else feel this way, and how did you overcome it?

You could try Vicodin, and maybe a couple of Budweisers

Seriously, Everyone's a little nervous at that stage. I would also recommend bringing along a paper bag, like a brown lunch bag. If you get nervous to the point of hyperventilating; breathe into it. Your instructor can tell you more about that; ask them.

haha I think I like the Budweisers idea. thanks for the advice, i dont think it would come to that but i'll bring the bag anyway

Be confident with your planning, use the map and actually discern the terrain features, think WAY ahead and figure out how you are going to enter the traffic pattern, what to say, etc. Draw it out if it helps.

There nothing to be nervous about. If the weather looks marginal, don't go. If an instructor tells you they flew through the area 30 minutes before and it was good enough, don't go. If there is icing in the forecast, don't go.

Only get nervous if you land on a 12,000 runway and see only C-5s.

I think a little nervousness is a good thing. Just remember, your instructor has a lot more experience than you...and he wouldn't say you were ready if you weren't. Be nervous, but confident. You'll do fine.

P.S. Let us know how it goes!

My first solo cross country was from Atlanta to Talladega, Alabama and I worked out the entire trip on paper (namely VFR charts, planning worksheets, and MS notepad) before going. It was a tremendous learning tool to armchair fly the entire flight in my mind, changing frequencies, asking questions to myself, making radio calls, flipping maps, envisioning the flight as it unravels, fueling the plane, adding oil, and running checklists.

If you want life to be easy on your first cross country fly the entire flight end to end, even if it takes hours to do so. You will be amazed how many bugaboos you need to iron out doing this. When you finally get to the real airplane on the solo day you will be doing what you went through in your mind in your armchair. You will be more peaceful and you will learn more too.

Flight instructors only let students do a solo cross country they know can do, in other words they know the student has had all the training they need by then and shown at least a basic understanding of everything they were taught. But what they do not know, is how much of what the student was taught he or she will actually apply when the instructor is missing and not available. The student becomes the teacher then, and learns to think as a pilot. That is the point of the solo cross country. The power to learn is actually given to the student by the student.

Good luck. Have fun with it.

Ha! That nearly happened to me on my solo x/c. I landed on a different active than I had planned on, and started to taxi between some ANG planes. I had no idea you were supposed to back taxi when that specific runway was the active, and I had never learned about back taxiing. A friendly observer in the pattern helped me out. :)