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planning a flight through Florida


dominikos

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thought it was the most appropriate forum to ask this question. In two weeks, we will be flying to Bahamas from Houston. the first day is to get to Vero Beach, FL with a fuel stop in Alabama. Even leaving at 6:30 am, we will not get to destination till 2 pm. I read about pop out storms in Florida. Any advices on how to plan it properly? I could push departure a bit earlier but is 1 hour going to make such a difference? Also long term forecast shows scattered t-storms. Is that a typical FL weather in July?

appreciate any pointers to help with planing.

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Usually the storms fire up where the onshore winds meet, sometimes east coast, sometimes west coast, sometimes middle…today it’s the middle. I would have an alternative destination planned on the west coast.
I’ve left Louisiana at 3am in order to get to SE Florida before 9.

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You’ll be fine skirting around them if it’s just typical afternoon t storms, generally. Move around them, hope it’s not directly over your landing airport when you get there. If it is, just land somewhere else and wait it out. ADSB weather or xm weather will work wonders for this type of dodging, and just look outside. 

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Sounds like you have a good going in plan with some flexibility.  As mentioned above you can usually work around all the isolated T-Storms in the summer along Florida and Georgia.  This is why I am a big fan of VFR flight fowling in the summer.  You dont’t need to bother ATC for permission and if you travel on Friday afternoon, Saturday or Sunday most all of the military op areas and restricted areas are cold giving you more deviation room.  There are a plethora of military areas along the panhandle Georgia and Florida if you haven’t looked yet.  
JAX approach is also awesome in coordinating IFR and VFR traffic and helping you out.  Tampa will depend on traffic and weather.  They may may not accept you but make it to the coast you will be fine.

I’d make your takeoff decisions time the day prior.  Sometimes we will get build ups that dissipate by evening.  Last week I delayed a takeoff from Illinois to noon because everything was going to die down by 1700/1800. Lots of daylight to work with in the summer here also.

Also plenty of airports with nice restaurants at the airport or close by in Florida if you have to settle down for a few hours.

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3 hours ago, anthonydesmet said:

This is why I am a big fan of VFR flight fowling in the summer.  You dont’t need to bother ATC for permission

This is truth. Pick your altitude, pick your detours- at your leisure. Less stress. 

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It seems the strip between Tallahassee and St.Augustine is always a crap shoot. I got stock there 4 times in the past 4 month, once I stayed overnight the other 3 times long lunches. 

Atlanta center is great helping out with vectors around weather and so is Orlando. 

For Bahamas if you need anything stop at FXE Banyan they will help with with all the ICAO paperwork and you can rent a raft for 30 bucks a day.

Fuel KOBE is 30 min from FXE and generally cheapest fuel. 

If you end up flying at night avoid flying through the Everglades dark as ... fly over Orlando to the east cost and follow the lights south. 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I like to bring closure to my threads, hence this…

Navigated precipitation and t-storms today. It turned out to be quite doable with adsb weather in and help from ATC. The only thing that I did differently, I still filed IFR and asked for deviation from my route. Looks like there were a quite a few flights doing this today and I followed two other planes off the west coast of Florida. Overall, good experience and great outcome. Thanks to everybody who pitched in!

87B57C4E-416F-4D40-BCFB-95501E680A8D.jpeg

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On 7/8/2022 at 9:43 PM, dominikos said:

I like to bring closure to my threads, hence this…

Navigated precipitation and t-storms today. It turned out to be quite doable with adsb weather in and help from ATC. The only thing that I did differently, I still filed IFR and asked for deviation from my route. Looks like there were a quite a few flights doing this today and I followed two other planes off the west coast of Florida. Overall, good experience and great outcome. Thanks to everybody who pitched in!

87B57C4E-416F-4D40-BCFB-95501E680A8D.jpeg

hahah yep !  typical FL summer flying.. Over these, under those, left of that thing..

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Lots of left/right deviations if you cant get above 10k (basically us prop guys). Be flexible and have fuel to go the long way around.

I flew from Lake City to Daytona for lunch the other day and basically had to wait 2 hours in Daytona for a line to push east and I had to fly west to Tampa and then north up the gulf coast to make it back to N. Central Fla to go around the back side of it.

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From my perspective, the worst storms are the ones that form right under your feet. They don't appear on any radar, yet they popup almost instantaneously because the conditions are just right in the space that you happen to be occupying.

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