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In the
first picture above, you can see the message that popped onto the
screen of my GNS-480. Nice to know you're going to fly into a Missile
range, huh? But the trip was for the most part uneventful. In the
screen shots below you can see the long range weather back at home,
which matches up pretty well with the iPhone Foreflight screenshots
towards the end of this page. Looks like it'll be a good ride
most of the way, with a little stuff at the end.
On the Chelton screen in the 3rd photo below, I turned on the Lat/Long
position in the center of the MFD for the overwater flight. It
gives you something to report to ATC as you're gliding engine-out
towards the sea....an awesome feature for times like this. Looking good
for the flight to KFXE. This year we went back to U.S. Customs via KFXE
instead of KPBI. Both were acceptable, but KFXE seemed to be
smaller and a little more organized. It still is a pain to unload all
of your baggage, but with a properly pre-arranged eAPIS filing, and
proper customs notification, it goes very quickly.
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One
thing I love is when the designers of our airspace have a sense of
humor. Check out the 2nd screenshot below...when you're about
half way home, in the middle of the Atlantic between the Bahamas and
Florida, they stuck an intersection fix...and named it "SWIMM", as in,
if you stop here, you're going for a swim. Hillarious!
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Although
I had filed a DVFR flight plan, we were well on top of the scattered
clouds that seem to always exist, and it was busy airspace in talking
to Miami Approach for flight following. I knew that to descend
through the clouds I'd be making multiple turns to align with holes, so
asked them if I could do an IFR letdown for the remaining half of the
trip. This worked well and made it cool, but it also slowed me
down a little as rather than just descending at my own will, I was
forced to decend a little earlier and get routed out and around other
traffic areas a little further than I may have been, had I gone
VFR. But soon we were over the shoreline, flying just North of
Pompano Beach back down to KFXE.
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After
clearing customs, we started our trip back up to KLEE to make a lunch
visit and stop for fuel. Once again, the amazing happend and we had
flight following almost directly over the Disney complex. How
cool is that...something I always wanted to do and we get to do it
TWICE!
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After
topping off with fuel, we hit the skies again to keep heading for home.
Everything was going so smoothly, it was amazing. We were headed
directly towards the center of Atlanta Class B, and requested
overflight transit rather than being routed around. We'd had this
coming South on a previous trip. They won't let you do it at
8500' from how it sounds, but they dropped us down to about 4500' or
5500' and there is a corridor or something that they can put you
through...it takes you directly over top of KATL, so they can land
planes under you without you getting in the way. Another cool
addition to the trip...flying right over top of the Worlds Busiest
Airport, according to Atlanta approach. I didn't have the heart
to tell them that this was nothing, they should see KOSH in July. :)
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These
screenshots show the flight parameters again, and all the airmets, as
we cruised homeward from our last stop. t seems that every trip where
you're flying 1000nm or more will
involve some weather in at least one direction, and this trip was no
exception. On our day we left the islands, we stopped for lunch
and headed home, but there were storms up by home that while probably
flyable, were not worth the effort. We'd have to fly in at night,
then deal with weather...at least it would be by our home
airport. We decided to scrap that idea and just take a nice stop
that we hadn't taken in years....Chattanooga. Tac Air North at
Chattanooga was a great facility to us on one of my first few trips to
Florida, so I decided to stop by with them again and get a car and
hotel. It gave us some rest, and a warm pool to swim in.
The turbulence airmet covered the last half of our trip, SFC to 8000
and then SFC to 10000. We cruised at 8500' for a while, then at
10,500' as it got bumpy at 8500'. That gave us a smooth ride most
all the way. It's amazing how they know the altitudes that you'll find
turbulence. On the way home, I remarked at how we fly so many
legs of over 1000nm on our trips, yet there are SO MANY days a year
that you can do this in clear skies, or at least VFR. An
Instrument rating can help a lot on some trips, but it's just as
amazing how many trips can be done VFR, if you're willing to take some
unexpected extra stops or even days.
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