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- Jul 17, 2019
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The Little Arrow That Could
Took my Arrow from Chicago to NOLA (Lakefront). First time to NOLA, and probably the longest flight I've done yet. Wanted to share the details in case there are any other pilots teeing up some adventures as the weather is getting nice !
Overall:
Amazing trip, I loved the flight (and NOLA). Incredibly rewarding to get out of the flat, farm-land of the Midwest and head south where there's more hills, forests, rivers and swamps. Though admittedly the swamps had my blood pressure up a bit as I constantly scanned for an even remotely inviting engine-out landing spot! It doesn't get too hostile until the last stretch down to NOLA (at least compared to what I'm used to in IL).
Flying over Mississippi was awesome, especially when practice military jets were nearby. I'll admit it was pretty cool having Jackson MS tower tell me that "TORCH3" was something like 5 miles behind me but would be passing off my right wing, and then seemingly less than a minute later he just ROCKETED by. I don't see that everyday in Chicago!
On both routes I got to fly above the clouds (as I was certain from METARs and TAFs that I could except clear skies anywhere near my landing airports). That was a lot of fun. Hit a little bit of rain but was nearly always 10+ miles visibility.
Flight plan:
KDPA -> KMKL (refuel) -> KNEW... Then flew the same thing in reverse.
Whole flight was VFR and entire flight both ways was on flight following. Oddly enough my altitude on the way there was 7500 (despite a slight western heading), and 5500 on the way back. Normally I'd switch to a VFR accepted altitude for a western heading, but because my VOR waypoints alternated between slight east/west -- center was OK with me sticking with that altitude. I didn't argue with them!
Didn't file a flight plan with Flight Services since I was keeping flight following the whole way. I think that's OK? I figure I'll be on with ATC in case anything happens to me... Thoughts on that?
Airports:
KMKL (McKelar-Sipes Airport in TN) was great. I wish I'd been able to practice at a delta airport like that when I was getting my PPL. Super friendly folks down there.
KNEW (Lakefront - New Orleans) was also great. I went to FlightLine First since it's local and has better reviews. Painless. Just dropped the plane off, topped the tanks off and was out of there in 5 minutes in an Uber. Charged me $10 a day ramp fee (I also fueled up there), and $7.13 a gallon for 100LL (ouch). Originally intended a 3 day stay, but found out French Quarter Festival was going on so ended up staying a full week! No issue at all extending stay. My whole bill was about $320. Equivalent to about 1 night of hotel expense in French Quarter!
City:
NOLA. Incredible. Dear god. I can't believe this is my first time there. I'll be back every chance I get. The food, the architecture, the relaxed atmosphere. If you haven't been -- you must go.
Side Notes:
I'm rarely ever nervous while flying, but I'll admit that during my return flight from KNEW back to Chicago, departing on 36 directly over Lake Pontchartrain, I had sweaty palms. I think ground might have been able to detect that when I seemed uncertain about picking up flight following, my mind was a little elsewhere as I confirmed my plans in case of emergency. The idea of having an engine out over those murky waters with gators and god knows what else below gave me some incentive to try and not get too far from the lake shore. Some base, animal instinct, or maybe the uncomplicated feeling of primal fear told me to kiss my ass goodbye if I lost power!
(Separately, I was sweating like a whore in church on the tarmac as I did my ground ops and run-up in the Louisiana sun. I have a new-found respect for pilots in the south who can deal with that!)
Haven't been to Mississippi in 20 years or more, and unfortunately didn't get a chance to land there. But I definitely want to go back and find some cool places to land. I totally underestimated how green it is from above. Andddd how full of MOAs it is! (at least on my flight path).
Anywho, highly recommend any other Chicagoans make the journey down there! If anyone has recommendations on places to go from Chicago, I'd love to hear 'em.
**Side note: I only snapped pictures when it was safe to do so. And I have GoPros mounted in my cabin, so you don't need to worry about sharing the skies with a distracted pilot!**
Overall:
Amazing trip, I loved the flight (and NOLA). Incredibly rewarding to get out of the flat, farm-land of the Midwest and head south where there's more hills, forests, rivers and swamps. Though admittedly the swamps had my blood pressure up a bit as I constantly scanned for an even remotely inviting engine-out landing spot! It doesn't get too hostile until the last stretch down to NOLA (at least compared to what I'm used to in IL).
Flying over Mississippi was awesome, especially when practice military jets were nearby. I'll admit it was pretty cool having Jackson MS tower tell me that "TORCH3" was something like 5 miles behind me but would be passing off my right wing, and then seemingly less than a minute later he just ROCKETED by. I don't see that everyday in Chicago!
On both routes I got to fly above the clouds (as I was certain from METARs and TAFs that I could except clear skies anywhere near my landing airports). That was a lot of fun. Hit a little bit of rain but was nearly always 10+ miles visibility.
Flight plan:
KDPA -> KMKL (refuel) -> KNEW... Then flew the same thing in reverse.
Whole flight was VFR and entire flight both ways was on flight following. Oddly enough my altitude on the way there was 7500 (despite a slight western heading), and 5500 on the way back. Normally I'd switch to a VFR accepted altitude for a western heading, but because my VOR waypoints alternated between slight east/west -- center was OK with me sticking with that altitude. I didn't argue with them!
Didn't file a flight plan with Flight Services since I was keeping flight following the whole way. I think that's OK? I figure I'll be on with ATC in case anything happens to me... Thoughts on that?
Airports:
KMKL (McKelar-Sipes Airport in TN) was great. I wish I'd been able to practice at a delta airport like that when I was getting my PPL. Super friendly folks down there.
KNEW (Lakefront - New Orleans) was also great. I went to FlightLine First since it's local and has better reviews. Painless. Just dropped the plane off, topped the tanks off and was out of there in 5 minutes in an Uber. Charged me $10 a day ramp fee (I also fueled up there), and $7.13 a gallon for 100LL (ouch). Originally intended a 3 day stay, but found out French Quarter Festival was going on so ended up staying a full week! No issue at all extending stay. My whole bill was about $320. Equivalent to about 1 night of hotel expense in French Quarter!
City:
NOLA. Incredible. Dear god. I can't believe this is my first time there. I'll be back every chance I get. The food, the architecture, the relaxed atmosphere. If you haven't been -- you must go.
Side Notes:
I'm rarely ever nervous while flying, but I'll admit that during my return flight from KNEW back to Chicago, departing on 36 directly over Lake Pontchartrain, I had sweaty palms. I think ground might have been able to detect that when I seemed uncertain about picking up flight following, my mind was a little elsewhere as I confirmed my plans in case of emergency. The idea of having an engine out over those murky waters with gators and god knows what else below gave me some incentive to try and not get too far from the lake shore. Some base, animal instinct, or maybe the uncomplicated feeling of primal fear told me to kiss my ass goodbye if I lost power!
(Separately, I was sweating like a whore in church on the tarmac as I did my ground ops and run-up in the Louisiana sun. I have a new-found respect for pilots in the south who can deal with that!)
Haven't been to Mississippi in 20 years or more, and unfortunately didn't get a chance to land there. But I definitely want to go back and find some cool places to land. I totally underestimated how green it is from above. Andddd how full of MOAs it is! (at least on my flight path).
Anywho, highly recommend any other Chicagoans make the journey down there! If anyone has recommendations on places to go from Chicago, I'd love to hear 'em.
**Side note: I only snapped pictures when it was safe to do so. And I have GoPros mounted in my cabin, so you don't need to worry about sharing the skies with a distracted pilot!**
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