Help me with a trip?

Challenged

Challenged

Pattern Altitude
Joined
Apr 4, 2011
Messages
1,901
Location
Louisiana
Display Name
Display name:
Challenged
I'm attempting to take the Bonanza to Texas either tomorrow or Sunday and then return on Wednesday; this is for a vacation with my family. If anyone is bored and wants to give me an opinion on how do-able you think that trip is (KBTR-KCPT) with the weather forecast, I'd be appreciative for an opinion or three.
 
VFR flight not recommended*





*not really, I just always wanted to say that.
 
Challenged said:
I'm attempting to take the Bonanza to Texas either tomorrow or Sunday and then return on Wednesday; this is for a vacation with my family. If anyone is bored and wants to give me an opinion on how do-able you think that trip is (KBTR-KCPT) with the weather forecast, I'd be appreciative for an opinion or three.
Click to expand...

Your coming to Texas for vacation? It is miserable humid and hot! I'm about to leave Texas for vacation. LOL!
 
Challenged said:
I'm attempting to take the Bonanza to Texas either tomorrow or Sunday and then return on Wednesday; this is for a vacation with my family. If anyone is bored and wants to give me an opinion on how do-able you think that trip is (KBTR-KCPT) with the weather forecast, I'd be appreciative for an opinion or three.
Click to expand...
Ifr or vfr?
Piston single or fiki turboprop?
What time do you want to be there?
 
Looks like the best window is Sunday at noon, but I might go tomorrow at noon depending how forecasts look at the time. Wednesday is pretty far out to plan for, but the forecasts don’t look that horrible to me. Of course, It’s never a good idea to fly yourself if you absolutely must make a certain schedule.

My opinion is worth what you paid for it.
 
For me it’s a daytime VMC (whether IFR or VFR plan). My spidy sense tells me it’ll be a pop up storm day as opposed to a line. So that means flying either early or late. I like to go higher so I get a better view as to what I’m dodging and so it’s smooth. For a Bo I’d be 10-12 (depending on your O2 tolerance).
 
Bonanza, so piston single and VFR. I'm flexible on going tomorrow or Sunday, but less flexible on the return, which needs to be on Wednesday.
 
Sorry; glossed over the bonanza.

Big disparity between the computer model and the TAF. The forecaster probably knows better. Tomorrow morning might be doable but it depends how fast the ceilings lift in the morning. Sunday afternoon might be doable, but you'll be dodging storms. Gonna be sweating buckets if you can't get high. There's no period that looks like a slam dunk for a vfr trip. Probably be the same story Wednesday.
 
As someone who flies VFR long cross country flights "Be flexible" (yes yoga is good but that's not what I'm talking about). About the only reliable tool I've found for your return is Windy.com.

The key to thunderstorms is to see and avoid (on board radar helps but you still can get a nasty surprise). It looks like generic pop up storms for the weekend (based on FSS data). If you are IFR try to get on top.

The surface prog charts don't look so good after Sunday.

Middle of the week is a crap shoot.
 
We took off about 8 this morning. The first 80% of the flight was uneventful, but I had to do some left and rights and a climb up to nearly 10,000 at the end to deal with pop-ups (cruised at 8,500), but it never got bumpy.

The airport runway was closed and I landed on the taxiway, which was pretty cool. I actually saw the notam about the runway being closed, but the way I read it, I thought it was only closed to heavy traffic and VFR only, but it worked it; I'll read more carefully next time though.

Two hour flight was so much better than an eight hour drive. We'll see how things go on Wednesday now. Thanks for the input everyone.
 
I went back and checked, and thought it might be interesting to post the relevant NOTAMs, raw and then decoded:

AP CLSD EXC VFR TFC (Airport Closed Except Visual Flight Rules Traffic)
RWY 15/33 CLSD TO ACFT MORE THAN 12500LB (Runway 15/33 Closed to Aircraft MORE THAN 12500LB)

But here's the one that I glossed over I guess:
TWY A NOW RWY 15/33 4000FT X 35FT ASPH (Taxiway A now Runway 15/33 4000FT X 35FT Asphalt)

I actually contacted Weathermeister to see if they agree that color-coding that particular situation (like they do for runway closures) might be helpful. Anyhow, it's my fault for missing it, but it's the first time I've seen this in 11 years of flying so thought it was worth mentioning too.
 
Cool. Be safe coming back. Weds sounds like it’s “do or die” for ya. Don’t die. Leave earlier if you have to. Rent a car. Buy refundable commercial. Anything.
 
Yeah, probably worse case I'll keep our rental and drive us back and then drive back for the plane. That wouldn't be fun, but might be better than dying prematurely. I've done that before, but that was a two hour drive, so it's a little more pressure for this long of a drive.
 
Challenged said:
Yeah, probably worse case I'll keep our rental and drive us back and then drive back for the plane. That wouldn't be fun, but might be better than dying prematurely. I've done that before, but that was a two hour drive, so it's a little more pressure for this long of a drive.
Click to expand...
You've died prematurely before? That must have sucked.
 
Last edited:
Salty said:
My opinion is worth what you paid for it.
Click to expand...
Don't sell yourself short. Your opinion is worth at least twice what the OP paid for it. :)

To the OP: You can fly anywhere you want, as long as you are flexible about when. I join the chorus of people telling you to go ahead and take a pass on the dying part. Hopefully the weather works out to where you can fly without dying.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top