jspilot
Cleared for Takeoff
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2011
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jspilot
I got lucky yesterday. It was a really nice day on Long Island so I invited my mom to go on a little sight seeing tour of Eastern Long Island and the plan was to fly around Montauk Point and back. I had the plane reserved originally from 11-3 thinking we may go to lunch somewhere but my mom said she was worried about landing twice( she can get motion sick) so we decided on sight seeing instead. I went to move the reservation up to 1000am to avoid to forecasted wind increasing later in the day but, was not allowed to because it was within 2 hours of the reservation time. This was my first lucky break. You'll understand why as you read on.
We drive to the airport together and on the way I notice it's a little hazy. Not a cloud anywhere in the sky. I'm getting excited for the flight. We get to the airport and I fill out the paper work, explain some things to my mom, call the weather briefer for some weather info and head out to the plane. The briefer mentioned some airmet for IFR conditions in the area but atill its a nice day so I'm not worried.
We get out to the plane and I start pre-flighting. I'm not really paying attention to the sky but I notice a serious cloud bank moving in. They look pretty low too. My mom in her infinite naïveté says, "wow look at all those clouds. That plane that just took off just disappeared into them." This got my attention for sure. I said, " well lets finish the pre-flight and see." I finished and looked up and we were totally socked in by clouds now. I went inside and checked the satelite again-- it showed no clouds. I was confused but was not about to take off. I then decided to listen to the automated weather at the airport. Sure enough, broken clouds 1,100ft!!! I said, ok mon we can't go flying today!
When I tell you this day went from a beutiful day for flying to broken 1,100 in a matter of 15 minutes I'm telling you the truth. If we would have launched at 1000 we would have been socked in by this cloud layer and landing someplace else. This is the first time I've cancelled a flight do to weather after getting so close to flying. I'm proud of myself for doing so but feel that I had someone looking out for me and my mom here. Within an hour the airport had dropped to IFR-- while we drove home in sunny skies just 10 miles north!
Man did I get lucky.
We drive to the airport together and on the way I notice it's a little hazy. Not a cloud anywhere in the sky. I'm getting excited for the flight. We get to the airport and I fill out the paper work, explain some things to my mom, call the weather briefer for some weather info and head out to the plane. The briefer mentioned some airmet for IFR conditions in the area but atill its a nice day so I'm not worried.
We get out to the plane and I start pre-flighting. I'm not really paying attention to the sky but I notice a serious cloud bank moving in. They look pretty low too. My mom in her infinite naïveté says, "wow look at all those clouds. That plane that just took off just disappeared into them." This got my attention for sure. I said, " well lets finish the pre-flight and see." I finished and looked up and we were totally socked in by clouds now. I went inside and checked the satelite again-- it showed no clouds. I was confused but was not about to take off. I then decided to listen to the automated weather at the airport. Sure enough, broken clouds 1,100ft!!! I said, ok mon we can't go flying today!
When I tell you this day went from a beutiful day for flying to broken 1,100 in a matter of 15 minutes I'm telling you the truth. If we would have launched at 1000 we would have been socked in by this cloud layer and landing someplace else. This is the first time I've cancelled a flight do to weather after getting so close to flying. I'm proud of myself for doing so but feel that I had someone looking out for me and my mom here. Within an hour the airport had dropped to IFR-- while we drove home in sunny skies just 10 miles north!
Man did I get lucky.
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