One often hears that Florida is heaven for General Aviation and after seeing it, I am a believer. There seem to be just zillions of hot planes around. As we were rushing to depart Tallahasse on Monday morning, I saw a DayJet Eclipse 500 taxi up. I took a short gander at it because it may figure into my future, but I won't say any more because I don't want to jinx things.
We got off on time and soon were cruising at 9,000 feet, IFR to Fort Lauderdale Executive. What a difference 16 hours had made. The skies were mostly clear and all the early build-ups that started during this leg were offshore. It was cool at 9000 feet and we both donned our sweaters.
As we approached the southeastern Florida coast from inland, the 496 (with the mangled power adapter still working) showed some nasty cells just off the Miami coast. A controller announced that a center weather advisory had been issued and directed us again to HIWAS. I listened and learned that two different aircraft had reported a water spout (tornado over water) about 15 miles east of the Fort Lauderdale VOR.
The airport was reporting broken clouds at 1500 feet and they were landing to the east, so I prepared to fly the ILS. We barely skimmed through the clouds, touched down and taxied to the Banyan FBO. The Banyan staff are friendly and efficient, I found the weather briefing room, and I didn't like what I saw. We were supposed to begin our first over-water leg to the east, but there was a line of thunderstorms just off coast. We could delay our departure, but that would have us flying over-water at night, something I had promised myself not to do on this trip.
The Banyan folks got us a hotel room at a special rate and they had a car, too. That a rental car was even available was the good news, the bad news was it was a monster SUV. I reluctantly took the car, reminding myself that we'd hardly be driving it 8 miles. Heck, we'd just driven a Prius the day before and that, we rationalized, should absolve us of at least some of the guilt. From the sublime to the ridiculous.
If our luck with weather seemed dubious, our luck with the Garmin power adapter was much better. You see, right behind the Banyan FBO is the Banyan Pilot Shop. Any pilot who sets foot in this place will feel like a kid in a candy store. The first thing you see when you enter is this tripy decor.
The pilot shop staff soon had me outfitted with a new cigarette power adapter for the 496 and we were back in business baby! With another leg under our belt we resolved to depart even earlier the next moring.
