Flying CCW around a low tomorrow

[0TreeLemur]

Tomorrow we're flying our J from Alabama to New Mexico.  Normally we fly direct and it takes about 7:15 total.  Because of a deep low over southern OK tomorrow that route gives us 45 knot headwinds at 4500!  Worse up higher!  8:40 total flight time.

I played the "what if" game using Foreflight and WIndy.com.   What route gives us the shortest flight time?   We ordinarily stop for fuel in Altus, OK, but that's a no-go.  I tried Edmond, north of OKC, it cut the flight time to 8:20.   I tried Wichita, KS.  That cut the flight time to 8:00.  I tried Emporia, KS, and that cut the flight time to 7:40.  We'll actually have a slight tailwind from EMP to SAF.

I suppose that jets and the airlines deal with this kind of thing all the time.   First time for me that I'll be flying 100 nm further to shave 1:20 off our flight time.

[802flyer]

Yeah I flew from Maine to Oklahoma last month when there was a giant system over the Great Lakes. It was faster to fly south to Virginia and then turn west rather than going direct. Crazy stuff.





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[Marc_B]

Was I the only one who saw flying CCW and my first thought was that you were asking a question about concealed carry while flying? ha ha ha

[Hank]

I'll be on the southern side of that, coastal Texas to 'Bama. Tailwind are forecast to be 20-31 knots between 6000 & 9000. Woo-hooo!! It will partially make up for the 4 reroute I was given last time that added almost an hour to the trip.

[GeeBee]

It is called "pressure pattern flying". It works for the airlines and was used for years but it has a downside in that it is often more turbulent. I was part of a working group on reducing flight attendant injuries and we found what we save in PPF we were burning up in sick leave and workmen's comp injuries. At least at my old line now PPF is secondary to ride quality. If we could take advantage of the pressure fine, but not at the expense of ride quality. With the advantage now of constant real time accelerometer reports via ACARs, turbulence models are very good so they can lay those over the pressure pattern and make a decision on routing. 

[bigmo]

I’ll wave at you near the low pressure center. I’m St. Louis to north Texas. Normally 3.5 hours, but tomorrow will be longer. I just refiled for 4k to avoid the brutal headwinds. I’m hoping I’ll catch the low as it skirts to the southeast and avoid the worst. I rarely like to fly cross country so low, but we’ll deal with some bumps and rain to avoid a 50 knot penalty. If the ride sucks, I’ll pop up to 6k and just deal with the wind.

With my luck, I’ll have a headwind home too…I seen to have a knack of flying somewhere into the wind, turning around and somehow having another headwind going home.

[Hank]

Well, my flight below the rotation was nice. I was abive everything at 7000, with a nice tailwind--I usually don't get this speed even in descent!

But alas, the forecast at home was wrong--last night it was for 25K scattered; when I got here, it was 400 overcast, visibility 2 miles in most. The approach to the runway is 1214 and 1-3/4. Tops were just under 3000 msl, so I diverted to 900 overcast and 10 miles. 

Now I'm cooling my heels in a stationary chair, waiting for my wife . . . . And we will drive to NC tomorrow, probably in rain and yuck the whole 6 hours. Would have been an easy 2 hour flight this afternoon. 

[bigmo]

We’re on the ground in Texas…a long flight. In IMC for 3+ straight hours. Luckily no ice and pretty smooth. But my wife was not a fan. Stayed at 4k to avoid the winds and was able to keep a 130 knot groundspeed average…but it slowed to 115 knots as we got close to the low pressure center.

Winds gusting to 42 landing, but right down the runway.

Three Mooneys on the ramp…a common  sight in Texas.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

[0TreeLemur]

We're on the ground in New Mexico.  Going westbound around the north side of the low we too stayed as low as possible.  Clouds galore.  First time I've ever flown 1000 mile trip all on an IFR flight plan.  First leg from Tuscaloosa to Tulsa kept us mostly perpendicular to the wind with avg. groundspeed of about 130 knots.  Second leg to SAF we stayed at 6000 as long as possible and had groundspeeds increasing from 120 to 150 knots until we had to climb due to rising terrain and clouds to 10,000.  The last hour and a half was a slog at 110-115 knots groundspeed and that good ol' front range turbulence. 

Many controllers were very busy.  Lots of piston GA traffic today.   Everyone I talked to was very professional and helpful.  My co-pilot is aces!  She really pulled her weight today in a high workload environment with complicated flight plans!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Go Mooneyspace!