Eastcoast route to Sun n Fun

Getting started planning a route from Sountern Nova Scotia all the way down the eastern seaboard to Lakeland Fl.
I'm planning to clear customs in Portland Me. and fuel up. Since it's our first long trip I'm thinking not pushing our legs. From Portland to St Mary's County regional MD (2W6), is just under 430 nm direct. So with deviations around busy areas I'm thinking it would be around a three hr. leg. St Mary's is where we did our transition training last June with Joe Czachorowski, nice little airport. Thinking of lunch there, although I don't think they have a facility on site, perhaps someone could point out a nearby airport with av gas and a restaurant?
From 2W6 I'm debating direct to Lakelinder? There will be three pilots on board so each will have a fresh pilot, albeit none of us have great experience on cross country flying. We done reginal cross countries and some of us have been in the back seat going to Sun n Fun and Oshkosk years gone by.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks Ron

some other popular stops........

are SFQ virginia, has cafe, CPC south carolina , quick stop cheap fuel, st augustine quick stop cheap fuel, V1 is a good nav route a lot of the way.

COME ON DOWN!!!!!!! ITS WARMING UP!!!!!!!!!

AirNav has an outstanding cross country planning & fuel planning service.

http://www.airnav.com/plan/fuel/

You can select airports with credit card reader, mogas, leg distances, and it shows current fuel prices as reported by users. Play with it a little and you should find all the info you need to plan a great adventure. If you click "I can find my own route" and click fuel prices, it will list all of the fuel prices along your route so you can stop at the cheap places. A call ahead is a good idea, just to make sure of the info.

There is also a place to "Check Local Fuel Prices" You can input St. Marys (2W6) and it will tell you local airports. Just call the cheaper ones and find one with a crew car and have lunch in town.

Lots of MOAs (Military Operations Areas) in the south, but we call them Move On Ahead areas. You can call the controlling authority on the radio or just use caution and keep your eyes open. Do not violate Restricted Areas or TFR's. An updated Garmin handheld will show restricted areas, and XM weather will show you TFR's (hopefully), borrow one for the trip if you don't have one. Don't even think about flying over the White House.

Have fun, enjoy your stay in the USA, and welcome to SnF!

Instead of 2W6 make your stop at KCGE Cambridge on the Eastern Shore. They have a fantastic restaurant there and reasonably priced fuel. You'll also get some great views of the Chesapeake Bay. On a weekend it usually isn't too difficult to get Pax River to let you traverse their airspace above the 3500' floor, just call the tower and ask.

I'd be remiss if I didn't remind everyone going through this area to be familiar with the SFRA proceedures. You are required to take the online course if you come with 60nm of the DCA VOR.

Two things We did on our tour of the east coast 4 years ago. We plan on doing it again this year if weather allows. On the recommendation of some RV fliers in FL and at Dover we flew the FL coastline at 1000 feet with flight following. We then flew the Hudson River VFR corridor past the Statue of Liberty at 1000 feet with flight following. It was something I'll never forget and although it seemed very intimidating, it was easy, the controllors were great. Some local pilots in these areas might chime in here to let us know if things have changed. Larry

Thanks foe the replies. this is just what I'm looking for. We have two gps, one 696 with weather, and the Skyview has it's own gps. I've flown the Hudson VFR corridor years ago on our way to Sun N Fun and I'd like to do it again if at all possible, ie. not too complicated. I plan on staying clear of the White House zone unless your President invites us in for tea.
Keep the information coming and do not assume we know the little things.
Turbo, you mentioned the V1 corridor. Being cross country green at least your country green is this VFR or IFR? We will be strictly day VFR.
Thanks Ron

VFR flight following is a useful tool.

Your path is close to Kitty Hawk NC (KFFA).

I'd brush up on the new NY SFRA proceedures as well if you're going to be flying the Hudson! You can find them at www.faasafety.gov

Have a great trip!

The Hudson is a little different since the midair a little while back. You can transit the SFRA between 1100'-1300' on CTAF, do local sight seeing (i.e., make turns) below 1100', or just head south through bravo (above 1300') while talking to NY (very simple!).

They are all good ways to see NY and the harbor, but if you are just heading south, I might suggest the bravo route. You can pick up the Laguardia frequency off of the TAC. You simply call them up around the Tappanzee bridge or further north. They will give you a squawk code and invite you into the bravo airspace. They will hand you off to Newark about mid-Manhattan. You can stay with flight following or check-out at the Verrezano bridge at the bottom of the corridor. Great to see for sure, and the controllers are very nice most of the time.

A couple more recommendations

Portland right through the NY airspace is very easy. The controllers in NY are very professional and generally very helpful. No need to deviate around that area. They will usually let you fly over the city at around 4K if you ask.

There are a couple of restricted areas in New Jersey but they are easy to avoid.

Continuing southwest, take special care around the Washington DC SFRA. Definitely don't test their responsiveness to intrusions. There are also so restricted areas for Pax River that you need to watch out for.

Cheapest fuel in southern Virginia is typically at Hampton Roads Executive (PVG) or Suffolk (SFQ). Once south of Virginia, there are several MOAs but otherwise the airspace is pretty wide open. I like to stop at Charleston (CHS) but there are several other good airports down the coast.

Hug the coastline and fly right over JAX. Then it's a straight shot to Lakeland.

I personally like to fly into Zephyr Hills and rent a hotel room and a car near there. Much easier to depart for ZPH when it's time to leave.

I think where as it's our own first flight (ie. us as pilot) down to Sun N Fun, we would like to land at Lakeland and perhaps camp. If I can talk my partners in doing so.
We have no interest in the Washington area and plan to stay well clear on the coast side.
As for the Hudson corridor, a flight straight through would suffice, ie. no turns.
Thanks Ron

Yarmouth to Florida

Ron

Give George King a call in Yarmouth. We did the trip a few years ago in his 185. Cleared at Portland as well, stayed at Danbury Ct. Next morning did the NY corridor, then stopped at First Flight Airport in Kitty Hawk for the Wright Bros. Museum etc. Should be a lot easier now, we did it before GPS and inflight weather.....have fun!

Joe Hine
RV4 C-FYTQ
Fredericton, N.B.

Another good stop

Waycross, George is a good stop. No on-field restaurant but the local EAA Chapter is there during Sun 'N Fun and has some pretty darn good Pulled Pork along with Hot Dogs. Gas is reasonable and the FBO staff is friendly.

Just took the online course for the Hudson corridor on the FAA site. It stated an air speed of 140 knots max. Now if I was flying it with my Supercub, I'm sure most traffic could not stay behind me. I will be flying our RV-10 so 140 kt will be perfict. They do not recommend passing due to the narrow corridor and risk of collision from oncomming traffic. What do we do if we are behind someone maxed out at 80 kts, and I'm not going to slow down below 100kts in the RV-10?
Ron

East Coast SNF

St. Simons island Ga is a popular stop on the way down the east coast. They have food and its a beautiful area right on the bay close to the ocean. Used to have free hotdogs, but I havent been there in a couple years. Plenty of local hotels and resturants if weather has you down and out. A bit to the west of there is Baxley Ga., also a great little airport to stop for fuel. have fun!

Bill E.
N76WE
RV-4 Phase 1
Advance NC 8A7

Ron B. said:

Just took the online course for the Hudson corridor on the FAA site. It stated an air speed of 140 knots max. Now if I was flying it with my Supercub, I'm sure most traffic could not stay behind me. I will be flying our RV-10 so 140 kt will be perfict. They do not recommend passing due to the narrow corridor and risk of collision from oncomming traffic. What do we do if we are behind someone maxed out at 80 kts, and I'm not going to slow down below 100kts in the RV-10?
Ron

Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry too much. After you fly the corridor once, you will see it is not as much of a big deal as your mind makes it out to be. You can always pass another plane, if need be, and it might just be safest to announce a drop into the sight seeing space below, just for vertical separation, then pop back up. If you are really uncomfortable, just call LaGuardia tower from the north and let them usher you through in their airspace. It's only a couple hundred feet higher in practice.

I've flown all the levels before and to be honest, there really isn't a lot of benefit to flying at 500' (except maybe a closer view of the statue). You can see far more if you are above 1100'. If you really feel daring, I suggest asking LaGuardia for a lap of Manhattan. If you call them up, reference your position and request Hudson River south, Statue of Liberty, Verrazano Bridge, Governor's Island, East River, Central Park, and Hudson River south. Well worth the effort to get into the East River. There are many of the famous bridges, and a few winding turns as the river and the city unfold in front of you. Then, you turn left and cross Manhattan at Central Park (a giant park in the middle of Manhattan. Turn left again and head down the river to the Verrazano again and keep going. Well worth it, and very easy to do. Oh, the controller will probably ask you if you would like to lap the statue. Say yes and make a couple laps around the statue. It's only intimidating the first time because of the uncertainty. But it sounds like you are prepped, so enjoy the trip. Get your cameras ready!!

As Andy said, the corridor over the Hudson isn't that bad. If you are traveling on a week day you may not even see any other traffic besides helicopter traffic, and they typically stay low. If you have the time I think it would be a highlight of your flight.

If you are trying to make time, then skip the corridor and fly over the Bravo or even through it. If going through, I suggest 4500' or 6500' and your route would be DPK JFK COL. That route gives you the best chance of approval because it doesn't conflict as much with arrivals and departures depending upon runway configuration. It also keeps you from overflying the largest areas of water.

The restricted areas that are mentioned above are R5001 and R5002. R5001 is typically only active up to 4000' although it can go up to 8000', it rarely does. I wouldn't plan to avoid it since it is not likely to be a factor. R5002 is a different story...it is active quite often up to 14000' so I would plan to avoid it. Also, in that area is an alert area, A220, all that means is that there is heavy aircraft training operations. It is not prohibited or restrictive in nature. Many pilots get that confused and avoid it but avoidance is not necessary.

The good thing about coastal flying is that you can never get lost.

We plan on using flight following. Hopefully they will steer us clear of those areas. Our trec takes us through a lot of country. We have just recieved all the charts, we have our 696 updated, but I'm still wandering if say we were to loose flight following for some reason will we be able to avoid all the areas that are problematic. What are other non commercial (read less experienced) pilots doing to make sure they avoid these places. My flight school days were so long ago I cannot recognize all these areas on the sectionals anymore.
Ron

The 696 should take care of you nicely. Of course it could fail so I suggest you review the charts. all airspace designations are defined on the cover of the chart just in case you forget.

i think i mentioned.............

this in a past post. follow victor 1 and it will keep you clear of most of the restricted and moas. keep us posted on the flight and take some pics to post. include pics of you and the plane. thats it. have fun.