Florida to Missouri in a float plane - Cessna, not Avid though

[marksires 484]

Just finished flying a Cessna 180 on straight floats from Tavares, FL to Lake of the Ozarks, MO.
Got off the water in Tavares at about 8:05 am, had glass smooth air to our first fuel stop at Lake Blackshear in Georgia, about a 2 hour leg. The Lake Blackshear resort marina has a seaplane friendly dock, but the Marina was closed, so we added the 20 gallons we had in cans to make it to our next stop in Guntersville, AL.
The weather gods were kind to us again, and we arrived at Guntersville after about another 2 hours. The airport has a seaplane dock at the north end of the airport, just be aware of the high tension lines that are also at the north end. Plenty of room as long as you don't forget about them and try to do a big fly around before landing. 

The staff at Guntersville were extremely helpful. We called about 8 miles out, and when we landed they had the 100LL trailer and the courtesy care waiting for us at the dock. We filled up the airplane and the cans again - 62 gallons total. Guntersville is working on getting an official seaplane base designation, and believe they will have it by the end of the year. They also have a commitment from the TVA to keep the seaplane basin clear of weeds out to the main body of water once the seaplane designation is official. If you've landed there before, and had to fight the weeds late in the summer, this will be a big improvement. They are actively seeking out more seaplane business, a very good thing this day and age!

We departed Guntersville, and the weather wasn't as good as we'd had, but still pretty good for a long cross country. Scattered at about 2,500, but not too many bumps, and no significant headwind. We had a tailwind forecast, but it had not yet appeared. I count no headwind as a tailwind in most cases anyway.

The next leg was about 2.5 hours to Lake Wappappello in southern Missouri. No facilities there at all, so we beached next to a boat ramp on one of the branches. There was a guy fishing farther up the branch, so he came down to see what was going on. Very nice, and helped hold the plane on the beach while we lugged the cans up and poured them into the tanks. He was pretty happy he'd have a new story to tell all his friends 

While we were fueling, the winds picked up. The first takeoff we had to abort, the winds had shifted and we now had a tailwind. We moved out to a more open area, let the plane weathervane to find the right wind direction, and then took off without incident, although the water was significantly rougher than we had experienced so far.

The next leg was about 1.5 hours to Lake of the Ozarks, where the plane will be based for the summer months. The wind had really picked up, and there was continuous turbulence the entire leg. Not terrible, but I worked harder that 1.5 hours than I had the 6.5 previous hours combined. We did pick up a nice tailwind though, and gained about 15 knots if ground speed.

We landed uneventfully in a small cove where the plane will be based at about 4:35pm local, or 5:35pm at our departure point. Total time was 9.5 hours, including the 3 fuel stops. I had done all the takeoffs and landings to this point, but the winds were gusting to 23, as a crosswind, and I was tired after dealing with the turbulence the last 1.5 hours, so I let the owner, who had landed in this cove all last summer, handle that landing. We tied up at the dock, met his family there, unpacked the plane. The only passenger was a very unhappy cat, who made the trip with lots of complaining, but no problems.

It was a fun adventure for a new seaplane rated pilot - 8 hours of flying, 4 takeoffs and 3 landings, all on different lakes hundreds of miles apart, and a lot of low, relatively slow flying from point to point. Until the last leg, our ground speed was around 100kts, the last leg with the tailwind we were typically around 115kts, but I saw 122kts for a few minutes.

Mark

[lostman 198]

Very nice report. How did you manage to get the flight along with the owner? Glad to see you're using that new seaplane rating.

[marksires 484]

Kenneth,

Good to hear from you again!  I have gone to Florida twice this year, and both times went to Tavares to get an hour of float time at his business (Jones Brothers Seaplane Adventures) in this airplane.   He posted on facebook in April offering the pilot privileges for the 8 hour trip for less than 1/3 the price the 8 hours would cost normally, which basically paid for the gas.  I responded first, so I 'won'.  We had already planned to go to Florida again the week he was flying it to Missouri on Friday, so it worked out for me to have no additional travel expenses.  Various things including weather caused it to be delayed until Monday, which meant I had to stay on the lakefront at Tavares for 3 days watching boats and seaplanes, it was really tough!    .

Since we are looking for a home to buy in Florida, (that's why all the trips) it was also a good opportunity for me to do the cross country to/from the Midwest with another pilot in the plane.  My cross country skills were a little rusty, so it was good all around.

 

Mark