Florida Weather

I needed to head down to New Smyrna this morning. Thursday night the forecast was for rain all day so I was a bit concerned but my read was that it would be rainy but would have scattered coverage.  I set my alarm bright and early so I would be ready to go at sunrise.

At O dark twenty the alarm went off and as promised there was rain moving in.  Moving in was the key, I had time to get off and get out of town.  

Early morning flight would be perfect if I could do them later in the day.  I hate mornings but it is a great time to fly.  The temperatures are cooler, not much wind and it's not so busy.  Taxiing out there were wisps of fog by the ground which created a surreal look with the approaching storm. 

 I took off just before sunrise so as I climbed I created my own sunrise.  Heading South I had to stay at 1500 to stay below the clouds.  I had chosen to go VFR as there was rain on the departure and this way I could avoid it.

A bit North of Saint Augustine I cleared the last shower and was able to climb to 5500 under blue skies.  From their the flight was easy with Daytona taking me West of international.  It was a pretty morning and as I set up for an extended base to runway 7, I had a Honda Jet 900 feet below heading into Spruce Creek.

I was done around 10:15 and looked to my return.  The clouds had started to layer a bit so I had filed IFR.  Departing New Smyrna I got a turn to the South and then West.  Wrong way but it allowed me to climb outside Daytona's traffic.  Checking in with the second approach controller, she cleared me to 5000.  I was about to discuss routing as the direct route took me through a substantial storm in the area of Flagler.

She was ahead of me and told me to fly 300 and expect V267.  I was on top and could see the storm in the distance.  I asked for a 320 heading to join V267 and was cleared as requested.  Moving West took me around the bulk of the weather.  I joined V267 and headed North but there was one mean looking cloud ahead.

When you are IFR you are expected to fly in the clouds and I had done so on the departure but not all clouds are the same.  This cloud looked like part of the storm and was also growing vertically which is never a good sign.  I asked to avoid it and was cleared to deviate West.  A mile sidestep kept me out of it and I was soon heading direct home.

I got a good view of the rain as I passed.  I was glad I had taken the detour.  The arrival home was also a bit interesting.  Because of another airplane, the controller kept me at 2500 until 4 miles from the airport.  I was then given the visual approach.  It was only scattered clouds but once on the visual you must remain clear of clouds.  Of course the clouds were exactly where I wanted to go but a bit of maneuvering kept me clear and using gear and flaps let me make a steep descent.  

It had been raining which meant a wet runway.  Even though I was high, by the time I was crossing the 50 foot mark, speed was right on and I easily made the turn off at 1000 feet.  The plane was soon tucked away in the hangar and I was off to my next task.