A Disney Tour

We woke to foggy conditions. The winter weather in Florida is still producing a lot of advection fog as the winds bring moist air from the gulf over the central Florida airports. I knew the sun would burn it off by mid morning.


We arrived about 10:00am to start the preflight. Mandy was a big help getting Sally ready to fly. As we were taking the tiedown ropes off we could hear the whine of engines coming from the terminal. The Direct TV blimp was taking off and flew right over us. I love blimps.

Even though it was a week day, the airport was busy. As we taxied out I could hear planes announcing arrivals and departures for RWY23. We chose RWY18. It was Mandy's first ever take off and though nervous, did fine. We made a downwind departure to the northeast and climbed to 2500'. It was hazy but over 10 miles of visibility. The haze layer provide an excellent horizon to work on basic air work.

After awhile we passed just south of Zephyr Hills and she pointed out some sky divers. As we approached Orlando I noticed some strange looking clouds. Soon I realized that they were sky writers. I called approach to let them know we would be wandering around in nearby airspace (under the Class B and over the Disney TFR) just touring and taking pictures. He gave us a squawk code. It was exciting to see all of the Orlando attractions from the air. The theme parks seem so big when your looking for "Country Bear Jamboree" but not so large from 3200'. We saw "The Orlando Eye", "Epcot" and Universal Studios in addition to Disney World. The tour lasted a little more than 30 minutes and was a lot of fun.

The trip back to KVDF was uneventful. We enjoyed the Florida scenery and I thought about flying over our home but reconsidered. Not everyone enjoys being in a small airplane for over 2 hours. So instead I briefed Mandy on landing pattern operations. She was NOT anxious about making the landing. But I coached her through and she did great!

So in summary; a blimp, some sky divers, sky writing, pictures of Orlando attractions, a take off and a landing. Not a bad discovery Flight.

A Great Discovery Flight

Video Notes: The Disney Tour