Eric Bartsch wrote:
I'll be flying a VFR-only plane from Charlotte to Lexington next
weekend, and I'm in the process of planning the best route to cross the
mountains. The sectionals should arrive in a couple of days, but in the
mean time I'm looking at the route, and the elevations appear lower in
the route from Asheville up to Greeneville. Also, it looks like this is
entirely over a major highway vs. being in the middle of nowhere.

I'd like to have as much altitude between me and the ground as
possible, but since the plane is VFR only, I can't really plan on
climbing to 10,000 feet and crossing over (the weather will be a big
factor there)

Does anyone have experience with routes in this area?

Thanks,
Eric

You can go up the french broad river avl to newport tn, greenvlle then
to lex. I am based out of Lee Co. Va. 0vg and have flown this route
several times. If it's windy..forget it, you do not want to be in
there.. i always think back to something Evelyn "mamma bird" Johnson in
morristown KMOR told a friend of mine. "Never fly over the Smokies,
they are too easy to fly around." Not that I have always heeded that
advice, but you can shoot to kmnn? mcminn co. and through cumberland gap
if you need to. When i do fly that area "avl to Greenville" I take a
survival blanket, water, and my bear pistol. There is a stretch if you
had to put the plane down it could be awhile before anyone got to you.
Remember wind is weather- especially when trying to fly a mtn. pass w
low ceilings...