I'm preparing myself for get-there-itis

Challenged

Pattern Altitude
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Challenged
I have my first big trip coming up this weekend with my family in the Bonanza (headed to Disney [KBTR to KISM]). The 7-day forecast is showing scattered thunderstorms, but I guess that's standard for this time of year. To double up my need to get-there, I'm also dropping the plane off to Saint Aviation on my way back for some upgrades.

The only good thing, is that I can leave either Saturday or Sunday, so I'm hoping that large a window will make it fairly easy to find a time that will work. I don't currently have a cloud license, which makes things a little less forgiving.
 
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The only good thing, is that I can leave either Saturday or Sunday, so I'm hoping that large a window will make it fairly easy to find a time that will work. I don't currently have a cloud license, which makes things a little less forgiving.

One of the best way to dodge scattered thunderstorms is to stay below the bases anyway, as long as they are high enough. If it turns into a wall of precip, find somewhere to land and wait it out.
 
One of the best way to dodge scattered thunderstorms is to stay below the bases anyway, as long as they are high enough. If it turns into a wall of precip, find somewhere to land and wait it out.

This, also especially down that way it's unusual for there to be storms all day. Tends to be clear early in the morning or late afternoon/early evening, of course YMMV.
 
And flying early helps with dealing with the scattered. The bases typically rise during the day as well with them so stay under and all should be fine.
 
Curious what your track is going to be? Living NE part of country I don’t have opportunity to have to think about taking routes over chunks of water.
Kudos on realizing that get there itis exists.
 
I just came back from a trip this afternoon and had to invoke my personal minimums. After battling 30kts on the nose for almost 3 hours, I cancelled IFR and tried to push get under some stuff VFR. I was in class G and completely comfortable with my altitudes and cloud clearances. 10 miles from my destination, I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to stay VFR at 1000' so I did a 180 degree turn and headed back to where I knew I could land with a 2500' ceiling.

My plane is now sitting at an airport that is about an hour away from my final destination while I grabbed a rental car and drove home.

When you push the weather and get into trouble, remember who put you there!
 
Probably Baton Rouge, Pensacola, Panama City, Tallahassee, which should keep me over land and only adds about 10 minutes. Direct is 526nm, and it's ~550nm with this routing.
Curious what your track is going to be?
 
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I just came back from a trip this afternoon and had to invoke my personal minimums. After battling 30kts on the nose for almost 3 hours, I cancelled IFR and tried to push get under some stuff VFR. I was in class G and completely comfortable with my altitudes and cloud clearances. 10 miles from my destination, I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to stay VFR at 1000' so I did a 180 degree turn and headed back to where I knew I could land with a 2500' ceiling.

My plane is now sitting at an airport that is about an hour away from my final destination while I grabbed a rental car and drove home.

When you push the weather and get into trouble, remember who put you there!

Forgive me. What was the point of cancelling IFR in the first place?

As to 30 knots headwind, yeah that's the price of the FG cherokee six. You're going nowhere fast at 14gph. Can't have it all.

BL, you made it home alive, so the decision worked. You exercised good ADM for your level of comfort and experience. :thumbsup:
 
Forgive me. What was the point of cancelling IFR in the first place?

Can't speak for the person this question was directed to, but I would do so to get under the base of the clouds VFR and be able to maneuver around the T-storms. Trying to dodge TS while flying blind in the clouds can be dangerous without onboard radar.
 
Can't speak for the person this question was directed to, but I would do so to get under the base of the clouds VFR and be able to maneuver around the T-storms. Trying to dodge TS while flying blind in the clouds can be dangerous without onboard radar.

Pretty much this. ADS-B radar overlay is nice but I was VMC at the time and knew that the only way to get in without flying into an embedded TS would be to descend below the deck and see where the rain was. I've got over 3000 hours in this airspace alone so I'm pretty comfortable doing so. Had this not been my home AO, I would have stopped a lot sooner.
 
I have my first big trip coming up this weekend with my family in the Bonanza (headed to Disney [KBTR to KISM]). The 7-day forecast is showing scattered thunderstorms, but I guess that's standard for this time of year. To double up my need to get-there, I'm also dropping the plane off to Saint Aviation on my way back for some upgrades.

The only good thing, is that I can leave either Saturday or Sunday, so I'm hoping that large a window will make it fairly easy to find a time that will work. I don't currently have a cloud license, which makes things a little less forgiving.
We're leaving KEWN Thursday for Saint Augustine. leaving as early a.m. as I can. Coming back Sunday. Wave as you go by so I know that it is you. :)
 
One of the best way to dodge scattered thunderstorms is to stay below the bases anyway, as long as they are high enough. If it turns into a wall of precip, find somewhere to land and wait it out.

Add convective activity is unstable air. Good visibility, showery precip, and higher cloud bases. Hopefully you had ADS-B in for radar.
 
Make sure you check the weather while the aircraft will be parked during the trip. This time of year it’s a good idea to pay to hangar it in FL.
 
Using the technique of flying low to spot rainshafts as a means of thunderstorm avoidance is a good thing to have if you make a mistake and get caught in those conditions. It should not be a technique for just getting there. You can easily encounter severe turbulence as well as hail well outside the rainshafts of storms.
 
Most any given day has flyable hours at various points, unless some major weather system is at play. The key is to log flight time while conditions allow, then have the discipline to park & improvise when needed. Remember, none of us really HAVE to be ANYWHERE, regardless of any reservations.

This time of year there’s plenty of daylight, another added safety component with VIPs onboard. Most any WX or mechanical issue is easier in the daylight.

Always keep a divert airport in your back pocket.
 
Got wait al least till Thursday to make a more informed decision. I have made plans and not made plans that were ruined by extended forecasts. Time to start working on the IFR though.
 
Got wait al least till Thursday to make a more informed decision. I have made plans and not made plans that were ruined by extended forecasts. Time to start working on the IFR though.
Having the IR certainly helps.
 
So here's what WeatherSpork is showing so far, for the weather along the route. Green=VFR, Blue=MVFR, Red=IFR, Pink=LIFR. The lightning bolts indicate a 6-hour chance of thunderstorm in various percentages, starting at 60% at my departure and ending at about 30% at my destination.


Screenshot from 2019-05-09 11-26-30.png
 
So here's what WeatherSpork is showing so far, for the weather along the route. Green=VFR, Blue=MVFR, Red=IFR, Pink=LIFR. The lightning bolts indicate a 6-hour chance of thunderstorm in various percentages, starting at 60% at my departure and ending at about 30% at my destination.


View attachment 73983
This looks like that game minesweep to me.
 
Did a long trip last weekend to TX with a similar forecast as yours. I’m a believer in going high and going over the top. Just make sure the dept and destination give plenty of BCC and stay clear of build ups. My plan was go west as far as possible until I reached the weather. Land, get gas, re-evaluate the wx and then go with a route. FIS-B In helps in those wx decisions. Coming home, get on top, ride the tailwinds and cover 756 miles in 4+25.

Always have a plan B...and a C.

38645A49-5D0F-438E-BDA1-3623BD418AE4.jpeg 09E0ECF3-8A69-4F67-AD8E-FA38E9ED07E5.jpeg
 
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Having the IR certainly helps.
mostly depends on the area. I am not IR yet, but evaluating every flight I cancel and try to map if I can do it when I get my IR. not same route as OP, but some of us are planning to meet at KMFI this Saturday and looks like the only day when there is rain, low ceiling, TS with freezing level at 7000... I am not sure if I can make that even when I am IR :(
 
mostly depends on the area. I am not IR yet, but evaluating every flight I cancel and try to map if I can do it when I get my IR. not same route as OP, but some of us are planning to meet at KMFI this Saturday and looks like the only day when there is rain, low ceiling, TS with freezing level at 7000... I am not sure if I can make that even when I am IR :(

I often tell people something similar when they're lamenting about not being able to fly a trip because they don't have an instrument rating. When dealing with light airplanes I haven't found being restricted to VFR only to be a major roadblock.
 
Saturday:

Sunday:

To me that looks like you should be able to leave on Saturday. Might still need some flexibility on time or some zigging and zagging.

There's a huge storm blowing through right now, which prompted me to purchase airline tickets. Live to fight another day I guess. Boo.

Nothing wrong with that. Better than sitting around with the kids asking when they are going to Disney World.
 
mostly depends on the area. I am not IR yet, but evaluating every flight I cancel and try to map if I can do it when I get my IR. not same route as OP, but some of us are planning to meet at KMFI this Saturday and looks like the only day when there is rain, low ceiling, TS with freezing level at 7000... I am not sure if I can make that even when I am IR :(

Yeah, if I lived in Alaska or in the northern Rockies I could see how the IR could be less useful. In the southeast I find it invaluable. I use it regularly. Not always for approaches, sometimes to depart, like last weekend. Or sometimes in the cruise as well. Right now the freezing level is above 12,000' here in Atlanta. Since I fly unpressurized NA planes that means no ice. :D
 
I often tell people something similar when they're lamenting about not being able to fly a trip because they don't have an instrument rating. When dealing with light airplanes I haven't found being restricted to VFR only to be a major roadblock.
I flew to Saint Augustine today. It would have been very difficult to get throught the weather around CHS without the IR.
 
I flew to Saint Augustine today. It would have been very difficult to get throught the weather around CHS without the IR.

My point is, there are large portions of this country where an instrument is not very useful when dealing with light airplanes. WannFly is in one of those areas where I don't think it is a big detriment not to have it.

I've been in every part of the CONUS except the northeast, plus have had a few trips up near the arctic circle and can probably count on one hand how many flights couldn't and haven't been completed VFR.
 
I live in the Northeast and I got the IR for the weather around here. Often it’s just layer. If I find myself stressing over weather so much when I plan a fun trip. It’s maddening. Soon as land I’m looking at the TAFs radar. I see something start to pop up a ceiling start to drop I go crazy. Since getting the IR I’m more relaxed. Sure sometimes it’s still no go. Lot of frontal stuff lately which equals turbulence-not fun. Plus some of my missions are in two different areas that weather wise don’t jive.
 
I live in the Northeast and I got the IR for the weather around here. Often it’s just layer. If I find myself stressing over weather so much when I plan a fun trip. It’s maddening. Soon as land I’m looking at the TAFs radar. I see something start to pop up a ceiling start to drop I go crazy. Since getting the IR I’m more relaxed. Sure sometimes it’s still no go. Lot of frontal stuff lately which equals turbulence-not fun. Plus some of my missions are in two different areas that weather wise don’t jive.

I am in that stage. If I go somewhere for a relaxed meal... and plan to hang around on the ground for 4-5 hours my definition of relaxing becomes - look at METAR every 10 mins ( even though I know it didn’t update), call the nearest ASOS every so often, then look at TAF, then call the briefers, then second guess what they told me since they are looking at a screen hundreds of miles away and I am looking at the sky and can actually see some clouds building up(can’t judge the actual height, so I always assume it’s right in my flight path) ... especially when I have pax.
 
I often tell people something similar when they're lamenting about not being able to fly a trip because they don't have an instrument rating. When dealing with light airplanes I haven't found being restricted to VFR only to be a major roadblock.

To @mondtster 's point, last fall on an active WX day. I was doing something similar but much less intense a few hours earlier on this trip all VFR.

ADSB: Popping.png
Out the window: Popping2.JPG
 
To @mondtster 's point, last fall on an active WX day. I was doing something similar but much less intense a few hours earlier on this trip all VFR.

I had a trip almost the same as yours a couple of weeks ago. ATC kept telling me about areas of moderate precipitation ahead along most of my route of flight. Radar looked like your picture and I was in solid VMC the whole time. I don't think the controller believed me when he asked me "state current flight conditions" and I replied "VMC". Ha.
 
I had a trip almost the same as yours a couple of weeks ago. ATC kept telling me about areas of moderate precipitation ahead along most of my route of flight. Radar looked like your picture and I was in solid VMC the whole time. I don't think the controller believed me when he asked me "state current flight conditions" and I replied "VMC". Ha.

More often than not I am seeing all green mixed with yellow in radar return on the EFB but no precip hitting the ground. A coupe of days back cancelled a flight due to that and the fact that 2 briefers couldn’t tell me when the precip will hit my flight path... I wonder how do you actually interpret these radar images to make a go no go decision
 
More often than not I am seeing all green mixed with yellow in radar return on the EFB but no precip hitting the ground. A coupe of days back cancelled a flight due to that and the fact that 2 briefers couldn’t tell me when the precip will hit my flight path... I wonder how do you actually interpret these radar images to make a go no go decision
I think part of it is go take a look and part is experience. I have trouble convincing myself to take a look, but the times that I do I find it's pretty comfortable flying around rain shafts.

showers2OSHss.jpg
I've posted this before but enroute to my first KOSH it was pretty bad a$$. Flying VFR is most definitely keeping your tolerances low until you gain experience, and many may never get to that point. This was really comfortable VFR, for us, but I wouldn't blame a VFR soul for sitting down in WX like this.
 
I think part of it is go take a look and part is experience. I have trouble convincing myself to take a look, but the times that I do I find it's pretty comfortable flying around rain shafts.

View attachment 73991
I've posted this before but enroute to my first KOSH it was pretty bad a$$. Flying VFR is most definitely keeping your tolerances low until you gain experience, and many may never get to that point. This was really comfortable VFR, for us, but I wouldn't blame a VFR soul for sitting down in WX like this.

Owo that looks beautiful and scary at the same time
 
Have fun in FL, looks like you bought airline tickets.

Seems you would of had a fair amount of WX activity along the route. If it was doable I doubt it would be easy & stress free.
 
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