New Pilot Flying to Sun N Fun

Fly-Fla

Fly-Fla

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Feb 8, 2012
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Tallahassee, FL
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Fly-Fla
I am planning on going to Sun N Fun on Friday the 11th but can't decide if I should Fly or drive. I just looked over the NOTAM and am not sure if it's a little too complicated for me (65 hour pilot). I'm in Tallahassee so it's not all that far of a flight, I'm just worried about all the busy traffic. Also, I would need to leave Friday evening to fly to Tampa so I can see my daughter at a crew Regatta which runs in a canal right next to Tampa Executive Airport. How hard is it to depart in the evening from Sun N Fun?
 
I've flown to Sun-n-Fun from SC probably a dozen times and have landed at Lakeland exactly twice and I won't do it again. Personally, I recommend going to one of the outlying airports for your first trip. Landing at Lakeland is very demanding, the pattern isn't difficult but you are surrounded by aircraft and the workload is intense. Landing at the surrounding airports is not as bad but it is VERY busy, well beyond anything you'll ever encounter in normal flying, and not everyone flies the pattern or communicates as they should. Frankly, flying into Sun-n-Fun is a pretty high-stress event. I typically land at KGIF. It is not abnormal to have 30 aircraft on my TCAS screen and 10 or more in the pattern.
 
I had the same questions about Oshkosh last year. We had to go up for my daughter's EAA Air Academy 2 weeks prior and stayed at the Hilton on the airport. Before departing the area, we ask tower if we could fly the Osh Arrival for practice. "You sure can." Off we went to Ripon. We slowly came back up the tracks at 1,800', did a few tng's then headed SE across Lake Michigan.

Since you are relatively close, fly down for lunch/museum and do a dry run to both airports on a weekday when there is less traffic. I would recommend having an extra set of eyes to watch for the lost ones during snf though. I watched a snf evening departure and it was a steady stream into the setting sun. Are you or have you made it up my way yet?
 
Thanks for the input, I'll probably just drive this year and fly down next. I don't have anyone to go with me because of the multiple agendas this trip. I've watched a couple of good videos of people flying in to Sun N Fun to listen to the traffic and such. In both cases the pilots had a knowledable person flying with them assisting with plane spotting, navigating and such. I think that probably makes it much less stressful and certainly safer.
 
I had a CFI sitting right seat to help with the eyes and ears since I was a bit rusty. I thought following the notam was pretty fun. Know the notam cold and you'll have a blast.
 
I was at 70hrs or so and flew with a 300hr pilot, so we weren't setting the bar high. anyway, it was pretty easy. fly over the lake until they identify you, rock your wings to acknowledge and follow the crowd to the airport. as long as you can land close to your intended target, you should be fine. if you're one of those guys that glides down the runway forever, you may want someone else to land it. they really get a lot of planes on the ground quickly and someone will be in front and behind you.

I got in my plane and taxied pretty early b/c I wanted to be one of the first to leave. It was an off time, so not too many people trying to go. I would imagine it's pretty hectic when everyone starts leaving.
 
Ditto to the dry runs and having a buddy with you. I flew in years ago with about the same flight time and though intimidating at first, it's doable, and the experience is something you won't ever regret/forget!
 
And be sure to meet up with us Fri at noon, next to the AOPA tent.
 
I flew to Oshkosh when I had about 65 hours and my co-pilot had about 45 hours. Maybe just too crazy to know we shouldn't :) We had a great time.. well until we got pretty close to the show and had a fuel leak and landed at Portage and drove to the show. I then flew from Colorado Springs to the LSA expo at Sebring FL with about 100 hours and lastly flew into Oshkosh the whole way this past year with a little less than 200 hours. My point is that I think it is a great learning experience to do these kinds of trips. I agree that you can fly a practice approach in there and see what it is like before you decide to drive for sure.

Carl
 
The video above is one of the ones I watched previously and gives you a great idea of what's involved. I'm just going to drive this round, hopefully next year I'll have another hundred hours under my belt and can plan better and have someone with me for the flight. I will meet you guys at noon by the AOPA tent Friday to say hello.
 
Fly-Fla said:
The video above is one of the ones I watched previously and gives you a great idea of what's involved. I'm just going to drive this round, hopefully next year I'll have another hundred hours under my belt and can plan better and have someone with me for the flight. I will meet you guys at noon by the AOPA tent Friday to say hello.
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I think you have made a wise decision, when I first began visiting SnF some 4 yrs ago I was just another aviation enthusiast who enjoyed all things airplane...

2 yrs back I made decision to do my PPl training, one of my ambitions on achieving the ticket was to fly into SnF instead of the usual drive in with the masses.

Having initially trained over at KGIF during SnF week and witnessed some appalling displays of pilotage from some of those who chose KGIF as their base, I no longer have any desire to fly into SnF or in fact be in the air anywhere in the vicinity during SnF ! I am also only at 100 hrs, whether my feelings change with more experience under my belt, I don't know ?

I am actually flying out of and back into KLAL (Lakeland Linder) on Sunday the 7th April just to blow the cobwebs off and shoot some landings at some of the local fields as I have been here in the UK since beginning of February and not flown. (I'm hoping it won't be too busy or I will not be going anywhere) and that will be it until after the show is done with.

I will be driving over to the show on Friday, so hopefully see everyone at noon by the AOPA tent
 
Will you be solo or will you have a second brain and set of eyes in the right seat? If you have a passenger with much common sense, you'll be fine flying directly into the show. If not, I recommend picking an off-peak arrival time. I was probably a 70 hour pilot the first time I went to SnF. I had my 20 hour partner in the right seat. No drama at all. Later that year, I was a 100 hour pilot with a non-pilot friend in the right seat going into Osh. No problems then either.

In any case, practice slow flight with the aircraft appropriately loaded before you get to SnF...
 
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