Day 7 - Dallas to New Orleans

Tony Cacciarelli • Jun 21, 2020

Dallas, TX (KDTO) to
New Orleans, LA (KNEW) - June 21, 2019

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Shooting the gap between the big boys

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Had a great conversation with Shenandoah while getting fueled up at Natchitoches (KIER)

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Some fast-building clouds

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The mighty Mississippi

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If you're ever in New Orleans, eat here!

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My dining partner, Phil from Quebec

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It's always a party at Coop's Place

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Just some New Orleans architecture

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I feel like this sign for my hotel is very familiar

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Original Instagram Post

I had to make a tough call today. My original plan was to fly from Dallas to Austin and visit with some old friends there. But, the weather was showing really strong winds coming straight out of the south at 30 knots, which is more than I felt comfortable with for landing. So, I decided to fly straight to New Orleans. I'm really disappointed to miss catching up with friends I haven't seen in a long time, but I wasn't comfortable with trying to land in those strong winds.

Denton airport is just north of DFW International, so on my departure I was sliding along in between all the incoming jet traffic. Check out that screenshot! It's like the weirdest game of Frogger ever 🤓

Once I got above the clouds it was smooth all the way to my fuel stop at Natchitoches [KIER], which I learned is pronounced NAKA-tush - or something thereabout. I met a wonderful guy named Shenandoah who helped me fuel up and then it was on to Lakefront [KNEW] airport in New Orleans.

I was climbing in and around some really big clouds for a bit until I could get on top of them again. I followed the Mississippi River south towards New Orleans and then the approach to Lakeview over Lake Pontchartrain and that seemingly endless causeway.

For dinner I wanted to go back to a small restaurant I went to years ago; Coop's Place. While I was waiting for a space at the bar, I met Phil and Tim - two guys who were staying at a nearby hostel. I ended up sitting next to Phil at the bar and we had a great time talking about all kinds of stuff. It's another case of getting to meet some really interesting and fun people!

For tomorrow, I've changed plans yet again. I'll fly to Orlando Executive [KORL] instead of Tampa. I lost track of days and forgot tomorrow is Saturday, so it didn't make sense to arrive in Tampa until Monday. Gotta be flexible and ready to change plans at any time!

😀👍🏼

Checking the weather the morning of this flight it was clear that I wasn't going to make it to Austin. Winds were 30-50 knots straight out of the south, which meant I'd be bucking a significant headwind the whole way to Austin. It's about 180 nautical miles from Denton to Austin. At normal cruise speeds that'd be a 2.5 hour flight, roughly. But, with a 30 knot headwind that goes up over 3.5 hours, which means I would've had to think about a fuel stop, adding even more time to the flight.

All of that would be manageable but the real challenge is arriving at Austin Executive airport. The runway there was oriented so I would've had about a 25 knot crosswind. The maximum demonstrated crosswind for the A5 is 12 knots. While that's not a specific limitation, clearly double that isn't going to be a good time. So, I opted to skip Austin and head straight to New Orleans.

This was the first location I'd had to skip because of weather and it meant not being able to meet up with old friends who I hadn't seen in many, many years.

The weather wasn't perfect en route to New Orleans, either, but I'd be flying away from the strong winds. This was another opportunity for getting a lot of experience flying through changing weather. It wasn't awful, but there were some areas of bigger cloud buildup that I had to work around and some spots that I had to decide whether to go above or below a cloud layer. It's a great chance to push outside your normal comfort level without taking big risks and once again I was happy with the decisions I made. The weather in New Orleans was gray and windy, so landing on Lake Pontchartrain wouldn't have been an option even if my flaps had been working.

New Orleans was a convenient distance for a stop, plus it's a classic city that seemed a shame to just fly past. One of the advantages of having traveled a lot for work prior to this trip is that I've discovered some really great places over the years. So, when New Orleans became a planned stop I immediately knew I'd be going to Coop's Place. It's definitely high on my recommendation list.

I walked around the French Quarter a little before dinner. It isn't my favorite area. I do like all the live music, but Bourbon Street feels like it's lost some magic. I'll be the first to admit this may be because I'm older, though.