Flight Time–Cedar Key

One of the more interesting things that I like to do in aviation is fly to airports with short and/or narrow runways. Even better if they have water on both ends. Today's flight met one of those criteria. Cedar Key is off the west coast of Florida, north of Tampa. The runway is 2,302 feet long, with 280 feet of overrun. Generally, I think twice about runways less that 2,500 feet, but today, we had some advantages. First, the temperature was cool, which allows the plane to perform at its peak. And second, we would be light due to the gas burned on the long flight to get there.

The flight to Cedar Key started like all flights. After take-off, I contacted Orlando Approach and asked for flight following. I was given a squawk code and continued climbing to 4,500 feet. After a few minutes, I was told to turn right to 300 degrees, presumably to avoid the restricted airspace ahead. I was then handed off to the next controller. I informed him that I was at 4,500 feet but did not mention the heading that I was assigned by the previous controller. I was quickly approaching the Orlando Class B airspace, so I turned left to avoid it. After a few miles, the controller cleared me through the Class B airspace, which allowed us to cut the corner of our route. Later, while talking to Tampa Approach, we were given a heading change to avoid traffic, then were once again cleared to proceed on course.

Soon we reached the west coast of Florida and had to make a decision. We could either proceed directly to Cedar Key over the water, or we could follow the shoreline. Actually, the decision was very simple. I avoid flying beyond glide distance to land while over water whenever possible.

I descended as we approached Cedar Key. The area is made up of many small islands, all grouped together. The town is just southeast of the airport.

Cedar Key

Once past the town, I circled around the airport and prepared to make left traffic to Runway 5. There were a few planes in the area, but I had the pattern to myself.

Cedar Key Airport

Once on the ground, I stopped and back taxied to the parking area. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to park and walk to town. I opened the next flight plan, and I did a short field take-off and turned towards Umatilla. I chose to stop at Umatilla because A) I'd never been there before and B) they had cheap gas. When you do a lot of flying, it pays to search out the cheapest gas.

At Umatilla, we landed and topped off the tanks. I parked the plane, then we went inside for a short break and a visit to the restrooms.

The tiny Umatilla FBO

Soon we were back in the air. I had to fly a dogleg to avoid restricted airspace and the Sanford Class C airspace. Eventually, we cleared the airspace and flew directly to Valkaria.

The flight tracks are below.

Valkaria to Cedar Key

Cedar Key to Umatilla

Umatilla to Valkaria

Flight Time: 4.1 hours
Total Time:  657 hours