IFR to KEYW with dry feet

George Mohr

George Mohr

Line Up and Wait
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Gmohr
Hi all,

Working on my IFR, and planning a trip in the fall to KEYW. One thing I'm not keen on is a long flight over the bay in my PA-28. I'd like to follow Rt1 to and from KEYW until at least the upper keys before turning north. One issue I see is that V3 has a ridiculous MCA of 14500, probably due to Fat Albert.

Can anyone familiar with the airspace let me know if there is a preferred route used that meets this criteria?

Thanks!
George
 
the problem with using V3 headed northeast is that mnate is on the departure for MIA so it conflicts with MIA departures. they prefer send you out V157 or V601. all you can do is file it and see what they give you.
 
George Mohr said:
Working on my IFR, and planning a trip in the fall to KEYW. One thing I'm not keen on is a long flight over the bay in my PA-28. I'd like to follow Rt1 to and from KEYW until at least the upper keys before turning north. One issue I see is that V3 has a ridiculous MCA of 14500, probably due to Fat Albert.

Can anyone familiar with the airspace let me know if there is a preferred route used that meets this criteria?
Click to expand...

I take it "Fat Albert" is the tethered balloon in R-2916?

If you have a GPS, you can still file the NDB airways. Try DEEDS B9 MTH B646 FIS.

I did something like that in 2007ish in a G1000 182 (IFR GPS, no NDB), back when we had to call a real live person to file. When I said "Blue 9" the briefer was like, "Uh, excuse me?" and I told him it was an NDB airway and he said he'd never heard of such a thing, but then said "Well, the computer took it." :)

However, if you want to shoot an approach, you might as well just take V157 to CARNU for the transition to the RNAV(GPS) RWY 27. Even in a PA28 (I'm assuming not a 28R) you should be able to easily glide to a piece of land from 10,000 for the entire crossing. If you start your descent from 10,000 a mile prior to GUCEL you'll maintain a consistent glideslope through the FAF all the way down to the runway.

Alternatively, if you're going through the Miami area anyway and you're going to take V3 from DHP for example, GUCEL is part of the airway and also the IAF for the RNAV(GPS) 27, so you can get off the airway prior to the MCA.

Finally, if you're GPS equipped, just file what you want (MNATE direct GUCEL for example) and put something like "request no route deviation over water" in the comments so they don't try to alter on you.

However, don't get hung up on the "water" thing. TBH, there's a portion of that trip where your choice is going to be, "Alligators or sharks?"
 
Thanks!!! Never heard of a NDB Route (I see it now, B9, interesting) Will investigate. And yeah, I can file /G.

And yeah, Fat Albert is the Aerostat.
 
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There's a few other locations too in FL, near Perry, Cape Canaveral, are ones I know of that used to have the balloon.
 
It’s not so much the balloon but that wire it’s attached to you gotta watch out for. :eek:
 
Now the story behind my pictures:

I had a three night trip down to Miami Exec so my copilot and I decided instead of staying in the Miami area, we got a hotel down in Islamorada. Since we had the time, we thought it would be fun to drive out to Key West. Along the way, the topic of the tethered balloon came up. We were wondering if we would be able to see it or even figure out where it was.

Then I realized, I've got ForeFlight on my phone. We will be able to figure out exactly where it is. When we got closer, we see it. It's only about 4000' in the air. As we continue to drive, we realize it's getting lower. So we figure out where the road to it is and drive as close as we can to watch. They brought down to maybe 800 to 1000'

At some point, I look at my phone which still has ForeFlight open and observe "Hey look, the little blue dot is right in the middle of the restricted area!" That's when I get the idea. When we get back in the car, as soon as we get up to speed, the blue dot will turn into an airplane and I can take a screen shot.

Now is when the fun begins. I text the pic to my then Chief Pilot and ask "Should I fill out a NASA Form?" We laugh about it knowing he won't fall for it. .................then the return text comes............

"S***. Were you IFR or VFR, and were you talking to ATC at the time?" OMG! We've got him on the hook! I respond, "VFR. Not talking to ATC."

So I wait about a minute or so and then send a follow up text: "In the rental car"

After a long pause he texts. " A**Hole! Funny, but still an A**Hole". I think we laughed the rest of the way to Key West.

When I talked to him when we got back he told me he was furiously typing a "what the blank where you thinking text" when he got my last text and realized he'd been had.

George, sorry to butt in to your thread, but I had to share that story.
 
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