Smoky surprise

On the final day of the show, I was focused on the Husky’s return flight to AOPA headquarters in Frederick, Maryland, where we’d create a few more videos before we give the airplane away to a lucky pilot in July.

The moment the airshow ended, I planned to fly north through the center of the state to avoid Jacksonville airspace and overnight at the Home2 Suites hotel conveniently located next to the FBO at St. Simons Island Airport (SSI) on the Georgia coast.

Shortly after my 6 p.m. departure, the Husky’s G500 TXi multifunction display depicted a thin line of light rain over Gainesville stretching east to west. Perfect! The airplane was covered with dust after six days at Sun ’n Fun; a light shower was just what it needed.

Twenty-five miles out, the “light rain” looked more like a solid wall of precipitation extending from the 5,500-foot cloud bases all the way to the ground. That was not what I expected to see. Some areas looked less opaque, and I briefly considered shooting a gap when I heard Gainesville Tower announce the airport had just gone IFR with 2-mile visibility in smoke.

As I neared Gainesville, I realized I was looking at a wall of smoke trapped directly beneath the clouds. I had never seen this odd-looking weather phenomenon. Fortunately, the weather behind me was VFR and I had four hours of fuel on board—so I could take my time and consider options to get past this weather obstacle.

I could file a pop-up instrument flight plan since the Husky has IFR-certified avionics, but I didn’t like the idea of flying through heavy smoke. Then a radio call from a pilot to Gainesville Tower provided a helpful data point. He said, “I’m 10 miles north of Gainesville, but cannot get through because of the smoke.” That meant the smoke stretched about 15 miles from north to south.

I decided to make an end run around the smoke to the west because it looked less dense in that direction, but just as I reached the ragged edge of the smoke, the airport 35 miles northwest, Lake City Gateway (LCQ), updated its METAR to report 4 miles of visibility. This had all the makings of a sucker hole, and I wasn’t going to chance unintentionally flying into IMC.

I did a one-eighty and decided to seek the eastern edge of the smoke. Within five minutes it became obvious the eastern edge extended into restricted airspace to the southeast of Gainesville. In-flight weather indicated the entire east coast of Florida was VFR—I just had to get there. So, I turned 90 degrees right and started flying south along the perimeter of the restricted airspace.

Just then, I felt my phone vibrate with a text message from AOPA aviation events manager Kim Trischman, who was following my progress on FlightAware. “Hey, Kollin, wondering what happened? Both you and Adrian look like you had to turn around and head south at the same place. Everything OK?” Adrian Allen, also known as “Cheese Pilot” on social media, displayed his Lake 200 Buccaneer at the AOPA campus during Sun ’n Fun and took off moments after me headed for Valdosta, Georgia.

Now flying away from my destination, I called several ATC facilities until I was mercifully granted permission to transit the restricted area eastbound toward the Atlantic Ocean. The flight up the east coast of Florida remained VFR while to the west the bizarre mix of clouds, smoke, and rain was pierced by a fiery red sunset. Passing the unusual weather, I finally saw its origin—multiple large wildfires were emitting plumes of smoke that drifted south and became trapped by the clouds.

The remainder of the flight to St. Simons Island included a smooth nighttime approach to Runway 34 over the inky black waters of the Atlantic Ocean, with a well-lit fishing trawler marking my turn from base to final. I texted Kim that I had landed safely at SSI and asked how Adrian had fared. “Cheese Pilot ended up in Ocala,” said Kim. Oh, well, he likely enjoyed a better dinner than the FBO vending machine snack I scarfed down.

The entry period for the AOPA Sweepstakes Aviat Husky ended on June 15, 2026, and on or about July 13, independent sweepstakes administrator Ventura Associates International will conduct a random drawing from all eligible entries received. We can’t wait to surprise the winner with this versatile airplane that can land just about anywhere but also makes cross-country journeys a delight with its autopilot and sophisticated avionics.

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