Atlantic Coast Barrier Islands. Marshes, Beaches, and a Cape
For Saturday, September 30, 2023
Michael MacKuen

We continue our journey along the Southeastern Coast of the United States. We shall visit Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, and Cape Canaveral all the while enjoying the subtle beauty of the grassy wetlands and windswept beaches of the Atlantic coastline.


The VAB and a Falcon Heavy at LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center

We begin in South Carolina at Mount Pleasant’s East Cooper [KLRO]. We fly over wetlands to the upscale Isle of Palms [IOP] and continue along over more modest Sulivan’s Island into Charleston Harbor to get a look at legendary Fort Sumter [SUMTR]. We turn to see the city of Charleston, starting with “The Battery” [BATRY] – an impressive residential part of the city with an enforced historic architecture. We pass over the truly attractive downtown, rebuilt to preservation society standards, and the Charleston Market [MARKT]. Charleston’s residents and  visitors are blessed with a wonderfully dynamic restaurant scene. Next over the Cooper River to the modern Ravenel Bridge [BRAV]. We get a look at Patriot’s Point and the historic aircraft carrier USS Yorktown [YORK]. We proceed south over the harbor and low-lying wetlands to glance at Morris Island Lighthouse [LMORI] and then land at Charleston Executive [KJZI].

On departure we swing south over Kiawah’s Ocean Course [OCEAN], one of the nation’s top 25 golf courses with a special sandy and windy seaside ambiance. It is on the rotation for major tournaments. Then along the beaches, terrific golf courses (two more in the Top 200), and the splendid facilities of Kiawah Island [KIAWA], an upscale house and condominium resort with an emphasis on natural beauty.

We continue along the South Carolina Sea Islands to the Hunting Island Lighthouse [LHUNT] and fly over the marshes just south of the town of Beaufort SC (and the Beaufort MCAS). We land at Hilton Head [KHXD], where we can park among the Gulfstreams. Hilton Head is a large and very busy vacation island (with a summer population of 150,000). When it developed in the 1950s, the community established standards that have maintained a low-lying green environmental ambiance. So while there are plenty of people on the island, the feel is one of relative serenity. That said, this is not a bargain spot: almost 70 percent of the island lies within gated communities.  

When we leave, we fly over the older town’s homes [TOWN] and then over the large scale Sea Pines resort (the southwestern quarter of the island) and the Harbour Town Golf Course [HART], the more famous of the island’s two top-200-rated courses.

Then a quick diversion over Savannah [SVANA], Georgia’s first capital city with a large historic district of cobblestone streets, squares, parks, and notable buildings. The busy docks on the Savannah River are significant: the ports of Charleston and Savannah are each ranked in the US Top-Ten. We then proceed over a number of low-lying islands many of which are marked as wildlife refuges. We land at St. Simons Island [KSSI], one of Georgia’s “Golden Isles.” The northern two-thirds is mainly forest and wildlife preserve while southern portion is a town of permanent residents which attracts thousands of seasonal tourists. (The local forest of live oaks was cut to build much of the early US Navy.)

We continue south along the Sea Islands and, just after the Florida border, pass over Ameilia Island [AMELA]. This too is a resort island with marshes, beaches and golf courses. (By one ranking, the top three US “vacation islands” are Hilton Head, Kiawah Island, and Amelia Island.) We continue onward to Jacksonville Executive [KCRG]. This is a busy GA field with 400-500 operations a day. (If we approach from the west, you can examine the Dames Point Bridge.)

We depart for the Florida coast. The first turning point is over the TPC Sawgrass [TPSAW] which hosts The Players Championship, now a “major” golf tournament. (If you look closely, you can see the signature 17^th hole “island green” [TPC17] – a feature which has been copied many times over. We continue along the coast to St. Augustine, first established by the Spanish in 1565 and the oldest sustained European settlement in North America. We can note the Castillo de San Marcos [CSM], the city’s early-modern 17^th century Spanish fort which survived 250 years of contestation. Just beyond is historic St. Augustine. (The fort and old town are a tourist magnet.) A jog to the left brings us to Anastasia Island and St. Augustine Lighthouse [LSTAG] – which has been restored and continues to operate as an historic monument.

Flying further southward, we turn at Daytona Beach [DAYBE] which has become an iconic national “beach town”. This is now the stereotypic “Spring Break” destination for young people who want to have fun. And it is also the site where NASCAR was founded and now locates its headquarters. (Bill France came here in the 1930s and sponsored the Daytona Beach races, on the hard-packed beach, which became the springboard for the extended national stock car series.) On turning for the airport, we can see the Daytona International Speedway [SPEED] which hosts NASCAR’s premier main event. We land at Daytona Beach International [KDAB] which sites the main campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. (You can see the buildings and training fleet along the flightline at the northeast corner of the main crossing runways.)

Then to the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island and the US Space Force Launch Station at Cape Canaveral. We land at the Space Shuttle Landing Facility [KTTS]. Then we fly low-and-slow to see the enormous Vehicle Assembly Building [VAB]. The Apollo and Shuttle Saturn launch vehicles were put together and tested here before being rolled out to Launch Complexes 39A and 39B [LC39A and LC39B]. Nowadays, LC-39B is assigned to NASA’s Space Launch System which is used in the Artemis program for manned trips to the Moon and Mars. LC-39A is leased to SpaceX and its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy systems (a Falcon Heavy is depicted on the launch platform). And it will be the location for SpaceX’s much larger Starship launch vehicle. (Progress on the heavy lift vehicles, the NASA SLS and the SpaceX Starship, has been slower than hoped.)

We circle back to see the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. You can see a Space Shuttle launch vehicle similar to that of Atlantis in 2010 (look here and longer here). And nearby, if you look closely, you can see the Rocket Garden with historic instances of those vocative names Redstone, Atlas, Titan, Delta and Saturn. We cross the Banana River to Cape Canaveral to see the SpaceX Landing Zone [SPACX] which depicts two Falcon boosters having landed. (Of the current Falcon 9, 201 out of 206 launches have landed successfully. Almost all have been reused. Here all boosters from a Falcon Heavy are recovered.) We turn to see the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse [LCANA] which protected sailing ships from the dangerous shoals of the prominent Cape. Having the classic lighthouse here provides a nice juxtaposition of the old and the new on Cape Canaveral. And then we pass a number of mothballed sites to see Lauch Complex-5 [LC5] and a displayed Mercury-Redstone combination in which Alan Shepard became the first American in space (1961). That long ago?

We immediately turn over Port Canaveral [PORTC] which is a significant working cargo port and the largest cruise ship embarkation point in the world. We follow the narrow island south, past Cocoa Beach, and land at Patrick Space Force Base [KCOF]. A reception for our General Aviation flight has been arranged at the DOT’s classic facility just southeast of the main crossing runways, south of the threshold of Rwy 29.

Documentation
The flightplan can be found here.

Aircraft
We need to cover about 360nm and so require something that will “fast cruise” at about 180 kts. Some of our faster singles, including the Beech Bonanza and Mooney Ovation, will do the job. Light twins such as the Piper Seneca, C310, C414, Beech Baron, and Diamond DA62 will be fine. The TBM will be faster than needed. I’ll take the Bonanza (and will have to push the throttle). You should fly whatever you like.

Additional Scenery
These are not necessary for the flight. They do add some color and some are just excellent quality freeware scenery. Thanks to these authors.

Charleston Ravenel Bridge. michelvp
Charleston Water Fix. Mistercoffee1
Charleston Morris Island Lighthouse. michelvp
Beaufort Marshes. PhilUSA
Beaufort Hunting Island Lighthouse. PhilUSA
Hilton Head [KHXD]. BullfrogSim
Saint Simons Island [KSSI]. glman22
Jacksonville Dames Point Bridge. michelvp
Jacksonville Executive [KCRG]. despamods
St. Augustine Lighthouse. KingJ02
Daytona Beach [KDAB]. Art Poole
Cape Canaveral Lighthouse. PhilUSA
Kennedy Space Center. Acktu
Kennedy Shuttle Landing Facility [KTTS]. Michail71
Kennedy Space Center Merritt Island Water Fix. Michail71

Temporarily, you can download a scenery package here. 176 MB.

Optional. Available is a more up-to-date photogrammetry package for the Daytona Speedway. This is better than the default photogrammetry and recommended. However, it is a fairly large download and not included in the package. Daytona Speedway. Kjpwv. In addition, a good-looking payware Daytona package by BMW is available at ORBX.

A side note for custom seasonal foliage packages. The Fall Colors have not yet begun in this region: stick with Summer.

Time and Weather
For takeoff on Saturday, set the simulator at 2:00 pm local for September 30, 2023.
We prefer real weather. (Florida thunderstorms are predicted.)

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Saturday, September 30, 2023. 1800 UTC
AVSIM Discord Server: https://discord.gg/K5Vy6UxWNm  - AVSIM GROUP EVENTS-SAT. COM3
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: United States East server.

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Please be kind enough to enter the title exactly as it stands in the title=”xxx” line of the aircraft.cfg file. Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!

Slightly off topic:

With the GotFriends release of the F4F Wildcat, we have been thinking about the role of Naval Aviation during WWII. We’ll be visiting the USS Yorktown (CV10) when we pass over Charleston. Our event reminded me of the absolutely terrific WWII film The Fighting Lady. This hour long documentary was done by William Wyler (in 1944) and is one of the very best “you are there” pieces made during the war. If interested, you can see it at the Internet Archive here: The Fighting Lady. Or (restored) on YouTube The Fighting Lady.

NOTAMS. There are some spotty storms along the Florida coast. We can adjust if necessary. Josh's NZ weather set seems a good option.