Flying from Florida to California - Need suggestions

Amandasdaddy wrote:

My planned route is through the gulf, through New Orleans, Texas,
Arizona and then back to San Jose (KRHV).

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions as far as the route, or
things to avoid? Any thoughts are appreciated!

My recommendation would be to avoid flying that far over the Gulf of
Mexico, especially in an aircraft whose actual maintenance was not
under your supervision prior to the trip. Looking at Jeppesen's
FlightStar, remaining over land (up Fla, then over the pan handle) adds
about 16 percent more distance and time to the trip. Is the risk of
going down in the middle of the Gulf worth the 50 to 60 minutes of
extra flying time?

I am also planned a cross country trip from upstate NY to Palm Springs,
California for late May. My route is going to take me down through
Texas, straight across New Mexico and Arizona, then over the border
into CA and Palm Springs. This route will avoid the higher peaks of
the Rockies.

Take a lot of pictures and post the story to a website, then share it
here. I would be interested in reading of your experience.

--
Peter

Peter - I agree - I was modifying my route to avoid the water and take
a safer route. It would only add about 30-60 minutes or so - and is
well worth the peace of mind that I am not gonna be doing much swimming
if the worst case happened.
So I would fly along the coast of Florida, and maybe stopping in New
Orleans (KNEW). Then it would be a trek through Texas and into the
Phoenix area. From there i could do a day trip from Phoneix to KRHV in
San Jose.
I was thinking that staying out of the high mountains would be good
too.

Anyone have experience with weather conditions in these areas at this
time of year?

"Amandasdaddy" wrote in message
oups.com...
Peter - I agree - I was modifying my route to avoid the water and take
a safer route. It would only add about 30-60 minutes or so - and is
well worth the peace of mind that I am not gonna be doing much swimming
if the worst case happened.
So I would fly along the coast of Florida, and maybe stopping in New
Orleans (KNEW). Then it would be a trek through Texas and into the
Phoenix area. From there i could do a day trip from Phoneix to KRHV in
San Jose.
I was thinking that staying out of the high mountains would be good
too.

Anyone have experience with weather conditions in these areas at this
time of year?


There are really only three kinds of weather along the gulf and through
Texas this time of year.

A. The short period before thunderstorms.
B. Thunderstorms
C. The short period after thunderstorms.

I heard it is better to fly early in the morning in these areas and be
grounded by arond noonish before the weather gets ugly. Does that
sound about right?

I'm thinking it might take me more than 3-4 days to get back
home...Is that too aggressive of a goal? Florida to San Jose in 3-4
days?

Thanks

Amandasdaddy wrote:

I heard it is better to fly early in the morning in these areas and be
grounded by arond noonish before the weather gets ugly. Does that
sound about right?

I dunno. Watching the Weather Channel, I have seen some pretty nasty
looking thunderstorms at 7:00am local time for those poor Floridians. In
your case, it will just have to be the luck of the day.

Whatever you do, watch those impenetrable lines of t-storms. I recall
reading an NTSB accident report where one such line forced a small
instructional flight off the coast and over the ocean. The CFI and
student had the unenviable decision of either attempting to penetrate the
line or run out of fuel over the ocean and ditch. They tried to penetrate
the line... and failed.

I'm thinking it might take me more than 3-4 days to get back
home...Is that too aggressive of a goal? Florida to San Jose in 3-4
days?

Are you instrument rated? Also, are you looking to sight-see along the
way, or simply fly the route to get home. To me, three days a tad on the
long side if you are an instrument pilot looking to simply fly home without
sight-seeing. If you are VFR-only? The time is probably about right.

A few years ago I flew from Kansas to upstate NY as a VFR-only pilot.
Remnants of a tropical storm parked over the Northeast US and it took me
three days to get home. A close call with another aircraft while trying to
fly under a low layer convinced me to get my instrument rating and I
started training within a week of arriving home.

--
Peter













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In article .com, Amandasdaddy wrote:
I heard it is better to fly early in the morning in these areas and be
grounded by arond noonish before the weather gets ugly. Does that
sound about right?

Not really. I spent several years living (and flying) on the Texas Gulf
coast; the issue with afternoons is that it is uncomfortably hot. Well,
in the summer the mornings and evenings are also uncomfortably hot.

However, I did most of my flying after noon (I'm hardly an early riser).
Just pay attention to the weather briefer, make sure you see the radar
yourself and don't fly under/through or too close to thunderstorms. The
usual afternoon storm around coastal Texas is an isolated airmass storm
(not one of the rapacious monsters of the mid-west) and you can steer
around them. They tend to get nastier as you move inland, in my
experience (in the six years I lived on the south side of Houston I
never saw one hailstorm - in fact I've seen more hailstorms in the Isle
of Man than I ever saw in Houston - but the probability of destructive
hail got higher as you went further inland - I saw plenty of hail
reported on the radar or by the weather briefers for the north side of
Houston).

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
(in the six years I lived on the south side of Houston I
never saw one hailstorm

Yeah, they tend to stop at around I-10 where all the car dealerships are...

Hi,


I'm thinking it might take me more than 3-4 days to get back
home...Is that too aggressive of a goal? Florida to San Jose in 3-4
days?

I once flew from Fort Myers to LA in an Arrow. Not over the Gulf, of course
(safety, as mentioned earlier). A couple of thunderstorms rerouted me, so my
trip was: Fort Myers - New Orleans - Lubbock, TX (ts reroute) - Prescott, AZ
(visited my first flight school; you HAVE to fly around Sedona - try to land
there, looks like an aircraft carrier!) - LA. 4 days. I wouldn't do it in 3
in a 172. Make it 4-5 days, that should hit the spot (wx permitting)..

Happy flying,
Patrick

Amandasdaddy wrote:

Anyone have experience with weather conditions in these areas at this
time of year?

For the lowest route with the least mountains, follow I-10 from west
Texas to Palm Springs.

As for weather, it's warming up already, so you can expect regular
afternoon turbulence from El Paso to Palm Springs. Usually continuous
light to moderate chop to about 10,000 ft., sometimes higher if it's
really hot. The good news is that it's currently the dry season in
the southwest deserts. You'll see occasional isolated thunderstorms
scattered about, but the real action doesn't start up until the monsoon
season arrives in early July.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)