Louise Hose
Well Known Member
Today, both XM Weather and Weathermeister failed me. I would have had my tail between my legs and turned back home this morning if I hadn't had an IFR ticket and currency in my logbook. But, I never actually flew IFR today.
This morning's forecast and METARs were quite a bit better than when I headed to bed last night so there was no excuse for not jumping in the plane and starting the commute between southeast Houston and College Station (about 100 miles). VFR with ceilings at least 1400' the entire way. Clear at the destination. So, off I flew, skirting the Bravo airspace and listening to a Bob Edwards interview.
Just before I was to break out from under the Class B inverted wedding cake, the path looked almost black and I realized that clouds extended to within a couple hundred feet (or less!) of the ground. A quick check of the XM Weather showed a couple very small areas of lightest green along my extended path and ALL airport in the area VFR. The screen refreshed and still only a little, isolated light green showed. Hmm. I started to deviate to the northeast, where the visibility looked good. And, I deviated some more. The College Station ATIS was still 10 miles visibility with scattered clouds at 3600. I climbed to 5000' msl and still the clouds were high and black out the left side of the aircraft. I started considering my options of airfiling an IFR flight plan, but it seemed certain that this storm was isolated and filing takes time and hassle, especially with Houston Approach. I continued flying along the line and thought about sitting the plane down.
I couldn't seem to get anywhere but further from my destination, the radar and METARs still didn't register this line I was flying along, and I was past Huntsville, TX. I was befuddled. Things just didn't compute. I finally flew along an area of medium gray and I could see the ground through a substantial hole. It looked like the bottom of the clouds were probably 1500' msl or higher. Still the WM Weather told me every reporting station had high or no ceilings. College Station now reported few at 3600'. I decided to drop down and see if I could make it in under this line. I mentally developed a contingency plan if it didn't work. Climb back out to the southeast. Be ready to switch to instrument flying. Be ready to file, if needed.
Throttle back, prop forward, nose down. The hole was big enough to avoid the clouds but the bottoms were about 1200 agl. The rain started bounding on Mikey and the self-doubts grew. I pointed towards College Station. About a minute later, I could see growing lightness in the sky ahead of me and I started to relax. Probably only three minutes later, I was under a clear sky. I had passed under the line. The remaining flight into College Station was as promised.....easy VFR. I tucked my IFR ticket back into the pocket, filed a PIREP on this "hidden" line of rain/clouds/scud, and enjoyed the rest of the flight.
The next time I looked at the WM Weather, a band of green and yellow extended from nearly the coast southwest of Houston to Michigan. In our neck of the woods, it was only about five miles wide and there was not one airport along the band. As I continue to watch the weather today, the southwest-northeast band remains narrow here in Texas and marching southeastward, turning METARs to red along a straight line. Bright green dots indicated airports on each side.
Lessons learned today?
I love my weather capacity. Weathermeister for planning. XM Weather with radar and METARs in the cockpit. ATISs and AWOSs over the radio. But, even with all this capacity in a relatively airport-dense part of the country, a significant, rapidly building storm can elude our visibility. I know the radar often shows green when there is no rain but I had not seen this big of a storm not register on radar (and the XM was refreshing regularly). I guess it wasn't yet raining when I first hit the wall of low clouds.
I don't actually fly IFR very often. Mikey is only set up for "light" IFR and Houston Approach is reputedly not particularly IFR-friendly during my commute hours. But, this trip was perhaps one of a dozen or more where I was able to get to work because I knew I could file IFR and Ihave the skills to stay safe if the weather situation deteriorated. I've asked for and received special VFR clearances into and out of College Station many times, a privilege I probably wouldn't exercise without the IFR ticket and currency.
Did I make good decisions today? I'll have to reflect on that one for awhile. If the weather information had been complete, I should have and would have either filed IFR or worked at home today. If I had had no in-cockpit information, I almost certainly would have either turned back home or landed at some "green" airport southeast of the line to re-evaluate. But, I had lots of information (but not complete), knew the area well, and only I could evaluate the size of the hole and the height of the ceiling floor. Most importantly, IMHO, I had the skills and training that come with the IFR ticket. My judgment at the time was that I was acting prudently. In reality, I didn't have anything scary happen and I never entered a cloud or came within 1000' of any obstacles. But, I'll still spend some time over the next few days reflecting on my decisions. I'll probably drag Paul out for some safety pilot duties in the next week just to keep my edge. I'll review airfiling procedures tonight. I just might file for IFR a little sooner next time despite weather data that says everything is okay.....everything except the view out the window.
It was a very wierd little storm line in southeast Texas this morning and I think it was one of those experiences that ultimately will help make me a better pilot. At least, I won't trust my beloved XM Weather quite as much the next time the view out the window doesn't match the view on the screen.
This morning's forecast and METARs were quite a bit better than when I headed to bed last night so there was no excuse for not jumping in the plane and starting the commute between southeast Houston and College Station (about 100 miles). VFR with ceilings at least 1400' the entire way. Clear at the destination. So, off I flew, skirting the Bravo airspace and listening to a Bob Edwards interview.
Just before I was to break out from under the Class B inverted wedding cake, the path looked almost black and I realized that clouds extended to within a couple hundred feet (or less!) of the ground. A quick check of the XM Weather showed a couple very small areas of lightest green along my extended path and ALL airport in the area VFR. The screen refreshed and still only a little, isolated light green showed. Hmm. I started to deviate to the northeast, where the visibility looked good. And, I deviated some more. The College Station ATIS was still 10 miles visibility with scattered clouds at 3600. I climbed to 5000' msl and still the clouds were high and black out the left side of the aircraft. I started considering my options of airfiling an IFR flight plan, but it seemed certain that this storm was isolated and filing takes time and hassle, especially with Houston Approach. I continued flying along the line and thought about sitting the plane down.
I couldn't seem to get anywhere but further from my destination, the radar and METARs still didn't register this line I was flying along, and I was past Huntsville, TX. I was befuddled. Things just didn't compute. I finally flew along an area of medium gray and I could see the ground through a substantial hole. It looked like the bottom of the clouds were probably 1500' msl or higher. Still the WM Weather told me every reporting station had high or no ceilings. College Station now reported few at 3600'. I decided to drop down and see if I could make it in under this line. I mentally developed a contingency plan if it didn't work. Climb back out to the southeast. Be ready to switch to instrument flying. Be ready to file, if needed.
Throttle back, prop forward, nose down. The hole was big enough to avoid the clouds but the bottoms were about 1200 agl. The rain started bounding on Mikey and the self-doubts grew. I pointed towards College Station. About a minute later, I could see growing lightness in the sky ahead of me and I started to relax. Probably only three minutes later, I was under a clear sky. I had passed under the line. The remaining flight into College Station was as promised.....easy VFR. I tucked my IFR ticket back into the pocket, filed a PIREP on this "hidden" line of rain/clouds/scud, and enjoyed the rest of the flight.
The next time I looked at the WM Weather, a band of green and yellow extended from nearly the coast southwest of Houston to Michigan. In our neck of the woods, it was only about five miles wide and there was not one airport along the band. As I continue to watch the weather today, the southwest-northeast band remains narrow here in Texas and marching southeastward, turning METARs to red along a straight line. Bright green dots indicated airports on each side.
Lessons learned today?
I love my weather capacity. Weathermeister for planning. XM Weather with radar and METARs in the cockpit. ATISs and AWOSs over the radio. But, even with all this capacity in a relatively airport-dense part of the country, a significant, rapidly building storm can elude our visibility. I know the radar often shows green when there is no rain but I had not seen this big of a storm not register on radar (and the XM was refreshing regularly). I guess it wasn't yet raining when I first hit the wall of low clouds.
I don't actually fly IFR very often. Mikey is only set up for "light" IFR and Houston Approach is reputedly not particularly IFR-friendly during my commute hours. But, this trip was perhaps one of a dozen or more where I was able to get to work because I knew I could file IFR and Ihave the skills to stay safe if the weather situation deteriorated. I've asked for and received special VFR clearances into and out of College Station many times, a privilege I probably wouldn't exercise without the IFR ticket and currency.
Did I make good decisions today? I'll have to reflect on that one for awhile. If the weather information had been complete, I should have and would have either filed IFR or worked at home today. If I had had no in-cockpit information, I almost certainly would have either turned back home or landed at some "green" airport southeast of the line to re-evaluate. But, I had lots of information (but not complete), knew the area well, and only I could evaluate the size of the hole and the height of the ceiling floor. Most importantly, IMHO, I had the skills and training that come with the IFR ticket. My judgment at the time was that I was acting prudently. In reality, I didn't have anything scary happen and I never entered a cloud or came within 1000' of any obstacles. But, I'll still spend some time over the next few days reflecting on my decisions. I'll probably drag Paul out for some safety pilot duties in the next week just to keep my edge. I'll review airfiling procedures tonight. I just might file for IFR a little sooner next time despite weather data that says everything is okay.....everything except the view out the window.
It was a very wierd little storm line in southeast Texas this morning and I think it was one of those experiences that ultimately will help make me a better pilot. At least, I won't trust my beloved XM Weather quite as much the next time the view out the window doesn't match the view on the screen.
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