Tallahassee to Pensacola

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yokotapanther

Filing Flight Plan
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Cherokee Six
After a few years off I've just gotten back into flying and I'm planning a trip from Tallahassee (KTLH) to Pensacola (KPNS.) Can anyone provide advice on the best route for navigating the special use airspace east of Pensacola?
 
Well, it's R space, if it's hot you do not want to go through it. I'd go around it to the north, roughly tallahasee to Defuniak, to crestview, to sikes to pensacola. I'd really want a good GPS for navigating that. I'd also hook up with Flight Following and go D-> if they allow it. I'm surrounded on 3 sides by R space, it's hot about 50% of the time.
 
Done it tens of times; if it's IFR, I file MAI V198 PENSI ; if VFR, just pick up Flight Following. They'll tell you where they want you, and the controllers out that way are very good. Be ready for a lot of rapid-fire, many many military trainees.
 
bartmc said:
Well, it's R space, if it's hot you do not want to go through it. I'd go around it to the north, roughly tallahasee to Defuniak, to crestview, to sikes to pensacola. I'd really want a good GPS for navigating that. I'd also hook up with Flight Following and go D-> if they allow it. I'm surrounded on 3 sides by R space, it's hot about 50% of the time.
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For that route you can just follow I-10 haha!
 
Seanaldinho said:
For that route you can just follow I-10 haha!
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Well, so be it, wouldn't be the first time i've followed an interstate. I was just giving "what I would do" and my instinct is to stay the hell away but call up ATC and see if they can get me through some way using FF. After reading the FAA link, FF seems to be the method to get through there :).
 
Yeah I would steer clear. I never flew in Pensacola, save a det there a while back to do FCLP's at Choctaw at absurd hours of the night, but I will posit that most of the mil traffic you run into is completely unaware of you.......it's mainly student solos, and/or a bunch of traffic with no radar, no TCAS, and a pilot up front that has like 3 hrs in airplanes.......granted there would be an instructor in the back (or maybe the front for the NFO training stuff), but they are going to be pretty cluto and also doing dynamic stuff in said R/MOA/SUA's.
 
Well yeah, it's busy, but the controllers are good.

Was very, very thankful that I thought to request a contact approach last time I flew there - got in front of a gaggle of trainers inbound, and avoided flying into a wall of water in the bargain.
 
I flew Pensacola to Tyndall AFB everyday for two years. I'd just get flight following and fly down the beach, it's easy.
 
Appreciate all of the help with this. The FAA course was especially helpful. Looks like FF is the best way to go!
 
I have flown from Tallahassee south down to the coast and then run the coastline to Destin a couple of times which is a beautiful trip in decent weather. I get Tallahassee Departure to give me flight following until they hand me off to Tydall Approach. You have to be above 2500 or so for Tyndall to see in the Alligator Point to St. George Island stretch but can drop down for sight seeing closer to Destin where they hand you off to Eglin Approach. I haven't gone the extra bit to Pensacola but I imagine they would be fine continuing to route you that way. I did a student training flight plan from Tallahassee to Pensacola but scrubbed it due to weather. I routed it NW to Marianna and then across the top of the panhandle as someone else mentioned. My instructor used to fly that route a bit years ago when he flew freight and said it was the recommended routing from the controllers in the area.
 
SCCutler said:
Done it tens of times; if it's IFR, I file MAI V198 PENSI ; if VFR, just pick up Flight Following. They'll tell you where they want you, and the controllers out that way are very good. Be ready for a lot of rapid-fire, many many military trainees.
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I've flown to Destin once, and I had a very good experience with the controllers. Very friendly, and I think they realize that this is new to a lot of transient pilots.
 
I have done Tallahassee to Mobile and the advice above has worked great for me. The flight following is fabulous for that route.
 
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