Brownsville to Georgetown

Weather

There are more clouds here and my weather briefing indicates low ceilings along the route. I file an IFR flight plan so that we can fly above the clouds. Part of the flight will be after dark. There is no severe weather indicated.

The Flight

Takeoff: 6:15pm   Landing: 8:19pm   Duration: 2:04

I filed direct to Georgetown at 8000'. The clearance I receive is direct Corpus then V568 to Three Rivers VOR then direct Georgetown. We are cleared to take off on Runway 35. This puts us on course for Corpus. We are handed off to Valley Approach. Before reaching Corpus we are cleared direct to Three Rivers. Before reaching Three Rivers we are cleared direct to Georgetown.

As darkness falls I turn on the navigational lights and realize that some of the instrument panel lights are not working. Well, that is why we carry flashlights. As we near Austin, we are handed over to Austin Approach. Austin Approach diverts us to the east to avoid traffic. We are kept at 8000' until we have crossed Austin. We don't really have adequate time to make a comfortable descent to Georgetown. In hindsight, I should have asked Austin for a lower altitude as soon as I contacted them. There are only scattered clouds now and we make a visual approach to runway 36 in Georgetown. A tailwind along the route has cut 30 minutes from the flight.

Upon completion of this flight, the new engine is officially broken in and I am thankful there were no problems. And I thank Lycoming for building and rebuilding such a great engine and Scott and Wes at SR Aviation in Georgetown for getting everything right on the installation.

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