Chrisgoesflying
Cleared for Takeoff
I usually don't call the weather briefer and instead do my own briefing with all the various online tools available. Today, I had a flight planned from Buffalo, NY to the NYC area. I looked through my various maps and see, Buffalo and region is MVFR with ceilings at around 2,000 ft. Going south, the ceiling lifts, going east, not so much. Rochester reported 2,200 ft. so not much better. So, my plan was to fly south and stay low for about half an hour to get to higher ceilings, then climb and point the nose towards NYC. Since I just crossed the border, I had to call FSS to close my flight plan so since I was on the phone with them anyways, I asked what they think of that plan. The briefer said he wouldn't recommend that since the terrain will start to become an issue going that way and my outs will become more limited, plus he expects the ceiling to start dropping there as well as the day continues. He then asked if I'm comfortable flying VFR above a ceiling which I said I was. He then advised to fly to the lake Ontario shoreline, follow it towards Rochester at 2,000 ft. and either right before reaching Rochester or right east of Rochester, I will encounter a few holes that will allow me to climb up on top of the low ceiling. Further east or south of Rochester, the ceiling will close again. He said as soon as I see a hole, climb up to 5,500 and then go direct. By the time we would reach the NYC area, the low ceiling will be gone.
Sounded good in theory so I made that my new plan. I marked all my outs on the map in case things don't shake out as anticipated. But, exactly as anticipated, 20 miles west of Rochester, I see a huge hole just over the Lake Ontario shoreline. I climb up to 5,500, nothing but blue sky above and the nasty layer a good 2,500 feet below me. I point the nose direct and as forecast by the briefer, we were between two layers, one being about 2,500 feet below us and another about 2,500 feet above us. As we got closer to NYC, the layer below us disappeared. It ended up being a great, relaxing flight.
Sounded good in theory so I made that my new plan. I marked all my outs on the map in case things don't shake out as anticipated. But, exactly as anticipated, 20 miles west of Rochester, I see a huge hole just over the Lake Ontario shoreline. I climb up to 5,500, nothing but blue sky above and the nasty layer a good 2,500 feet below me. I point the nose direct and as forecast by the briefer, we were between two layers, one being about 2,500 feet below us and another about 2,500 feet above us. As we got closer to NYC, the layer below us disappeared. It ended up being a great, relaxing flight.
