Good Neighbors, Clear Skies, Storms and Wind

Yes, I have the Baron but it is not home yet and I am not trained.  I am still flying the Bonanza.  Yesterday I took a nice flight with CC and this morning I decided to head out solo.  Well it was getting windy when I left and the forecast was for windier.  It was accurate.   It was also bumpy below 2500 and really bumpy below 1500.  I flew around a bit and decided with the strong surface winds to get gas at Palatka because Saint Augustine was a significant crosswind.

Arriving in the area, there was a Cirrus a few miles ahead.  As he cleared the runway, he said he was heading for the self serve fuel.  That was my destination as well.  I asked him if he could pull forward enough so that I could position for fuel after him.  He said he would.  Palatka has only a single pump and many people pull in short of the pump so if another plane arrives after and shuts down they are too far away to fuel without restarting or pushing themselves closer.

The Cirrus did a great job and he left me plenty of room to pull up so that when it was my turn the hose would reach.  After some fuel pump chatter, topping the tanks and checking the fuel, it was time to head home.

The headwinds were actually tailwinds now and I scooted along at 170+ knots ground speed back to Jacksonville.   The sky was blue and cloudless above but off to the North and West, you could see the outline of the approaching front and the rain in Georgia.  

Arriving home the tower put me on downwind for 23.  I asked for a tight approach but tower wanted me to follow a Cirrus on a 5 mile straight in approach.  I was not sure why, he was going 120 ground speed which meant he was 2.5 minutes from the runway.  I would be off the runway in 1.5.  The tower has final say, so I extended and the Cirrus promptly slowed down to 70.

I joined behind the slow moving traffic and held a good sequence but when the Cirrus landed he somehow did not make the middle turn off and then took his time getting off the runway.  I slowed a bit to build space  and when I got to 500 a hawk decided to circle right over the end of the runway.  I had been watching him and either he didn't see me or didn't care.

Not wanting to meet the hawk, I decided to go around.  I did and the tower put me behind a Skyhawk.  Again I was amazed the little Cessna, could not stop by the mid turn off and went to nearly the end of the runway.  The wind was 25-30 knots on the nose and I landed in just a few hundred feet and had to add power to get to the close turn off.  It all ended well with the plane full and safely in the hangar though.