This year we used the Tiger to escape the already hot weather in Austin and flew to Hot Springs, Arkansas over the three day Memorial Day week-end.
The weather was less than ideal but we completed the trip. Thanks to XM weather and internet (fore flight) I was able to pick a time and line to fly this 350NM trip with a mesoscale disturbance in the area. On the flight out on Sat we departed in MVFR conditions out of Austin, flying in 2000ft AGL in light rain.After about 30 min, the weather improved and I could climb through a scattered Cu to 9500ft on top. The rest of the flight was mostly uneventful. I only had to maneuver out of the way of some Cu towers that were building. The KHOT FBO was helping us to tie down the airplane, refuel and had the rental car waiting at the plane. Impressive service and very nice line men!
We enjoyed two days of lush green nature and excellent food with pleasant temperatures (80ies) before heading back on Monday. Monday we departed at 10am from KHOT, climbed to 8500 on top of scattered Cu. But a line of thunderstorms was already moving in on Austin, still 2 hours flight time away, which prevented us from going direct. So we diverted to Waco where we landed to wait out the storm. It gave us options to drive home, should the bad weather last longer than expected. We touched down in light rain, with a massively dark sky south of us. When I parked, another airplane a Pilatus PC-12 headed for KAUS taxied in to wait out the storm. I felt reassured in my decision making.
The friendly guys from Texas Aero FBO gave us a complimentary crew car and hangared our plane in the storm for free. After a 2 hour break, now well fed, the FBO guys pulled up our plane in front of the building and we departed in light rain. We headed for Georgetown to refuel and then to KAUS, where we were some of the first VFR traffic to arrive after the storm. It’s beautiful how technology helps to conduct safe VFR operations.
Happy, with another family flying trip in the books we headed home for a cold beer.
