Northeast Flying Summer Roadtrip
| << Leg 13 - Philadelphia, PA to Gatlinburg, TN | Trip Home | 🛬 Trip End 🏠 |
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Leg Stats
- Time Enroute: 3.8 hrs
- Distance (direct): 453nm
- Distance (actual): 493nm
- Fuel Used: 39.3 gal
Because my wife was joining up with her brothers on Friday, that left me flying home solo plus Magic. I've flown with her dozens of hours, but never solo, so I was a bit nervous how this would go, and my wife and I hoped she would simply sleep. I got up early and checked the weather, with the Gatlinburg area being overcast and IFR mostly everywhere. Fortunately the weather to the south was much better. I studied the GKT Runway 10 ODP and the probable routings, filed IFR, and we checked out of the hotel. We got to the airport and my wife and I packed the plane, and she helped Magic get situated in her bed behind my seat. By this time the field was low MVFR, so I called Knoxville approach on the phone and got my clearance (as filed, success!) and was told to fly the ODP (which I would have told them I was doing anyway). Departed into the clouds and was on top in seconds, with gorgeous sunny views of the mountains. I gained enough altitude and was quickly sent on course. Magic had a little anxiety at first but eventually I got her situated and then she mostly did her usual thing of sleeping in her bed and we had a pretty uneventful flight down to Florida! Of course as soon as we hit Central Florida, the clouds turned into towering cumulus and it was the usual left/right deviations, but easy enough. Landed back in Orlando and completed another awesome long cross-country!
Trip Leg Navigation
