David Rind wrote in message ...

I'm planning to fly from Boston to Key West next month
with a stop near Bethesda on the way down and in Charlotte on
the way back. I'll need/want to make some additional stops along
the way, of course. This is a longer flight than I have made before
and much of it will be through states I have not flown in before.
So, I have a bunch of questions:

1) What do people like to use for flight planning for something
like this? Laying multiple sectionals on the floor next to each
other seems a bit painful. Is Aeroplanner a good choice? If so,
is the basic Aeroplanner the right level for this kind of thing?

I normally fly IFR on cross countries like this. I do fly VFR when
crossing the Southwest, and find WAC charts helpful. The GTE DUATS
flight planner works well and is free. The www.airnav.com site is
very helpful for choosing fuel stops.

2) I'm thinking of flying to Tipton (FME) to get near Bethesda.
Anyone have opinions on this airport? GAI seems to have gotten
a lot of negative comments on AirNav, though if the weather is
bad I'll probably go there instead. (I miss being able to fly
into College Park!)

(Shudder) In my limited experience, FME was the Roach Motel -- you can
check in, but you can't check out. It brings back memories of
listening to busy signals from Potomac Tracon until my flight plan
timed out or cell phone batteries gave out.

In all fairness, these experiences all happened during last summer's
Code Orange, when aircraft bound for the inner DC area airports all
had to stop there first for TSA inspection. As this thread shows,
some people actually do manage to fly from there, and even like it.
Possibly, things have improved since last summer, or maybe, everything
just fell apart during Code Orange. Even if the airport is now
actually practical to use, some severe problems remain. FME is located
in a large patch of suburban wasteland half way to Baltimore and is in
the midst of one of the most congested metropolitan areas in the
world. It is not remotely near Bethesda.

GAI, on the other hand, has a direct radio relay to Potomac Tracon,
allowing you to get your IFR clearance or ADIZ squack quickly and
efficiently. The Metro, which runs to Bethesda, is a short cab ride
away. I-270 is one of the most usable roads in the area and makes
driving to Bethesda from GAI quite practical. Off rush hour, it might
take 20 minutes. I would say that there is no rational alternative to
GAI.


3) If I fly into the Washington ADIZ IFR, can I cancel in the air
when I have the airport, or do I need to cancel on the ground? How
does switching over to the CTAF work if I'm supposed to be maintaining
communications with ATC while in the ADIZ?

Coming in IFR, you cancel IFR in the air, but retain your squack until
on the ground. You do not have to cancel anything once you have
landed.

4) I'm thinking about stopping at North Myrtle Beach (CRE) for
a fuel stop in at least one direction (nice comments on AirNav).
Anyone else have comments?

Never been there

5) Is there an airport about 300 miles north of Key West that
would make a good place to stop for fuel/food? (I'm trying to
keep legs to about 300 nm each so that I'm only flying about 2 hours
before stopping, since my wife won't tolerate being in the plane
much longer than that -- plane cruises at about 155 knots).

Ditto, but Key West sounds very appealing to me won a grey November
day. Have fun!

Paul

Any additional comments/suggestions will be appreciated!

-- David