what it's all about!

[localflighteast]

Took my first passengers up yesterday. It was an awesome experience for sure.

we'd had a couple of cancellations due to sucky weather but yesterday I finally managed to take off on my first flight since passing my test on Oct 24.

Unfortunately we had to cut the flight well short of what I'd planned as I ended up in some snow, and while it looked pretty from inside of a snow shower, I decided that seeing as I was heading directly the weather was coming from, I should turn around and headed back.

Landing with the winds now a healthy 20 knots (although luckily only 20 degrees or so off the runway)

Despite being a little nervous of small planes, they loved it and we were barely on the ground before they were asking about going up again!

Flights like that make all the hard work seem worth it!

[Andrewgr2]

Localflighteast

Congratulations on your first flight with passengers. Watch out flying in snow though - the difference between it being pretty - and being pretty frightening isn't much.

A former flying partner of mine got caught in an unexpected snow shower on the French coast. He rapidly lost sight of the ground and reckons he would be dead for sure if he hadn't recently acquired the (UK only) IMC rating.

I've lost airspeed indication whilst flying in snow in a light plane. Reminded me to turn on the pitot heater! At the time London Gatwick were being as co-operative as they could be as I flew on a VMC clearance through their zone. To keep clear of the airfield I edged ever closer to the big dark cloud - and suddenly I was in it. Again the IMC rating proved invaluable!

[localflighteast]

it was fairly light stuff. Sparkly like glitter and then it got a little more sparkly and I turned around.
I'd gotten a good weather briefing before hand and knew that the weather was coming in from the North, and that I was flying into it from the south.
I was always going to be able to turn around and get back home.

Probably a more experienced pilot would have flown straight through it without a second thought, it was fairly localised but I decided not to.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Probably a more experienced pilot would have flown straight through it without a second thought

Well, there's the "if you can see through it you can fly through it" "rule", but that's a "rule" I've picked up rather than been taught (and I'm not telling you that it's OK to fly through a wisp of cloud without an instrument qualification provided that you think you can see through it).

One problem with snow is: having got back to the airfield, can you find the (grass) runway? The one time I got caught in unexpected snow I had an instructor with me, and that was his worry.

[9 lives]

Probably a more experienced pilot would have flown straight through it without a second thought, it was fairly localised but I decided not to.

The more experienced pilot survived to get that way by always thinking the second thought. Congratulations on acting well on either your first or second thought, your passenger does not know how lucky they were to fly with a pilot who was thinking about the effects of changing weather.

I once landed at Buttonville on 33. CAVU behind me, while 16th avenue was becoming obscured in heavy snow, I beat it in, with the tower's help, but not by much. (Oshawa was my plan B).

Well done....

[Genghis the Engineer]

Unfortunately we had to cut the flight well short of what I'd planned as I ended up in some snow, and while it looked pretty from inside of a snow shower, I decided that seeing as I was heading directly the weather was coming from, I should turn around and headed back.

Good judgement, well done. No criticism required. Most of the rest of us would have done the same in typical light aeroplanes, regardless of our experience levels.

G

[localflighteast]

Actually I'm kind of proud of myself tbh.
I know I made the right call.
The fact that I can say that is a reflection of how far I've come, that I'm not doubting my every move.

Now I just want the weather to stabilise so I can get up there again and soon!

[150 Driver]

When doing my PPL training in one of the 'simulated instrument' hours we were just under the cloudbase when the pretty white crystals came floating down.

My very experienced instructor told me to take the goggles off, count quickly to ten to enjoy an unusual spectacle, then fly a 180 and get the h@ll out of it. I guess that why he's an old pilot.

Regardless of having an IMC or even an IR, an iced airframe is about as much use as a brick.