Pulling out his Jacksonville and New Orleans sectionals, Dudley got a shock when he saw the jumble of special-use airspace that seemed to cover most of the Gulf Coast. The area around Eglin Air Force Base in particular was pretty complicated (Figure 2). It struck him that each area of the country that he'd flown in had its own airspace personality, and this region seemed to excel in producing special-use airspace.
Dudley had to plan his route very carefully, threading under and over more than 30 military training routes (MTRs) and military operations areas (MOAs), many of which were only in use on weekdays. Though about half of the MTRs were below 1,500 feet above ground level, half were not, so flying in reduced visibility was an especially bad idea for this trip. He wanted severe clear so he could better see and avoid any military aircraft that might be following one of the many MTRs.
His route began with an intercept of the airway V537 off of the Gainesville vortac. He needed to stay below the 3,000-foot floor of the military instrument training route IR032/033. Then he would cross the Suwannee River, climb to his 4,500-foot cruising altitude, and take V198 from the Greenville vortac to the Seminole vortac. This part of the trip would have him cross Lake Seminole and move into the Central time zone. From the Seminole vortac, he would fly to the Marianna vortac, through various MOAs, to the Crestview vortac, along V241, to the Semmes vortac in Alabama. Finally, he'd follow V552 to the Picayune vortac and to Louisiana's Hammond Municipal Airport.
He knew that some convective activity was forecast ahead of a cold front that was expected to pass through the Florida panhandle Sunday morning, so he decided to sleep in. When he got to the AOPA weather site late Sunday morning, he saw that the forecast had been correct. The latest weather depiction chart showed the cold front (Figure 3), and the Deep South radar showed the bands of rain that were just now passing through his area (Figure 4), leaving clearing skies.
The 12-hour forecast showed that by about 1 p.m., the front was expected to pass Gainesville (Figure 5). The only caution Dudley had was for the headwinds and turbulence he knew would come with the passing of the front. The winds aloft plot (Figure 6) hinted at the possibility of up to 30-knot headwinds. He decided to try for a 2 p.m. departure.
Now it was time to get to the details. The AOPA site had text data in two flavors: a Web-based display of selected data, such as airmets, aviation routine meteorological reports (METARs), and terminal area forecasts (TAFs); or the familiar line-by-line DUAT session within which you could log on and get a standard briefing, which is just what Dudley did. The option to "capture" the output was easy to use, and Dudley sat back and started going through the nearly 100 kilobytes of data that he'd just unleashed.
Boiling it down, there were low clouds and rain clearing to 3,000 feet and scattered by noon. The clearing would come sooner in the Dallas area, so it looked like the worst was here right now. There was, as expected, an airmet for occasional moderate turbulence below 6,000 feet, continuing beyond 4 p.m.
The METAR data was also no surprise. Gainesville reported winds at 15 knots gusting to 19 knots, four statute miles visibility, light rain, an overcast at 3,200 feet, and just a one degree temperature/dew point spread. At Tallahassee, surface winds averaged around 10 knots, visibility was 10 statute miles, and the sky was clear.
So what did the TAFs say? After 2 p.m., the Gainesville forecast was for westerly winds at 18 knots, visibility greater than six statute miles, scattered clouds at 3,000 feet, and broken clouds at 8,000 feet. Tallahassee, about one-quarter of the way along the planned route, predicted northwest winds at 14 knots, more than six miles visibility, and scattered clouds at 25,000 feet after 1 p.m. Pensacola and Mobile, Alabama, predicted much the same thing with cloud cover ranging from scattered at 4,000 feet to clear below 12,000 feet. The last TAF near Dudley's route was Gulfport, Mississippi, which was about 60 nautical miles short of his destination, and it too had good weather.
In case you haven't guessed by now, Dudley decided that this trip might be worth a try. The winds-aloft forecast, however, was pretty stiff medicine. At 4,500 feet, he could expect about a 30-knot headwind! Having long-range tanks was nice, but he would still want to make a fuel stop. Burning a theoretical 60 out of 80 gallons meant having to look at fuel gauges hovering around the one-quarter mark based on his anticipated hourly fuel consumption, and since discretion is the better part of valor, he decided he'd stop at Mobile. This meant he'd arrive at his final destination just after dark, but he was comfortable with that.
This would be fun. Dudley finished packing and made a quick visit to the flight service station on the field at Gainesville. There a weather briefer told him that he could expect 10 miles visibility and clear skies all along his route. Furthermore, all of the TAFs around his destination airport were now calling for winds variable at three knots at 7 p.m., which is about when he thought he'd mosey into Hammond, given his stopover. All in all, not a bad day's work!
AOPA members can get free weather data from AOPA Online (www.aopa. org/members/wx).
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