We were off to see Grandfather. Not my grandfather, my Dad, the kids Grandfather. With COVID precautions, we have not been visiting regularly. We had been looking for a good weekend but the weather had been the pits between the heat and the hurricanes.
While we did have the remnants of a storm Thursday, early in the week it looked like the weekend would be nice. We planned the trip and then I phoned a friend. We needed a place to meet that was away from people. The person I phoned graciously offered the use of his hangar. at North Perry for our visit.
As we got closer, the weather looked less good but acceptable but we crossed our fingers and waited. This morning there was rain around the Cape and down in Miami but it was all light so we launched just before 9:00 am. The initial ride was good though we did get some rain in the clouds around the Cape. ATC let us dodge the bad looking clouds and we were soon on the standard Miami arrival.
The weather was not bad but showers were popping up all around and we had a bit of rain on final. We soon found the hangar, shut down and pushed the plane out of the way. He has a nice setup with a couch and plenty of room to social distance. We opened the hangar door, let the breeze in and commenced visiting.
My friend had also clued me in on getting gas and while we talked the truck had topped off the bird. We chatted for a bit over an hour and then it was time to hit the road as they were getting hungry and the sky was getting darker.
The sky to the North looked ominous but South looked nice. We would be going West initially and the radar just showed light rain. Checking in with ground we got the Sheridan departure. This is a special procedure that allows you to depart VFR but pick up your IFR in the air. When ATC climbs you above 1500, you are IFR.
Overall it is a very efficient way to depart some busy airspace. on take off we rolled behind a Piper who made a very wide turn downwind. I made a standard turn and ended up inside him, I wanted to keep him in sight. Coordinating with the tower we agreed on how I would pass. The tower pointed us out to him and he seemed a bit confused. Finally the tower told him we were past and going 40+ knots faster. Pretty soon he was a speck in the distance.
Our initial course took us through some light rain and I was concerned that we would be taken further West where the rain was heavier but ATC was looking out for us. They turned us North and after keeping us at 2000 to get under the FLL inbound traffic we were allowed to climb to 7000 and head direct to Treasure VOR. This was basically straight home so we were happy.
One other interesting thing happened on the way back. The plane ahead of us was going a bit slower and ATC made him move so we could chug along. They chose to climb so we passed right under them 2000 feet below. It was a nice view of a 36 Bonanza.
It was cloudy up the coast and we mostly skimmed the tops until right before home when we broke out and were number 4 for the runway. Training is up and the airport is getting quite busy.
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