This weekend, we planned a trip to the mountains of Georgia to see some fall colors. I wanted to stay amongst the mountains, but the hotel prices were too high for everything except smoking rooms, and I just can't spend the night in a smoking room, at any price. As a result, I had to widen the search to include airports in western South Carolina. After rejecting several choices, I finally chose Greenwood.
Saturday, November 4
Saturday started with a briefing and the decision to go. The plan was to fly to Augusta, fill the tanks, then fly in and around the mountains, then fill the tanks before calling it a day. The forecast showed VFR weather for the entire route, but they also included some low clouds between Daytona Beach and Jacksonville.
Soon after departure, we knew we'd have to make some decisions based on the clouds. I wanted to fly at 7,500 feet, but the clouds prevented that. Given a choice between over or under, I wanted to stay on top, but that runs the risk of getting stuck on top and it also prevents you from navigating by visual references.
| Clouds at our altitude |
Approaching Daytona, I decided to drop down below the clouds. The airport was VFR, but it was pretty foggy, especially looking towards the ocean.
| Fog around Daytona Beach Airport |
The clouds continued in either broken or overcast form all the way to Jacksonville. Once in Georgia, the skies cleared, and it was smooth sailing all the way to Augusta. In Augusta, we stopped at Daniel Field, which has now become our favorite airport in Georgia, to top the tanks and eat lunch. While there, we were treated to seeing two Beechcraft King Airs - a C90 and a 350i. The 350i has been included in Flight Simulator for a long time and I've 'flown' it many times, but it is quite surprising and impressive to see how large it is up close.
As we were paying for fuel, Andrew remembered that we also wanted to buy an Atlanta Sectional. I had been looking for one in the pilot shops in Melbourne, but the one place that actually stocked them was sold out. They had them in stock and added it to our bill.
| Route to Daniel Field |
Back in the air, we began the scenic part of the flight. We headed northwest, basically following the route of the Savannah River. Our first landmark was Tallulah Falls and the gorge it flows through. We have visited this area by car several times, so we were able to find known sights quickly, like the Visitor Center and the rocky cliffs.
| Tallulah Gorge, Visitor Center, and falls |
After circling the falls, we continued to the south because the mountains were shrouded in smoke from a fire burning in North Carolina. I was concerned that the entire flight would be a waste of time due to the low visibility, but then I realized that the visibility around the plane was pretty good, so we turned west and continued our tour.
| Smoke shrouding the mountains |
Our next landmark was the town of Helen. Helen is another place that we've visited by car several times. The town is themed like a Bavarian village and is a huge tourist attraction. On previous visits we had to deal with traffic and parking, but this time, those issues did not factor in at all. As we circled the town, we saw a white castle in the mountains to the southwest of town. I will have to look it up and see if it is open to the public.
| Helen |
Next, we flew southwest towards Cleveland, the followed the highway to Vogel State Park. Vogel State Park is another place we've been to several times. Looking down at the lake, I remember hanging out in the pavilion over the water, listening to a man with a guitar singing songs.
| Vogel State Park |
From there, we flew northeast to another familiar landmark - Brasstown Bald. Brasstown Bald is the highest point in Georgia, at 4,784 feet above sea level.
| Brasstown Bald |
Next, we headed southeast with the plan to leave the mountains the way we came. Looking around though, we decided that the smoke seemed thinner to the northeast. As we flew along, we came to an airport that I had been looking into. Heaven's Landing is a community airport located in a narrow valley. According to Foreflight, they have a 5,200 foot concrete runway, a GPS approach, and 180 home sites averaging 1.5 acres. If I win the lotto someday, maybe I'll buy a lot or two.
Again, we turned to the southeast to return, but then something caught my eye to the northeast. I turned left and we flew to a large, rocky outcropping near the Highlands, in North Carolina. Whiteside Mountain features 750 foot high sheer cliffs and is pretty amazing to see from above. Flying around it reminded me of when my pilot friend and I flew the Commander to Florida. On the that flight, we detoured off route to fly around Mt. Rushmore.
| Rock outcropping in The Highlands, North Carolina |
After our brief look, we headed southeast once again. We quickly reached one of the many lakes formed by dams along the Savannah River. Foreflight was indicating a Temporary Flight Restriction ahead, so I paid close attention to my track. The TFR was over the Clemson University football stadium. Notre Dame was in town. With binoculars, Andrew could see the giant screen above the east end of the stadium, but he couldn't read the final score.
At this point, we flew more eastward over South Carolina. We flew right past our final destination and continued on a few miles to Saluda County, where gas was considerably cheaper. After a brief shutdown and top-off, we were back in the air.
Our final stop for the day was Greenwood Airport. I had called ahead the day before to check if there were any ramp fees and to verify that we could spend the night. The man on the phone was very nice and told me how to get back in the gate and told me about local transportation options. We parked, unloaded the plane, and walked out front.
| Greenwood Airport, South Carolina |
We tried to summon an Uber, but the one and only Uber driver did not respond, so we called a taxi. Twenty-five minutes later, the taxi arrived. He only accepted cash, so we had to find an ATM along the route. We found one, but it did not seem to work, so we went to the nearby convenience store. We arrived at the Quality Inn after sunset and checked in. Then we walked across the parking lot to New York Pizza and Pasta for dinner. Given that the clocks changed back to Standard Time, and that I was pretty exhausted, we were in bed by 9:00 pm.
| Route through the mountains |
Sunday, November 5
This morning, we were up in time to be the first in line for breakfast. We ate quickly and got ready to leave for the airport. It was cold outside, but not cold enough to worry about frost. I opened the Uber app and summoned a driver. To our surprise, the driver was five minutes away and accepted our request. A few minutes later, we had our things packed in her CR-V and were headed for the airport.
It was a beautiful, chilly morning and the sky glowed orange from the early sun and the lingering smoke. We loaded the plane and did the preflight, then prepared to depart. I attempted to start the engine, but unfortunately, the plane was not ready to go. It was almost like the plane was saying, "Nope, it's too cold to go flying. I'm from Florida and I don't like this one bit." I attempted to start the engine several times before it finally sputtered to life. As it warmed up, I turned on all of the avionics and checked the headsets. I talked, but no one could hear me. The intercom refused to work. I started to wonder if that had any effect on the radios. Luckily, we had a handheld radio with us, so we tuned it and the plane's radios to 123.45 and made a few test calls. With the intercom on, there was no transmissions, but with the intercom off, I could hear myself on the handheld radio. It wasn't ideal, but it worked.
We departed Greenwood Airport just after 8:00 am. We turned to the northwest to cross over northern Georgia. Rather than heading directly home, we decided to continue our sight-seeing a little bit longer.
Like yesterday, we wanted to re-visit places that we've been before. Our first point of interest was the town of Cornelia. Andrew and I spent a few nights there earlier this year. A little further west, we flew over Amicalola Falls. We could clearly see the Visitor Center, but the falls was hidden in the deep morning shadow.
| Amicalola Falls Visitor Center |
Continuing west, we flew towards Dalton. Dalton is one of our favorite places to visit for railfanning. The town is the location of the intersection of the CSX and the Norfolk Southern railways. They have a Visitor Center with a display showing the trains as they approach the intersection, so you always know when the next train is coming.
Further west, we flew over Cloudland Canyon State Park. The park is located the ridge that, if followed to the northeast, ends at Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
| Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, Tennessee |
From that point, we turned south along the Alabama border and flew to Pine Mountain. From Andrew's investigations, we knew that we would find cheap fuel here. Besides that, we spent the weekend here back in Fall of 2019. After landing, we waited on the ramp while a guy fueled his Cessna 152. It seemed to take forever, but we were not in a hurry. Once he finished, I taxied to the pump and topped of the Cherokee.
| Pine Mountain Airport |
Once parked, we headed inside and talked to the manager. He offered us the courtesy car and we accepted. Susan drove us into town, where we found a small grocery store and bought a few things for lunch. We then returned to the airport and ate at a picnic table.
| Route to Pine Mountain Airport |
After lunch, we started the final leg of our journey. This time, the plane started with ease, and to our great surprise, the intercom worked. We departed Pine Mountain and turned to follow the ridge, then headed southeast towards Jacksonville.
| Jacksonville, Florida |
As we passed Waycross, we turned slightly right to pass to the west of Jacksonville. We saw very little traffic along the way, but that was soon about to change. After passing Daytona Beach, we looked left and saw a Southwest B-737 heading towards us to the west, about three-thousand feet above us.
A few minutes later, we started to descend. Looking left, we saw a TUI B-787 approaching us from the rear. A B-787 is considerably larger than a B-737, giving the impression that it was much closer. It crossed over our path less than two thousand feet above us.
As we continued to descend toward Melbourne, we kept our eye on the TUI. It continued to the southwest before turning to line up with runway 9R at Melbourne. Meanwhile, another TUI B-787 departed runway 9R and flew east over the intercoastal. As we crossed over Melbourne at 4,500 feet, the TUI landed below us. To our surprise, we saw two additional TUI B-787s parked at the gate.
| Three TUI B-787s at Melbourne Airport |
We continued to descend and landed at Valkaria. Overall, the flights covered over 1,400 nautical miles and 14 flight hours.
| Route to Valkaria Airport |
Flight Time: 14 hours
Total Time: 551 hours
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