Changing forecasts
A Light one
After 12 Hours across the Pacific, B744 inbound to California's Finest. A couple of hours out the ACARS delivers `Revised forecast'. LAX has gone from from the forecast 8K HZ to being out, in fog, clearance some time away.
Being tired etc, forgot my usual rule of never sending an ACARS without crew consultation and a 30 min. thinking delay. So I sent a reply "Updated Forecast copied. Here is my updated fuel requirement, Please advise coordinates, frequencies, etc for tanker rendevous for airborne refuel'.
We thought it was funny so off it went.
Tea with no biscuits ensued on return to base where the cost of `Frivolous use of the ACARS' was explained to me--particularly as it `Automatically went to many departments other than Flight Ops'. Funnily enough I was told the other departments loved it to lighten a long and difficult night they were having.
Also, as a command trainee, on another flight, complaining bitterly about the difference between the forecast and the actual we were facing, looked across to see the TC with a smile. After confirming that I a few thousand hours, his words, with a sigh, were`And you still believe in forecasts! I 'm not really interested in the quality of the forecast, I'm interested to see how you propose to get us out of this deepening hole!".
Sorry for droning on, but we should keep a certain sense of humour to illuminate the darker days. As someone told me`Aviation is the art of defying gravity, so there surely is a place for a little levity. I'm also recovering from the Valium I had to take on seeing the word `Tephigram' in an earlier post. Some wounds remain unhealed by time!