Early readers may remember (unlikely) that we went to a BBQ fly in located in Tennessee. While the Tennessee fly in is the big Beechtalk Fly in, somebody on the group called for BBQ today at Saint Simons. Never one to turn down BBQ, we headed North to get some food.
Weather was good but not VFR. The field was overcast 1600 feet (picture above is after lunch when it cleared). Also we had lots of planes arriving about the same time so timing was critical. The controller initially wanted to space me out by sending me out over the ocean. I was not down with this plan. I told here I would like to stay within gliding distance of land. She obliged by sending me to the initial fix with instructions to hold.
As number 3, I was watching the guy on final and the guy on deck guy in the hold on the ADSB traffic. By the time we were arriving over the hold fix, number 1 was clear and number 2 was on final. I confirmed the plan with the controller, slow down and build some space and I might avoid staying in the hold. It all worked out, I turned outbound, and just as I was about to turn inbound the guy ahead cleared, I was cleared in and completed my turn, joined final and slid through the clouds. We broke out at 1600 feet with good visibility but had to wait until we descended 500 feet before cancelling IFR to be legal VFR.
This cleared the way for the next guy to start. I heard from later guys that they were eventually stacked 4 deep but everyone arrived safely. Once on the ground we took a group picture and then headed over to Southern Soul for BBQ. We occupied the 3 big tables out front. I think we had close to 30 people. After lunch we chatted for a bit and then headed home to avoid the approaching weather.
We had one of the shorter distances to get to this BBQ. That does not mean it was any less difficult. Arriving at the hangar this morning A colossal spider tried to challenge me for ownership of the airplane. After some negotiation, using a broom, he was in the grass and I was back under the plane checking things out. Hope he learned his lesson. No really, he is big...
