Around, Under, or Over Class C for Short Cross Country
Asked by: cmarlow4 1240 views Airspace, General Aviation, Private Pilot
I am a relatively low time private pilot and would like some advice. I know the "Right" (legal) answer would be any of the three options, but I think the most convenient for everyone involved is a little more complicated.
I am planning a short cross country in a C172, 54nm, from M54 (Lebanon Muni) to M02 (Dickson Muni), which direct routing takes me through BNA Class C airspace.
First off, I am planning on getting flight following either way. I don't have much experience with flight following, so I guess my first question is if I were to ask flight following which they would prefer, would they give me their preferred routing based on BNA traffic?
That notwithstanding, I can plan on going under the outer shelf (Not a good idea, because two class D airports are under the shelf on either side, so I would end up going around to avoid them anyways.
I can go around the north side, but depending on my altitude, there may be arrivals or departures coming out of BNA to the north (especially if I am cruising at 4500 just outside of the airspace). Or, I can take some extra time on the east side and plan to climb above the class c to say, 5000 feet and go over. However, I don't think climbing to 6500 for this short cross country to get above and to the next westerly vfr altitude would be necessary.
All of the options would work, but what would you do?
(For anyone who wants to think that deeply into it, winds should be out of the north, so I will likely be departing runway 1 and landing 35, and vice versa on the way back.)
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