Now I feel like a pilot
The trip to Deland was GVL to AZE (Hazelhurst) to DED. AZE was almost exactly 1/2 way down so a great spot to stop, get gas, take a bio break, and stretch.
The trip to AZE was uneventful. Light winds, no turbulence, a few clouds, and no traffic at all.
The trip to DED was a different affair. I planned to fly at 3500 to around JAX and then drop down to 2500 to be under a military special use area (not a MOA, Alert, or Restricted zone; near as I can find out it's an area used for military drone flights and runs from 3000 - 5000' in a 30 mile swath crossing the state around Jax). The planned flight would take me over two Navy airports above their Class D airspace. Soon after departing AZE, I ran into a low 'few' cloud layer at about 3000'. I figured out later it was likely clouds over the Okefenokee swamp. I climbed over the clouds but couldn't tell if it got thicker as I went south and there was a wall of cumulus clouds that appeared to rise to about 12,000 feet. I decided to ride under the clouds as I didn't want to be VFR over IFR or have to deal with the taller clouds. Good choice but the rest of the flight was pretty bumpy. I also had to detour around the Navy airports as I was below the 2600 ceiling. No big deal but it was interesting to modify my route while in flight. Glad I had ForeFlight and the G300...made it super easy to reroute. The alert area north of DED (used for flight training) was dead and DED had one plane doing loops in the pattern so much lower traffic than expected. Landing was easy PLUS there were parachutes in the air as I landed; kinda cool to see.
I wanted to take my Dad up for his 90th birthday but he was concerned the pressure changes would damage his already compromised hearing so we had to scrap his flight.
I did get to take my sister and Mom for rides. The air was smooth, no traffic, and both enjoyed the flights!
Flight back was interesting. DED to AZE was at 6500', smooth air but lots of cumulus clouds in the area that I had to detour around.
Arriving at AZE, which was VFR conditions, was a shock. There was a low broken cloud deck all around the airport making it impossible to actually see the airport. Diverting north was impossible since the cloud layer went north for some unknown distance. Diverting to Waycross was not possible since it was at IFR conditions. My only other choice was to return to DED which I preferred no to do. I attempted to drop below the cloud layer but it put me way too close to the ground (probably at or less than 500') so I popped up above and used ForeFlight to get me lined up for a southbound landing. I could see the ground through the clouds, picked a hole, and did a forward slip to shoot through the hole to where I could see the runway. I was almost lined up as I got below the clouds, pulled out of the slip, and landed without incident!
At this point, it was clear I couldn't proceed north until the weather cleared. A review of weather predictions seemed to indicate the cloud base was going to increase over the next few hours so I just refueled, grabbed a snack, and took a break.
The base did get above 4000' by around 1 pm and all airports to GVL were VFR so I headed north. I stayed below the cloud deck and just bumped along to GVL. Winds were higher at GVL (10 knots) with a bit of a cross-wind. I side loaded the plane on landing a bit but got it stopped without incident or damage.
Long flight, complex airspace around DED, light traffic, weather decisions, and landing in less than ideal conditions. Total fun! Making a trip to FL via plane is so much more fun than driving and a bit faster (if you don't get stuck because of weather and even that is better than being stuck in traffic jams!). This is habit forming.
I did not plan to get endorsements for Class D, C, or B airspace but having the option to land at Class D airports would have given me a lot of options for flight planning. I'll have to think about adding an endorsement for D...
Next challenge: get Donna in the plane.
The trip to AZE was uneventful. Light winds, no turbulence, a few clouds, and no traffic at all.
The trip to DED was a different affair. I planned to fly at 3500 to around JAX and then drop down to 2500 to be under a military special use area (not a MOA, Alert, or Restricted zone; near as I can find out it's an area used for military drone flights and runs from 3000 - 5000' in a 30 mile swath crossing the state around Jax). The planned flight would take me over two Navy airports above their Class D airspace. Soon after departing AZE, I ran into a low 'few' cloud layer at about 3000'. I figured out later it was likely clouds over the Okefenokee swamp. I climbed over the clouds but couldn't tell if it got thicker as I went south and there was a wall of cumulus clouds that appeared to rise to about 12,000 feet. I decided to ride under the clouds as I didn't want to be VFR over IFR or have to deal with the taller clouds. Good choice but the rest of the flight was pretty bumpy. I also had to detour around the Navy airports as I was below the 2600 ceiling. No big deal but it was interesting to modify my route while in flight. Glad I had ForeFlight and the G300...made it super easy to reroute. The alert area north of DED (used for flight training) was dead and DED had one plane doing loops in the pattern so much lower traffic than expected. Landing was easy PLUS there were parachutes in the air as I landed; kinda cool to see.
I wanted to take my Dad up for his 90th birthday but he was concerned the pressure changes would damage his already compromised hearing so we had to scrap his flight.
I did get to take my sister and Mom for rides. The air was smooth, no traffic, and both enjoyed the flights!
Flight back was interesting. DED to AZE was at 6500', smooth air but lots of cumulus clouds in the area that I had to detour around.
Arriving at AZE, which was VFR conditions, was a shock. There was a low broken cloud deck all around the airport making it impossible to actually see the airport. Diverting north was impossible since the cloud layer went north for some unknown distance. Diverting to Waycross was not possible since it was at IFR conditions. My only other choice was to return to DED which I preferred no to do. I attempted to drop below the cloud layer but it put me way too close to the ground (probably at or less than 500') so I popped up above and used ForeFlight to get me lined up for a southbound landing. I could see the ground through the clouds, picked a hole, and did a forward slip to shoot through the hole to where I could see the runway. I was almost lined up as I got below the clouds, pulled out of the slip, and landed without incident!
At this point, it was clear I couldn't proceed north until the weather cleared. A review of weather predictions seemed to indicate the cloud base was going to increase over the next few hours so I just refueled, grabbed a snack, and took a break.
The base did get above 4000' by around 1 pm and all airports to GVL were VFR so I headed north. I stayed below the cloud deck and just bumped along to GVL. Winds were higher at GVL (10 knots) with a bit of a cross-wind. I side loaded the plane on landing a bit but got it stopped without incident or damage.
Long flight, complex airspace around DED, light traffic, weather decisions, and landing in less than ideal conditions. Total fun! Making a trip to FL via plane is so much more fun than driving and a bit faster (if you don't get stuck because of weather and even that is better than being stuck in traffic jams!). This is habit forming.
I did not plan to get endorsements for Class D, C, or B airspace but having the option to land at Class D airports would have given me a lot of options for flight planning. I'll have to think about adding an endorsement for D...
Next challenge: get Donna in the plane.
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