Sun n Fun via the Gulf Coast

Heading to Sun n Fun next Saturday. I'll be leaving from San Antonio and would like some info from people in the know about a couple of areas along the Gulf Coast.

1)I'd like to fly through Houston in the corridor between Hobby and Intercontinental. Any suggestions on flying the corridor?

2) Further along my route, I'm planning to fly the East/West Corridor near Destin along the shoreline. It's a little confusing from the sectional chart on how to enter near Hurlburlt, and how to exit the corridor to the East with Panama City and Tyndall AFB airports sitting in the way. Tips??

I would like to avoid talking to ATC if possible, but sure don't mind if that's the only/ best way to do it safely.

As an aside, I have an RV-4 I built and have flown for 22 years. I'm currently building an RV-7A. But...I'll be flying my Rans S-7S Courier to Sun n Fun this year. Rick McBride (RV-6, RV-8 builder) and I built two Couriers, and we'll be meeting up in Lakeland with the planes.

So, I'll be flying low and slow. No choice on the slow part, but I'm looking forward to seeing the countryside from 500 feet (Okay, a little more than that over populated areas)

Thanks for the help!

Tom

Gulf Coast Route

Tom,

I have used the I-10 corridor both with and without ATC while passing through the Houston area. Stay just north of the Hobby inner ring, paralleling I-10, under 2000 feet. Follow I-10 eastbound until clear.

Regarding the Destin area, you will need to talk with Eglin Approach on 132.1 while using the east-west corridor over Destin. I use Panama City eastbound after leaving the Special FAR 93 area. There is a good online course provided by the FAA at https://faasafety.gov/gslac/ALC/course_catalog.aspx

Look for ALC-47. It qualifies for Wings Proficiency. Go at our own pace, exit the course and come back in, etc.

As Bob said, the Houston I-10 corridor is a piece of cake - just stay over I-10, below 2,000, and talk or don't talk as you wish. I used to fly the "Ring Around Hobby" in my J-3, and know all of the 300 foot long flat areas where I could have put down if the old C-65 had decided to pack it in (they are called High School football fields). You won't believe how close you will come to downtown Houston.

Of course, if you're looking for more natural scenery, the coast is a good option as well. If you fly it low, watch out for birds!

Destin...

The Eglin cooridor along the beach there in the panhandle is nothing cosmic. Just check in for flight following (assuming you're VFR) with Pensacola Approach south of Mobile Bay, and they'll hand you off. Recommend flight following with P'cola as once you hit Mobile Bay, you run into some very crowded military training airspace, albeit not depicted. Once you're handed off to Eglin, stay high and you'll avoid most of the traffic as well as Hurlburts class D, which they will let you trundle through... so don't get suckered into thinking they'll coordinate. Just think of Eglin as a TRSA with specific routes. Keep the beach under your left arm and you're fine.

Swing into Destin and take the courtesy car to the Back Porch for some good seafood.

Thanks to...

...Bob, Paul and Sig600. That's exactly the info I was looking for.

Paul, my wife will be flying commercial out to Florida after Sun n Fun, and we'll be flying the Rans to the Bahamas for a week. We'll get in plenty of low altitude scenery watching. I'll have to watch out for both birds and sharks then:...eek:

Thanks again,
Tom

Tom, just one add'l comment related to Sig600's remarks. Whiting is not just the base for Primary training, but also the location for Intermediate training in helos. So while PNS Approach is very helpful when transiting all those MOA's - they are of course very accustomed to dealing with the T34 traffic, as are the IP's in the a/c - the Bell helos are often working at lower altitudes, hopping between one OLF and another. In that stretch, I'd opt not to fly low for that reason.

Hope you have a great flight and lots of fun over in the islands. We did that as a family and, later, my son's been there multiple times, flying there in both helos and fixed wing. If you happen to be out on the display apron and see a Navy SH-60B, stop by and say hello to Devin (name tag: Tyler) and he can share some FBO & Customs recs with you. (He'll be the tall, lanky LCDR).

Jack