I took off VFR cross country from KOXV (Knoxville, Ia) to KLAL (Lakeland, Fl) in the Cessna and had a great flight until the last half hour. I planned it out, and figured just to be safe, I would land when my fuel was half gone and refuel. My first re-fueling was in Paducah, Ky, where I spent the night. I took off the next morning (I didn't really wait, I just reset the time...) and settled in for a nice long flight.
Then somewhere south of Cedar Key, Fl (where Florida starts to curve south along the Gulf) I noticed the fuel light was on. Ok, I thought, I'll just land in Crystal River, refuel and be on my way. But Crystal River is only about 75 miles north of Lakeland, and I still had about 15% fuel left, so I decided to push it.
This was not exactly the smartest thing I could have done. As I flew south, I noticed clouds building up ahead and sure enough, I soon found myself in the midst of a thunderstorm. I couldn't fly above it, my fuel situation was by now such that it was a risk to fly around it, but I still felt I could reach the airport fine.
So by the time I got to Lakeland, I was down to 3% fuel, fogged in and couldn't see the airport, and was praying for a break from the FS gods when I took this:
You can't tell it, but it's still raining.
Probably one of my most intense FS moments ever, right up there with dead-sticking the Real Air Spit in up in Alaska because of a blown engine; and yes I will admit it was because of my stupidity...
