With a little skill and a little luck, I’ll be an instrument rated pilot in forty days. Or 960 hours. It can’t come soon enough.
I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to get the weather to cooperate for a visual flight to and from HEF (church) for the last six months. High crosswinds. Thunderstorms. Low ceilings and/or fog. All the above. Always something. I was able to go to Mom’s a couple of times, but day trips of convenience only – never on a schedule or overnight.
Right now, I am supposed to be in the air. En route to HAO for a fellowship meeting that started yesterday and will go through Sunday. Ceilings here were supposed to be 4000 by 1100. As of 1200, it was BKN014. By 1300, it was still SCT015, and other airports in the area were still MVFR for one reason or another. Fuel stop was to be at SJS in about 30 minutes from the time I’m writing this. Current METAR is BKN007 despite a forecast BKN020. Had I launched, I would’ve found myself approaching IMC and forced to divert. Waiting it out would’ve caused me to miss at least tonight’s service, and had I not timed the window right, it would’ve still resulted in a diversion. This is just one example of many.
I plan. Weather changes. I remain hopeful. Good forecasts don’t come to fruition. My hopes get crushed by a forced no-go decision at the last minute. I’m done. I’m not planning another VFR cross-country flight of more than an hour or two. Ever. I will be instrument rated soon, even if Murphy prevents such on the current schedule.
After that, I only care about wind and approach minimums. Take today, for example. Launch into BKN014? No problem, that’s MVFR. File and go, in the clouds en route. SJS BKN007 winds calm, visibility 10? Easy. That’s well above the minimums. RNAV 21 limits are 250′ and ¾-mile. The ceiling is pretty close to my personal minimums (600′), but I picked that number only because of my inexperience. I regularly shoot the RNAV/ILS 4 into FAY down to 200′ in training. Plenty of others to 250′. I’ll drop that to 400′ after I shoot a few in IMC. 700′ is more like circling minimums. Ten miles visibility is more than I get on the average summer day.
Lord, please strengthen my patience.
Grumpy 