Rain....

[USAF JD]

How much rain is too much? I am looking at a go/no go due to a band of light to moderate rain that I have to fly under. There are no thunderstorms forecast until late in the day. During my training we went through some rain but I just don’t remember what the radar looked like that day. Ceilings are 8000 with few at 2500. I am heading SB from CHI to St. Louis. Any advice is appreciated; my current plan is to get on the super slab in a few hours but I thought I would solicit a few opinions.

http://www.wunderground.com/radar/r...00046&lon=-88.30422211&label=Crystal Lake, IL

 

[EdFred]

Squirt some Dawn on the plane and go if you are IR and current. It's a good way to get it washed. If you are VFR only, then have an out.

 

[USAF JD]

VFR....I am in no hurry and I will be overflying airports every 25 miles or so on my route.

 

[EdFred]

Be very careful doing it VFR. I've had stuff close up on me in a hurry and forecasts been blown to hell in the Midwest. I was in Peoria and coming back to Grand Rapids, and in 15 minutes it went from decent visibility to stuck in a donut with no airports in what little VMC remained. Ceilings dropped to 600' and the VMC hole I still had was only about 8-10 miles in diameter. Luckily I was able to get a clearance, and get out of it legally.

 

[USAF JD]

It’s a definite no go for this morning. I’m either driving or waiting until tomorrow. I have four days to get there and back and 10 hours in the car is a last resort.

I love the stories, it keeps me motivated to get the IFR sooner than later.

 

[Henning]

Transiting a small cold front? I would have gone, it's unstable air and you would have been able to fly between the showers.

 

[Henning]

How do you figure it's unstable air from Chicago to St. Louis? Looks very stable to me. Might be a little bumpy in the boundary layer (below about 3,000 ft) wherever the sun peeks through. But for now it looks like good conditions this morning and early afternoon.

MDW UA /OV ORD120011 /TM 1520 /FL025 /TP C172 /SK SKC /TA UNKN /WV 03020KT /TB NEG /IC NEG

ARR UA /OV JOT330005 /TM 1342 /FL030 /TP C172 /WX FV05SM -RA /TA 04 /WV 06040KT /TB NEG /RM SMOOTH RIDE

Didn't look it up, just going from his description of the skies and heights of clouds and the look of the line on the radar and made a guess hence the "?". Looking at what is there, I still would have gone.

 

[dell30rb]

That does not look bad at all. The change from light to moderate precip is gradual. You should not have turbulence.

Just don't fly where you can't see

 

[USAF JD]

It looks like I am going to head out in a few hours and stay a little east of my intended route and miss most of it.

Thanks!

 

[Henning]

It looks like I am going to head out in a few hours and stay a little east of my intended route and miss most of it.

Thanks!

Just because there is weather like this along the route is no reason to cancel a VFR trip. If you get to the line and you can't make it at that point, back up or go to the side and land for lunch. By the time you get back in the air, the weather will likely have changed. In major blanketing systems that have half the country in low IMC it's another matter, but most of the time a weather system will cause me no delay or just minor delay and I pretty much stay VFR for any personal flight.

 

[Tom-D]

Getterdone..

 

[EdFred]

It was a forecast just like that which got me (almost) in trouble. If I had been a VFR only pilot I would have been in a world of hurt.

 

[USAF JD]

Smooth skies and not a drop, go figure..... thanks for the help!

 

[Henning]

That's the problem with using these types of radar images to make go-no go decisions on, they are 2 dimensional and the sky we fly through is 4 dimensional.

 

[pericynthion]

Getterdone..

Columbia river gorge?