The first thing you need to know about our trip is that Derrick is a morning person and I am not. Although we worked late Friday night, we needed to get to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday which meant getting up at 4am…about 2.5 hrs after I went to sleep. What a great start to a trip to another hemisphere of the world! After some final packing of the helicopter we took off out of New Braunfels at about 6:30 am. It was dark and overcast but we were on our way.
The sun started to rise by the time we made it to Houston. We got vectored around intercontinental but after getting over downtown, were turned back on course and headed on our way. After 2 hrs and 20 min we set down in Beaumont, TX with plenty of fuel left on board. After a quick turn we were back at it and on our way.
The sun started to rise by the time we made it to Houston. We got vectored around intercontinental but after getting over downtown, were turned back on course and headed on our way. After 2 hrs and 20 min we set down in Beaumont, TX with plenty of fuel left on board. After a quick turn we were back at it and on our way.
After several more hours of flying we were into Louisiana and over some remote terrain. There was nothing to see but trees. Not a place and would want to land or live for that matter.
After the skies opened up, it turned out to be a perfect day for flying. This was taken flying over the Mississippi River. The second one is in Gulfport, Mississippi.
Once we got into Florida, the scenery was even more amazing and we got the lowest altitude clearance I have ever heard. ATC told us to stay at or below 300' above the ground.
We didn't get into Ft. Lauderdale until about 8pm. A good bit after dark. In total it was about 10.5 hours of flying. It was an exhausting flight but we made it and rewarded ourselves with a good steak afterwards.
Here is a short video in Pensacola.
Tomorrow we head to the Bahamas!
