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                             Tampa FL

                                  

                                   By Don Miller

                                   Columnist                  

 

 

We are home from Florida. The trip was quite a successful venture. Our goal was to visit our daughter Chris and her son Alhen in Clearwater.

 

A previous attempt August 8th ended in a decision to return at the half way point due to unforecast thunder showers and hail in central Florida.

 

We took off from DKX at 6:30 AM on Friday with an IFR flight plan. The sky was clear and the winds light as we climbed to the assigned altitude of 7,000'.  We enjoyed an unusually nice sunrise with accompanying sky color changes. The ATC approved a direct flight to Macon where we had planned to have lunch. Fuel prices are reasonable there, and the crew car made a trip to Cracker Barrel possible.  We were off again at 10:57 AM, again on an IFR flight plan. ATC vectored us around Moody AFB, but that added little to the travel time. The last hour of the three-hour leg was in actual IMC, but with a relatively high ceiling of about 2500'.  We broke out occasionally to see the Gulf of Mexico and coastal shore buildings. An interesting disconnect between the pilot and the ATC occurred as we broke out over St. Petersburg.

 

The controller was handling his peak morning load and was eager to drop the 172 to his own devices as SPG came closer. He was so eager that he handed us off to the tower at Albert Whitted (SPG) just as we broke out of the ceiling. I was happy to see the city and the place our daughter lives. I looked around the landscape in front of us and saw the familiar cross of two runways just like the taxiway chart I had in front of me on my lap. I had been cleared for approach to runway 5, so I continued my descent. Within seconds, I received a call from the tower at SPG with the unexpected instruction to make a right turn and stop descending! It was at this point that I looked at the GPS readout to see if it would shed light on the "new" instructions. It did! I was 6 miles from SPG. I was looking at St. Petersburg International a class B airport!!  The remainder of the landing was uneventful except for dropping to the runway after clearing the two-story building at the approach end of a 6500' runway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a lovely visit with Chris and Alhen Friday evening and Saturday. One of our goals was to go computer shopping and help her make a decision. As you might guess, the Clearwater, St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay area has hundreds of computer vendors. We saw Dell, hp, e-machine, Sony, etc. etc. and several independent shops who make pc's to order. The decision was finally made and we moved on to the other activities of the day. This area had weather very similar to TN weather in August, but more humid.

 

Sunday, found us at SPG for an 8 AM takeoff. I felt the likelihood of afternoon thunder storms in ET was minimal and a later take-off was a good bet - hey we slept late. The weather we encountered was precisely what I had been briefed for that morning. Calm winds and scattered clouds at 5000'. We had requested 8,000' to be above the layer and to enjoy the welcome free air conditioning. The remainder of the return was as planned. We enjoyed a variety of different ATC styles along the way to keep it from being too boring. Some were attentive and constantly providing clever little suggestions or interrogations - What is your heading now; verify your altitude, watch for the invisible traffic at your 1 o'clock, all the while we are at a steady 8,000 plus or minus 20 feet. Later we encountered a controller who failed to point out several other aircraft within 2 miles and 1000 feet. He was the ATL controller who kept us to within 35 nm of DKX.

 

As we approached home we heard several familiar call signs being announced in the pattern, and knew we were really home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Want to read more from Don Miller?  Check out of his other columns.

Got a comment, question or suggestion for future article? eMail Don.

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On short final at Albert G. Whitted Field

Tampa Bay

On top of ‘ol Smoky