On Thu, 22 Jun 2006 10:47:51 -0700, "Peter Duniho"
wrote:
Peter,

Thanks for the very helpful and informative response to my question.

Obviously the best plan is to understand and be prepared for as many
routing options as possible because you never know what may pop up.

Thanks

Kirk

Some thoughts:

* First of all, keep in mind that the 2000' minimum altitude is not a
regulatory requirement, at least not as far as the FARs are concerned.
There's no airspace to "bust". It's good to pay attention to it, but if
it's a question of the safety of your flight, the safety must take
precedence. If for 8 miles you had to descend below some clouds, putting
you less than 2000' above the wildlife area, that wouldn't be the end of the
world. Of course, unless you're avoiding a widely scattered area, having to
fly below the clouds along an 8 mile stretch could easily mean having to fly
below those clouds along the entire length of the wildlife area.

* I haven't done any flying in Florida recently, but a decade ago it
would be unusual to run into weather that would preclude flight between
2000' and 3000' and yet not at other altitudes. Assuming the climate hasn't
changed *too* terribly much, I'd say you should be more concerned about
weather generally, than the potential for it causing some specific route
(altitude) of flight to be unusable.

* Class B isn't "keep out" airspace. You just need to have the
necessary clearance into it. Whether that clearance allows you to simply
overfly your intended route at a higher altitude, or requires some rerouting
to accomodate the traffic within the Class B, that depends on a variety of
things. But again, you need to be prepared for *some* modification of the
route anyway, so I don't see having to contact the Miami controllers for
passage through their airspace as a big deal. It's something you need to be
prepared for if you intend to navigate airspace near the Class B and aren't
willing to simply scrub the flight if weather is in the way.

Basically, a planned route with only a 1000' window of altitude available to
you is just fine, provided you are prepared to simply not make the flight if
the window is not available. If you are not willing to just delay the
flight in the event of a minor weather issue (I assume a major weather
problem would always be a potential reason to delay the flight), then you
need to have a plan that offers alternatives, such as flight through the
Class B, a significant deviation around it over land, or a willingness to
ignore the wildlife protection area and fly below clouds over it where
necessary.

One last thing to consider...I don't have my Miami chart handy, and it'd be
hopelessly out of date even if I did, but many Class B airspaces include
some kind of VFR transition route, through which VFR aircraft can fly with
or without a clearance. Even when a clearance is still required, it is
often simpler and easier to get a clearance along the transition route than
elsewhere in the Class B airspace. So, make sure you're familiar with the
Class B chart and especially the "other side" of the chart.

Pete