Big East Trip – Travel Day 5
Tuesday June 8, 2004
DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY4 DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY 7
Washington Dulles Intl, VA – Pikeville, KY
Full stop @ Pikeville, KY (KPBX)
I knew long before this day, way back in the planning stages, that this would be a long day. More than once I almost considered making a stop somewhere in between to spend the night. But, if we got out at a decent time, and weather wasn’t so bad, we could make it alright. Well, we didn’t get out at a decent time, and weather couldn’t have been much worse, along with another unexpected delay.
The plan was to wake up around 6am or so and head out. We overslept after apparently turning off the alarm clock. Then it was a mad dash to make up for lost time. After looking out the window, we decided it wasn’t such a bad thing we slept in and started slowing down as the area was totally fogged in, and we were staying pretty close to the airport. After checking the weather, sure enough Dulles was fogged in and we wouldn’t have departed in that kind of weather anyway. So we had some breakfast, packed up, checked out and headed for the airport. Once there, conditions were gradually improving, but still the ceiling was lower than I’d like in case of an emergency return to the airport. By the time we returned our car, paid our fuel/parking bill, and closed up the airplane, conditions were good enough to take off. After we all got into the airplane, a line person stood in front of us, waving his hands as if to say taxi south. But to taxi south would mean basically going out the ‘in’ door into the facility, where lots of jets were coming in. The exit on the north side was the way out of the parking area and led right to the runway and taxiway. What I didn’t know was he was doing that as he placed an orange cone right in my way out of my field of vision! As I started taxiing, Brig told me to look out, and we quickly sliced that cone right down the middle. It was so quick and clean, there was no vibration or damage to the prop or nose gear, so we taxied on. On run-up and after takeoff there also was no ill effect, just the cone had paid the price for that lineman’s mistake.
While taxiing, we were followed by a Delta Boeing 757. He had to pull in behind us and wait for us, that was pretty cool. After takeoff, we turned southwest and were in the clouds after about 800′. It wasn’t long though before we were above it all and in the clear for as far as the eye could see. We cancelled IFR and continued with VFR Flight Following. Crossing into West Virginia the visibility down low was lousy. It was still VFR, but no more than 10 miles visibility. All the way through WV it was like this, we’d have to dodge a cloud here and there, or drop down below them and work our way through valleys and passes via the highways below. The GPS’s terrain mapping was a great help here, it verified the hills we could see in front of us, but the forward visibility wasn’t great at times. Once out of the Appalachians, visibility increased slightly and we found Pikeville without much trouble. Pikeville Airport sits up on a bluff, pretty interesting to see. We had to weave around a hill though that sits between downwind and base.
After landing we made a pit stop at the FBO. While in the restroom, the lights flickered then went completely out. I thought the kids were playing around with the lights. When I came out I learned the power was out on the airport. We only needed gas, and fuel trucks don’t need electricity, so I figured no problem. Problem – the fuel was dispensed from an island, no fuel trucks, and with no electricity, no fuel! We waited, figured it’d come back on, the people there said there was flooding recently and they were having occasional power outages. Then they just took off on ATV’s. I assumed it was to go check something somewhere, but nope, it was to go ATV’ing. I asked the girl at the FBO desk if there was someone to call to get the power back on. Being she was about 13, she had no clue, said the phones were out too if the electricity was out(?). I offered the use of my cell phone, more blank stares. All the while they can see we are already late, we need fuel, can’t get too far without some. I start looking at my GPS for nearby airports, although I know I have less than 1 hour of fuel onboard. I find an airport only 12 miles away, Big Sandy Airport. I didn’t consider it before because it didn’t have a non-GPS approach like Pikeville did. I called them and they had power and fuel and the same price. I asked the Pikeville FBO people about it, and they say “yeah, there’s an airport up there”, but didn’t bother telling me about it when I couldn’t get fuel from them. We got in the airplane quickly and left, probably never to come back.
Pikeville, KY – Athens, GA
Full Stop @ Prestonsburg, KY (K22)
Touch & Go @ Greeneville, TN (KGCY)
Touch & Go @ Asheville, NC (KAVL)
Touch & Go @ Anderson, SC (KAND)
From Pikeville, we had to fly up the road to Prestonsburg (Big Sandy Airport) for fuel. The people there were really friendly and even gave me a discount on the fuel after hearing the fiasco in Pikeville. They had a nice facility and a restaurant nearby, but we were really behind and had to get going. After filling up we headed south for Greeneville, TN. The hazy conditions that had been with us since Washington finally was letting up by the time we got to Tennessee. After a touch & go there, it was off to crossing the Appalachians and a touch & go in Ashville, NC. Then it was a quick trip to Anderson, SC for another touch & go.
After departing Anderson was where the weather would become a big factor. On the onboard weather system it was evident that we’d have to deviate far west or far east of our originally intended next stop, Thomson, GA, just west of Augusta. The problem with going east was the large airspace restriction associated with the G8 Summit in Augusta. The problem with going west is we’d get on the wrong side of a line of thunderstorms that went all the way beyond Orlando straight down the middle of Florida. After getting a good look at what the weather was doing we had to put down in Athens, GA, where the weather had hit and moved out of not long before.
After landing, we got a courtesy car and headed for Wendy’s for some lunch. While there, a thunderstorm opened up on Athens and there was a downpour like we’d never seen. As we were eating inside Wendy’s, water started coming into the restaurant and we had to move to a higher spot in the restaurant to eat! By the time we got back to the airport, the rain had stopped and was starting to clear out. I, along with some other pilots, were looking at the radar picture and trying to figure the best way out. They had to cross that line and were stuck there for a while. I could at least start out and head south as far as possible and try to make Orlando by 9:00pm or so.
Athens, GA – Orlando, FL
Full stop @ Kissimmee, FL (KISM)
Well, here’s where things got really interesting, weather-wise. After departing Athens, most of the weather was off our left, to the east. But it just continued to grow and slowly move west, towards us. I was able to outclimb it for the most part, but was getting tired of continually climbing and wasting time and speed. By the time we got just south of Macon and Warner Robbins, GA I wanted to convert my VFR Flight Following to an IFR clearance from Jacksonville Center. I could see the areas I’d go in and out of the clouds but be clear of the thunderstorms. They kept making me wait, and when the clouds were really starting to close in the controller said he wouldn’t give me a clearance without my “search and rescue” information, which is the standard information included in filed flight plan – people on board, color
of airplane, fuel on board, pilots name and address, etc. After I told him there was an IFR flight plan on file from Augusta, I got the real reason he wouldn’t do it, he was a lousy controller and was trying to pawn the sector off to another controller. Then when that was sorted out they wouldn’t do it because I was in hand-off to another facility, Valdosta Approach. This was the worst ATC service I’d ever received, and by saying they would get me a clearance, then taking it back, put me closer towards the clouds than I would’ve had I known there was no chance of IFR.
Once over to Valdosta Approach, near the Vienna, GA area, they also wouldn’t give me a clearance. At that point I went offline and filed a flight plan with Flight Service. Within minutes I asked again for a clearance and now they’d do it. So I was now on an IFR flight plan, but the weather on the west side of the thunderstorm line wasn’t so bad and I was just occasionally in and out of the clouds. But I had to go all the way to around Cross City, which put me almost to the Gulf of Mexico, good thing I topped off the tanks in Athens.
North of Cross City I had to find a gap to get on the east side of the line of thunderstorms or else I’d have a tough time getting into the Orlando area. My weather system was showing a gap between Cross City and Gainesville that I verified with Flight Watch and Jacksonville Center. Luckily, this Jacksonville controller was on the ball and concurred with my plan to shoot the gap. The sun was just about down but I could see the gap pretty clearly and descended and picked up my speed to get through as fast as possible. We got a little rain through that area, and saw lightning off our left and right side, but we stayed clear of the worst of it. Once on the other side it was towards Ocala and smooth sailing the rest of the way into Kissimmee. By Ocala it was completely dark, we were below any clouds and were getting a pretty good light show from thunderstorms behind us. One airplane that wasn’t so lucky was a Delta Airlines jet that didn’t go through the same gap that I and a lot of other airplanes went through. He reported a lightning strike, but was not damaged.
While talking to Orlando Approach, the controller continued my descent and aimed me right towards Kissimmee Airport, which also aimed us right over Disneyworld. There is a flight restriction over Disneyworld below 3,000′ and we were on a course and altitude to go right into it. I asked the controller about it and he said it was okay as long as I was talking to him, and I was still officially IFR. We got a great view of a couple of the parks, and had the spotlights from one of them light us up as we passed over it. Kissimmee Airport wasn’t terribly easy to pick out from all the city lights, but we eventually did find it and landed. From Athens, I had told the line person at Kissimmee we’d be landing around 9:30pm. Even with all the weather problems and deviations, we did land pretty much right on time.
The FBO we were to park at wasn’t real well lit up and the parking area was fairly full. We found a spot and got out and stretched our legs. The key to the rental car was not in the mailbox as it was supposed to be. The contract was in the car so we knew it was ours, but no keys. Luckily, after checking one more time, I found the keys under the carpet and we were off to our hotel. This was a long day, we’d probably been more tired if we hadn’t accidentally slept in in Washington. We’d not had nearly the weather problems if we weren’t needlessly delayed in Pikeville, KY either.
Accommodations
Staybridge Suites/Lake Buena Vista, Florida
