Cross countries completed

I just recently completed the cross country phase of ATP. My partner and I flew clear across the United States from Riverside, California to Jacksonville, Florida. The students over in the west coast are lucky due to the fact that we are able to fly all the way to the other side of the country. They do this so that we can take our jet ride in the Cessna Citation, which is usually located somewhere in the east coast. Students on the east coast usually don't make it all the way to the west coast because there is no need.

The cross country phase was definately a learning experience. From the first day of you cross countries, you are required to call ATP dispatch between 7:00 AM and 7:30 AM and find out where you will be flying that day. My partner and I were lucky in that our second day we were able to fly up to Salem, Oregon. Not many students from Riverside are able to make this trip. My partner's family lives up there, so we were able to visit Portland and we had a good time seeing Oregon.

We began our journey to the east coast around the 4th day of the cross country phase. It took us about 4 days to reach Atlanta, Georgia which was where we would fly the jet. That was definately the best experience so far. It reminded me of the first time I started flying.

I gained a lot of hours and experience during our trip and it was definately a worth while journey. I created a Google map of the trip with each stop we made. The green line represents the trip to the east coast and the red line represents the trip back. The blue line represents the jet ride. By clicking on the lines it will tell you which day we made the trip and where we stayed the night.

ATP Cross Country Map

Picture 1: Me standing in front of the Citation.
Picture 2: Me and my flying partner.
Picture 3: The start of weather, which is nearly unheard of in SoCal.

Instrument Checkride Passed!

I passed my instrument checkride today! It was the hardest checkride I've taken yet. I'll post more about it later.