Bum Deal

[Don Jones]

Crap, I had to cancel the Angel Flight mission for this morning. FSS breifer did not paint a pretty picture. Area of developing TS tops to FL400 between me and SJT. They were not forecast to be there, urgent pirep from a Bonanza of heavy rain and hail inside cloud(embedded TS), the whole area is pretty unstable. no weather gear on board, in-experienced pilot, less than capable IFR aircraft, no way I wanna take a couple of trusting passengers through this crap, oh yea did I mention I gotta go back through it to get home with the passengers on board, and it will probably be worse, lets see what other parts of the deck stacked against me. Feel like a wimp, but a smart wimp. We are trying again in the morning. Maybe 4th time is a charm.
Don

 

[grattonja]

Crap, I had to cancel the Angel Flight mission for this morning. FSS breifer did not paint a pretty picture. Area of developing TS tops to FL400 between me and SJT. They were not forecast to be there, urgent pirep from a Bonanza of heavy rain and hail inside cloud(embedded TS), the whole area is pretty unstable. no weather gear on board, in-experienced pilot, less than capable IFR aircraft, no way I wanna take a couple of trusting passengers through this crap, oh yea did I mention I gotta go back through it to get home with the passengers on board, and it will probably be worse, lets see what other parts of the deck stacked against me. Feel like a wimp, but a smart wimp. We are trying again in the morning. Maybe 4th time is a charm.
Don

Imbedded TS and wimp are not two words that belong in the same sentence together. I dread stumbling into one of those things with no weather on board. Sounds like a good day to roll over and go back to bed.

Jim G

 

[kobijo]

Better to be down here wishing you were up there, then up there wishing you were down here.
Joe

 

[Don Jones]

I take it back, I don't feel like a wimp. I made a good call. I never want get-there- itis to cause me to try something like that. Could I have made it, possibly. Would it have been fun, no. Would it have been stupid to try, absolutely.
There I feel better now
Don

 

[Anthony]

I've never felt bad about making a good decision not to fly or turning back if weather got bad.

 

[BruceAir]

You did absolutely the right thing.

(Here I go again.) AOPA ASF has an excellent free Safety Advisor, "Volunteer Pilots: Recommendations for Enhanced Safety," which discusses many considerations pilots should keep in mind when flying missions like those offered by Angel Flight. Give it read. You'll find that you acted according to the highest standards.

 

[sere]

Crap, I had to cancel the Angel Flight mission for this morning. FSS breifer did not paint a pretty picture. Area of developing TS tops to FL400 between me and SJT. They were not forecast to be there, urgent pirep from a Bonanza of heavy rain and hail inside cloud(embedded TS), the whole area is pretty unstable. no weather gear on board, in-experienced pilot, less than capable IFR aircraft, no way I wanna take a couple of trusting passengers through this crap, oh yea did I mention I gotta go back through it to get home with the passengers on board, and it will probably be worse, lets see what other parts of the deck stacked against me. Feel like a wimp, but a smart wimp. We are trying again in the morning. Maybe 4th time is a charm.
Don

Better to cancel and fly another day than never again. You know you made the correct choice.

 

[gismo]

I take it back, I don't feel like a wimp. I made a good call. I never want get-there- itis to cause me to try something like that. Could I have made it, possibly. Would it have been fun, no. Would it have been stupid to try, absolutely.
There I feel better now
Don

The true wimps are the ones who can't bring themselves to say no go.

 

[SkyHog]

good call Don - I know you'll get to do that Angel Flight someday!

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

We reluctantly waited a TS out for 90 minutes last week going over ground in the Cessna, -a long time at KBFI for a TStorm. Finally it eased up a bit with the and I taxied like a seaplane on the tarmac lake with the student for at least some "motion" for his intro flight. Then the dissappeared for about ten minutes straight & ATIS changed, so we finally got his few intro T&Gs relatively safely.

Fly with embedded TS forecast ? You did good not to, but it's gotta be hard at # 4 no-go !

 

[Richard]

There is a 3rd option which hasn't yet been mentioned. That would be to continue the departure but landing at some middle aprt waiting for the wx to pass and then departing again for your final destination.

The problem there is one of deciding how far is far enough but not too far to take you into the nasty stuff. And how long will it take for the wx to pass? You and you pax are sitting at an unknown aprt waiting an indefinite time for an unknown quanity to pass. AF probably wouldn't be too happy about pax stuck on the ground somewhere, albeit closer to their destination.

I don't mean to suggest this for an AF flight but I know folks do it all the time and sometimes get caught in a worse place.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

I feel your pain Don, even when you do the right thing, it sometimes hurts!
I ve been watching that dryline for a couple of days - was wondering last night why there was a convective sigmet vertically down the state til I check the overlying moisture front on the prog charts. I have been looking east and have seen huge buildups periodically.
You would have been a gnat in a hurricane.

 

[Don Jones]

There is a 3rd option which hasn't yet been mentioned. That would be to continue the departure but landing at some middle aprt waiting for the wx to pass and then departing again for your final destination.

The problem there is one of deciding how far is far enough but not too far to take you into the nasty stuff. And how long will it take for the wx to pass? You and you pax are sitting at an unknown aprt waiting an indefinite time for an unknown quanity to pass. AF probably wouldn't be too happy about pax stuck on the ground somewhere, albeit closer to their destination.

I don't mean to suggest this for an AF flight but I know folks do it all the time and sometimes get caught in a worse place.

I actually considered that for a minute since I could easily get within 75 miles of San Angelo, but I figured the patient would be more comfortable where she was than stuck in SJT if I could not get through for a while. Watching the storm today it did not really get to where I could get there until probably 3 or 4 this afternoon. It is looking better for in the morning since everything has moved NE of SJT and anything that has tried to build in the area since has quickly dissipated. Maybe tomorrow.
Don

 

[Don Jones]

I feel your pain Don, even when you do the right thing, it sometimes hurts!
I ve been watching that dryline for a couple of days - was wondering last night why there was a convective sigmet vertically down the state til I check the overlying moisture front on the prog charts. I have been looking east and have seen huge buildups periodically.
You would have been a gnat in a hurricane.

Yea Dave, I saw that satellite shot and said "no way I wanna go anywhere near there". Just glad I got it off on Saturday, and got a little actual in the process.
Don

 

[bbchien]

Crap, I had to cancel the Angel Flight mission for this morning. FSS breifer did not paint a pretty picture. Area of developing TS tops to FL400 between me and SJT. They were not forecast to be there, urgent pirep from a Bonanza of heavy rain and hail inside cloud(embedded TS), the whole area is pretty unstable. no weather gear on board, in-experienced pilot, less than capable IFR aircraft, no way I wanna take a couple of trusting passengers through this crap, oh yea did I mention I gotta go back through it to get home with the passengers on board, and it will probably be worse, lets see what other parts of the deck stacked against me. Feel like a wimp, but a smart wimp. We are trying again in the morning. Maybe 4th time is a charm.
Don

I've even done Lifeline Flights in a CAR, when the fronts get stalled for DAYS with solid Level 5-6s from TX to MI. Sigh.