Flight Training - May 2021 - 13

ASI NEWS

BY ALICIA HERRON

RAIN OR SHINE

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY TO DOUBLE-CHECK THE WEATHER

WE'VE ALL PROBABLY LOOKED AT THE WEATHER FORECAST THE DAY BEFORE A FLIGHT AND

seen it call for clear and a million, only to arrive at that forecast time to find the conditions anything but VFR (and our flight lesson rescheduled). Thankfully, the opposite can be true, too, and
a call for low clouds can materialize into a perfect bluebird day.
Planning a flight when dealing with changing, variable weather can be daunting, but staying
on the ground when the conditions are a shade less than perfect isn't realistic. It's important
to fly with your CFI in a variety of conditions; it'll help you better understand weather patterns, your personal limits, and the limits of the airplane. As you progress through training,
last-minute weather changes should surprise you less and less-forecasts, while helpful, are a
sometimes-inaccurate best guess.
One way or another, weather will be a factor in every flight you make, and it is a factor
over which we pilots have no control. Learning to fly in a variety of conditions is helpful, but
the most important action we can take to mitigate weather-related risk is to have a complete
and accurate picture of the weather whenever we fly. This includes receiving an up-to-date
briefing directly before your flight, and not just relying on the forecast or your CFI. The
sooner you get into the habit of checking the current weather yourself, the better.

'THERE I WAS...': INADVERTENT IMC

ASI INTRODUCES SAFETY SPOTLIGHTS

Helicopter pilot Dennis Martin joins ASI to talk
about an incident he had after departing the
AOPA Fly-In at Carbondale, Illinois, in 2018.
While flying his Enstrom 480B from Carbondale
to Chicago Executive Airport, Dennis experienced deteriorating weather conditions and
found himself in half-mile visibility.

THE AOPA AIR SAFETY INSTITUTE IS

airsafetyinstitute.org/thereiwas

Sometimes a pilot can
" get away " with not receiving
updated weather, but other
times, luck runs out. On the
morning of April 19, 2018, a
Cirrus SR22 carrying two occupants departed from Lancaster
Airport in Pennsylvania. The
pilot and his passenger were
bound for a conference in
Indiana.
In between the travelers
and their destination, however,
was a large swath of hazardous
icing conditions, instrument
conditions, and mountain
obscuration. Unfortunately, the
pilot didn't obtain a complete
weather briefing, and took off
unaware of just how bad the
conditions en route would
become.
Join the AOPA Air Safety
Institute as we follow the Cirrus
along its route in this accident
recreation, which includes a
look at a similar tragedy involving a Beechcraft Bonanza that
occurred only three days prior
to the Cirrus accident.
airsafetyinstitute.org/ACS/
TrappedInIce
alicia.herron@aopa.org

excited to deliver some welcome news
to aviators who appreciate the adage
that " safe pilots are always learning. "
Check out the AOPA Air Safety Institute's new online Safety Spotlights,
which neatly package critical information on a safety topic in one place.
Each spotlight features a refreshing,
modern, rich design-easy to access
anywhere, on any device. Immediately
engage with the material as the pages
come alive with images, animations,
and embedded multimedia.
airsafetyinstitute.org/spotlights
AOPA.ORG/FT 13

http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/ACS/trappedinice http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/ACS/trappedinice http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/thereiwas http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/spotlights http://www.AOPA.ORG/FT

Flight Training - May 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - May 2021