Round Trip

I left early (OK early for me) for Marathon today, wheels were in the wells around 8:45.  It was a really nice morning except for the heat.  It was supposed to be an easy flight South but around 7:30, storms had started forming along the keys.  

Our initial climb to 10,000 took us only 9 minutes even though we were at around 5300 pounds and the temperature was well warmer than standard, 60 degrees up at 10,000.  The Baron is a beast, nothing like 600 HP.  

Our route was pretty standard, we were supposed to go Ocala VARZE Lakeland and then direct.  By going to 10k, we were able to top the restricted airspace and we even had a small tailwind.  Surprisingly, short of Ocala we got a shortcut and then a bit later direct Marathon.  This would be a theme of the day, not sure why ATC was in such a good mood.

There was one strong shower on the way in and we deviated around it.  The radar was a mixed blessing.  It was showing some strong returns from the land which in fact was not rain as confirmed by our eyeballs.  It did go away when I increased the tilt.

When we left the showers were not near Marathon but 30 minutes into the flight they drifted closer and by the time we were 30 minutes out they were on the airport.  Luckily they appeared to be coming apart and when we arrived all that was left was some light rain mostly off the airport.  On short final we did get a drizzle which persisted until we got out of the plane.  It had been a Florida rain.  We could see a distinct line on the Island where part had been soaked and part was still dry.

Heading home I expected more of a challenge.  A little shower had rebuilt off the end of the runway. The picture doesn't do it justice, it looked a bit darker in person.  After staying below a few broken clouds for the first few miles, the skies opened up, I climbed and ATC gave me my clearance.  They always send you over RSW Northbound and today was no exception.  They then gave me almost direct Ocala which was a nice surprise.

I started to think the way home would be a cakewalk but then I began to notice a line of showers forming over the coast by Tampa and then more stuff pop up along the way.  Also a big cell had formed about 15 miles from home so I started to look at my options.  I was going to land with 60 gallons or 2:24 of reserve so I had lots of options.   I settled on SGJ or 28J as backups but I didn't think I would need them.

About this time, Tampa sent me to MOANS then direct home which was basically straight home and through Orlando's airspace.  You never get to cut through Orlando.  Still don't know how I rated such nice treatment.  

The trip had gone from clear skies to in and out of clouds and Orlando made me drop from 8k to 6k which removed the tailwind but dropped me down in the clouds.  I did a bit of dodging and flew through some nice formations.

The rain was forming but not moving much.  My radar and the XM finally agreed for once as I circumnavigated a small shower and again as I worked around the rain at home.

The rain at home had stayed on the West side so other than a small detour, I was able to get the visual and stay dry.  I had the live radar on my MFD and the XM on the GPS.  Nice when it all matches.  The rain did provide a nice breeze that had a hint of cool which was nice.  Overall a good day of flying.  4.3 hours with 4 hours in the air, about 700 nm.  I averaged 175 knots and burned 24.4 GPH.

Flying up and down Florida in the summer can provide unique weather challenges.  The airspace can be pretty tight so anything other than a minor deviation is an issue.  Also by the time you are down to the Keys, there aren't as many alternatives that are close if a storm does park on your destination.  My best backup was Naples which was almost 100 miles out of the way.