Illinois to Pensacola, Florida

M

Medicdiver

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Rockford, IL
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Jeremy
I am looking at a trip from RFD to Pensacola, Florida this summer in either a C172 or C182. Anyone done a similar trip or have any advise on airspace to avoid between the two?

Planing on taking wife and 7 yr old daughter for a week.
 
Sounds like a great trip. My three sons and I flew a C172 to ISM from ARR in 2001. About halfway across Georgia, deviating for some weather build-ups took us close to a MOA. It took me a couple tries to get the right frequency for Jacksonville Center for info on the MOA. Fortunately, the MOA was cold.
We packed cooler with cold drinks in the back seat. That worked well for snacks.
Have a great flight!
 
I did this trip last year from Springfield. We stopped in Nashville for a couple days and then continued on to Pensacola. I went direct with FF for both legs and had no issues. Had to stop in Alabama for some wx to pass through but other than that it was great. The approach into Pensacola was over water which I thought was awesome, but my wife didn't like so much.

You'll be amazed at how flat it is between here and there and how many good landing spots you can pick out.
 
We went from SE WI to 82J(Furguson Field) near Pensocola for the museum a few years back. It was over the 1st of the year, 2 in a warrior. I honed in on KY for fuel stops.

I have the Garmin 696 with XM, so it does wonders with airspace, weather, and TFR's and whatever else is along the way. My favorite nav is GPS direct. I like the midlin altitudes, with or without flight following, depending on location and mood. Midlin to me may be 5.5-10.5k, depending on all the usual factors.

I don't recall much airspace that needed avoiding. I check on MOA's if they are a factor.
 
I travel from Florida up to Wisconsin quite a bit - normally not much to do or worry about really. If I have notice I start watching weather as early as a week prior and keep up on it to try to plan best departure/arrival time but other than that if weather is clear just file, pre-flight and go.
 
Last october I went from Quincy, IL(UIN) to several destinations in FL starting with Crystal river. Great trip, I think most of the airspace I went through is a good deal east of your likely course though.

I did this VFR and it went well because I did one very very good thing- I added a week to the itinerary for things to go wrong and had another few "buffer" days on the end so we could get back late if need be. I did not commit to a rental car, hotel, or any other booking until the day before. Basically I had a good 20 days with stuff at home taken care of and no schedule which was good because due to weather we didn't even leave home until day 6... fortunately that was our only weather delay.

We also went mid Oct during the off season. The weather was still plenty warm and almost everything was open for business but no lines, no crowds, no blistering 100+ heat, lots of discount rates which is perfect for us.

For the flights, we carried a bunch of snack crackers, peanuts, and other snacks plus large insulated water bottles with us. Kept the trip to ~3 hour or less legs and had a snack/rest/refuel stops. I stayed on flight following at all times and had no problems, ATC was as usual good about vectoring us around any active MOAs or restricted areas. I got vectored quite a bit for traffic around Orlando but it wasn't a big deal.

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/miracles-do-happen.86853/

I will absolutely be doing it again.
 
I think the only airspace that would be complicated/problematic is right around Pensacola. With the Navy base there, etc.
 
It's busy around P-cola. Coming in from the north you'll have to watch out for the Whiting field complex - more of a factor if you are landing at regional. I was based at 82J - love that place! If you are considering parking there (it's great) make sure you read up on the procedures for going in there; low pattern and some specific ops for avoiding the NAS. P-cola is a cool town. Check out the museum on the NAS if you have time.
 
Used to be a cooler town when Trader Jon's was there.;)
 
Last edited:
EvilEagle said:
Check out the museum on the NAS if you have time
Click to expand...

One of the best museums I have ever been to. I go every year for the Blues homecoming show. There are lots of aircraft around here. Just be mindful. It's great flying!
 
Naval Air Museum very cool. Blue ANgels based there so you might see them practicinng over Pensacola Bay. If you have a way to get over to east of Pensacola, there's a Air Force Special Ops airplane park w/ all the stuff (AC130, Birddogs etc) they flew in Vietnam and newer at Hurlburt AFB. It's just inside the main gate off hwy 98, not sure if they'll let you on base though. Another museum, USAF Armament Museum, is about 15-20 minutes further on (state?) hwy 85 and you won't have to get onto the base there. Big display outside (SR71, B52, fighters etc) and history of armaments from rifles to the MOAB (Mother Of All Bombs) on display inside. Eglin AFB is nearby so you'll probably see or hear some F-35s as well as all the other fighters in the USAF inventory with the Test Wing there. You can see the stuff outside using google earth.
 
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