FLL to EYW

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PaulS

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PaulS
I am flying from Ft Lauderdale international to Key West tomorrow, Sunday March 26th for a day trip. I’m fine with the fbo at eyw but am looking for any hints or advice navigating through/near Miami. I want to do the trip vfr and am not comfortable flying down the coast at 500 feet. I’ll be flying an SR 22.

TIA
 
have you looked at the Miami Fly sectional? pretty much shows you how to do it pretty easily.
 
I would fly FLL to FRDDY intersection to CURVE intersection KEYW @ 2800 feet until clear the Bravo. The route just cuts the corner of the HWO class Delta so you need to above 2500 for that.
 
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Fly the vfr corridor Miami flyway ,then fly along the highway,be aware of the navy airspace.
 
Clip4 said:
I would fly FLL to FRDDY intersection to CURVE intersection KEYW @ 2800 feet until clear the Bravo. The route just cuts the corner of the HWO class Delta so you need to above 2500 for that.
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Think ya meant FRRDY. I dunno if I'd like flyin over all that swamp.
 
What's wrong with 500 down (or up) the coast? I've done that every time I've flown the coast.

Plenty of beach to put it down on.
 
Just start down the coast at 1,200ft to give yourself a nice margin underneath the Bravo and then continue along the keys. It would be a shame to not enjoy the views along the way.
 
eman1200 said:
have you looked at the Miami Fly sectional? pretty much shows you how to do it pretty easily.
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Yup. Go right over the top. Easy day. Did it down to Marathon years ago.
 
Reminder, it’s spring break. The south Florida beaches will be packed. But I'm guessing you’re flying and already saw it
 
bflynn said:
Reminder, it’s spring break. The south Florida beaches will be packed. But I'm guessing you’re flying and already saw it
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Not that packed at all from Melbourne to Cocoa Beach. Was pretty sparse the 4 days we've been down here. Spring break hasn't even happened back home for HS, and the colleges already had it.
 
I kinda did that trip just this morning. FXE, Fort Lauderdale Executive to MTH, Marathon. Mine was probably a little higher, 12,000' and faster, 350kts.
 
So I filed on the way down, mvfr ceilings on part of the route so I figured I was taking the easy way out. They turned me over the ocean and lined me up with the edge of the Miami bravo. Kept asking to be over land like I filed and they kept saying soon, meaning after you are past the bravo. Was a nice ride all in all. For the return I went vfr with flight following. I planned my route over the flyway. I got about 30 miles from the bravo and the controller says. “ remain clear of the bravo”. So I said “really?” And he said. “ yes, we are a tad bit busy for that right now.” So I said “ok” and kept barreling toward it. Once I came up with a new plan, I told the guy I was descending to 3500 and I pointed under one of the bravo shelves. He said “thanks”. Once I got under the shelve he said I could descend if I wanted to 2500 a fly more north to under the 3000 shelf. I said thanks and stuck to my plan. The next controller ask me if I was “ own nav”? I said yup, so a few minutes later he fixed that and descended me to 2500. A few minutes after that he cleared me to a fix on the approach for 10r. The rest of the flight was a non event.

All in all this is a great area to fly, fll is a super busy airport but the local and approach controllers are top notch. I was a little peeved when the guy told me not to enter the bravo, but now I realized around the bravo was a better route. Thanks everyone for the help. Off to sun and fun in a few days then back up to the cold.
 
What was the route in your clearance for the trip to eyw? Any chance you have a track for what they had you actually fly for comparison?


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EdFred said:
You took the swamp over the beach?!?!?
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Did the beach on the way there, ifr, 2500 feet , 7 miles off the coast of Miami. There were broken ceilings along the inland way at the time. Wasn’t happy about not getting my cleared route. In fact I’m doubtful the would have cleared me in the bravo vfr going down either.

The plane is a rental, they don’t want me flying it at 500 feet.
 
did you specifically request the FLL overhead transition with CD?

and why the turn back to the southeast once you cleared the bravo? should'a been direct to or "cancel flight following, SEE ya"
 
EdFred said:
Must make it really hard to land. :D
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There are a few things they want that are good in theory but sometimes result in you ending up at 2500 feet over the ocean 7 miles from the shore. Rather than 500 feet next to the shore.
 
PaulS said:
There are a few things they want that are good in theory but sometimes result in you ending up at 2500 feet over the ocean 7 miles from the shore. Rather than 500 feet next to the shore.
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The more people involved in decision making, the more detached from reality and common sense the rules become.
 
eman1200 said:
did you specifically request the FLL overhead transition with CD?

and why the turn back to the southeast once you cleared the bravo? should'a been direct to or "cancel flight following, SEE ya"
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I think that was trip back north to fll
 
luvflyin said:
I think that was trip back north to fll
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oh yeah, I see that now. but I thought the whole point of the thread was FLL to EYW vfr, and the flight route question that was asked was also FLL -> EYW. anyways, sounds like he filed IFR on the way down.
 
PaulS said:
For the return I went vfr with flight following. ... The next controller ask me if I was “ own nav”? I said yup, so a few minutes later he fixed that and descended me to 2500. A few minutes after that he cleared me to a fix on the approach for 10r. The rest of the flight was a non event.
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The best-laid plans of mice and men... It sounds like your trip went well, with a couple of adjustments along the way. I'm curious about the rest of the conversation when you were VFR and got cleared to a fix on an approach. I don't think VFR pilots are, as a group, in a position to accept an approach clearance they didn't ask for. But I normally fly far from such madding crowds, so I'm here to learn what they did and better plan when I go VFR to FL someday.
 
eman1200 said:
oh yeah, I see that now. but I thought the whole point of the thread was FLL to EYW vfr, and the flight route question that was asked was also FLL -> EYW. anyways, sounds like he filed IFR on the way down.
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I had made up my mind to file on the way down because of ceilings in the transition and my unfamiliarity with the area. Had the stars aligned I would have loved to do the ride down vfr over Miami.





iamtheari said:
The best-laid plans of mice and men... It sounds like your trip went well, with a couple of adjustments along the way. I'm curious about the rest of the conversation when you were VFR and got cleared to a fix on an approach. I don't think VFR pilots are, as a group, in a position to accept an approach clearance they didn't ask for. But I normally fly far from such madding crowds, so I'm here to learn what they did and better plan when I go VFR to FL someday.
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The last approach guy turned me on a vector after he lowered me. Then he said “ if you have the rnav approach loaded you can fly direct bezer and intercept the final approach course.” I told him I had the approach loaded and then cleared direct bezer intercept final approach course.” When I was established he told me altitude my discretion switch to tower. Tower cleared me to land. It’s parallel runways with parallel ops. It’s pretty wild seeing those airliners zip by so close. I loaded the approach to be absolutely sure I didn’t mess up. All in all the controllers and tower personnel have been great. I have another what I think is cool story from when I first got here. When I get some time I’ll post it.
 
PaulS said:
I had made up my mind to file on the way down because of ceilings in the transition and my unfamiliarity with the area. Had the stars aligned I would have loved to do the ride down vfr over Miami...
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right, so just out of curiosity what did your flight path look like on the way down?
 
PaulS said:
Actual

View attachment 116094



Filed

View attachment 116095
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Yes, this is what I was asking above - the IFR flight to eyw. But I’m still wondering - did your clearance match your planned route? The reason I ask is that when I filed IFR (in the other direction) last month, they instead gave me a full route clearance way west of the bravo, even though the route I filed was much like the inverse of what you filed. In my case, it would have meant a 70 mile leg over the ocean to mainland. I opted to fly VFR.

So, did you get cleared “as filed” and then vectored out over the ocean anyway? I wouldn’t have been happy about that either.


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I was cleared as filed. After the bravo I was cleared direct maynr. I figured as soon as I got to the point where I could fly over or near the islands I’d be turned west direct gucel, which is what happened.
 
This is my home area. They’re never going to clear you IFR all the way down the shoreline. Direct to MAYNR pretty much parallels the VFR transition route which tells you that there’s a preference to vector you over KMIA rather than risk conflict with the inbound traffic coming from over the Atlantic. I did learn something new, and next time I go to Key West, I will try filing via MAYNR.
 
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