Tuesday 6 November 2007

Time to return to Orlando and it only takes 30 minutes to file a VFR Flight Plan, prepare the aircraft and be ready to fire the engine up.

Our route is going to be more direct today and the plan is to route north-east from Key West to intercept Airway V157 to 'DVALL' waypoint then northwards to La Belle (LBV) VOR towards Orlando.

The ramp at Key West is split between the FBO ramp and the commercial ramp with a Cubana Antonov airliner parked at the east end. This aircraft has been parked here since it was hijacked from Cuba some years ago!

Departure is off runway 9, again, and we are assigned a heading of 030 to keep us clear of the Naval Air Station at Boca Chica. Once we have avoided the flocks of rather large birds thermaling to the north of the airfield we set heading.




A quick look over our shoulder gives a view of Key West from the north-east.





Our climb continues to 6500' and we are given a 'flight-following' handover to Miami Center.

When we get to within 40 miles of 'DVALL' waypoint it is safe to turn more direct to La Belle (LBV) VOR. If we had turned any earlier we would have entered the US Air Defence Intercept Zone (US ADIZ) which is wrapped around the US.


Shortly after our turn the south-west coast of the Everglades come into sight again.

The remainder of the flight is uneventful and once we are transferred to Orlando Approach a more direct route is forthcoming through 'Class B' airspace direct to Orlando Executive.






Our flight time is, once again, 2h 10 min and the aircraft has used 55 US gallons of fuel for the return journey. This averages out at the flight manual, leaned out, figures of just under 12 gallons/hour.

Back in Orlando by 1pm it is time to get the credit card out and wander up to the Florida Mall for the rest of the day.

Monday 5 November 2007

Today we are going to fly from Orlando Executive(KORL) to Key West(KEYW).

The plan is to fly there, find a place to stay, and return to Orlando the next day.

Aircraft for the trip is, once again, C182T N2144V.

Departure from Executive is at 0900h and we set course to Winter Haven under 'flight following' with Orlando Approach. As we pass abeam Kissimmee approval is given to climb to our planned cruising level of 5500' and to set course to our first waypoint at 'DEEDS'. The cruising altitude of 5500' will keep us below the MOA that exists over a large area of Central Florida between Orlando and Lake Okeechobee.

Cruise is uneventful as we cruise at a TAS of 132kts under the watchful eye of Miami Center.

Fort Myers, off to the west, is the only real point of interest as we fly over fairly featureless landscape for the next hour or so.

Once we reach the waypoint at 'DEEDS' we could have routed direct to Key West (EYW) at this point but I have decided to continue south towards Marathon (MTH) on the Keys to reduce the time over water. This takes us over the Everglades which is just as unattractive in the event of a forced landing. The choice of flying over the Everglades compared to over water has very little gain. Forced landing in the Gulf of Mexico will probably mean sharks to contend with while a forced landing in the Everglades will probably mean alligators. I trust that the Coastguard helicopter will turn up fairly quickly!

We, eventually, start to pick up a view of the Keys ahead of us and Marathon Airport shortly after.

Overhead Marathon we turn right and commence a VFR descent into Key West. Once the descent is commenced we lose two-way contact with Miami Center so a call is made to Boca Chica Approach to advise them of our problem and to transit their airspace.

Boca Chica is the large US Navy airbase just to the east of Key West. One other good reason to fly a dog-leg into Key West is the proximity of the Navy observation balloon situated just to the north-east of the Naval Air Station. The big danger to any aircraft is the cable it is run out on and can extend to thousands of feet. The observation ballon is mainly used to keep an eye on Cuba and any illegal activity in the Gulf of Mexico.

The cable is marked on the GPS map display.

If you look very carefully in the top left of the picture below you may just be able to pick out the balloon at, I guess, about 6000'.

As we approach Boca Chica NAS we are transferred to their Tower frequency.

He instructs us to keep at least 3 miles south of his airfield and not to descend below 2000' as he has an F18 Hornet jet in the circuit. We comply with this and, once clear, we call Key West Tower. A join is made right downwind for runway 9 and an uneventful, albeit windy, arrival is made.

We park at the local FBO and our aircraft is, subsequently, towed to the line.

Flight time Orlando/Executive to Key West was 2h 10min.

Hotels in Key West are fairly expensive so it is probably worth booking in advance to get an internet discount.

The rest of the day is spent doing the tourist thing around Key West.