Thanks, Lockheed, for making SWRFI possible
My first CFI told me that contacting FSS for a briefing is mandatory because if you have an incident due to weather and they don't have a record of your call, that's proof you did not make use of all available information.
So much for that idea...
On my trip to Hondo last weekend, I was planning to go early to beat the traffic, so I was on the horn to FSS at 6:30. No problems on that call, I got right though. Of course I had to negotiate the new phone menu. Not sure why they can no longer tell I'm in Houston (TEXAS....EAST) from the caller ID, but at least I got through.
I discovered that everyplace other than my house was IFR and they didn't expect the airmet to lift until 8-9:00. So at 7:30, I started calling again. I never did get back in. I tried three times, waiting on hold at least 15 minutes on each attempt. After a while, from what I could tell on-line, it looked like things were pretty clear down around Victoria and at San Antonio, so I planned a southern route. We decided to launch, at about 9:00.
So we're on top, about 50 south of LaGrange, and I'm checking every AWOS I can reach and everywhere I can find is below 700. The holes are starting to fill in and the cloud deck is coming up to meet me. Before I know it, we're at 7500 and climbing over a solid deck. We decide that if there's not a hole on the other side of that next ridge, we're turning back, but we were in luck -- a big hole showed up just as we cleared the top. I tuned to Hondo approach and I could hear them bringing others in, so I spiraled down and found the bottom at 1700 (about 700 AGL). A little close for comfort, but I can follow the road to Castroville, and then we're home free. The closer we got, the higher the ceiling, and by the time we reached "the bridge" we were at a comfortable 2000'.
So everything worked out, thanks to FSS (not!). It was a little tense for a while, but maybe it's a good thing I couldn't get through. After all, they would have just given me the usual "VFR not recommended", and I would have stayed home. As it was, everything worked out fine and we had a great day as SWRFI.
Of course, it's not too hard to imagine a different scenario...