As Clint Eastwood says, "A man's got to know his limitations".

 

As a second lieutenant (engineer, not pilot), I once talked to the USAF Aero Club manager who told me that they did not allow their members to fly at night without an instrument rating.  He said the statistics showed it was substantially less safe.  I took this advice to heart, and never flew at night until I got my IFR ticket 15 years later.  I then had an experience similar to Greyhawk's, where I turned away from the airport in a small town in California and immediately lost visual references.  Not because I flew into a cloud, but because the area was so desolate.  (Lompoc, CA)  No big deal -- I just transitioned to instruments and life was good.  God only knows what would have happended without the instrument training to fall back on.

 

As a new IFR pilot flying a Cessna 150, I never knew which of us could handle the worse weather -- me or the airplane.  Either way, I didn't fly in "real weather".  The ubiquitous California marine layer was no big deal, but towering cumulus?  Thunderstorms?  No way!

 

Call me a wuss if you have to -- I don't care.  I don't even mind staying an extra night away from home in order to have a safe and pleasant flight the next day.  Your limitations may be higher than mine, and if so, you should feel free to attack more difficult weather than I do.  You guys that fly for a living have to -- I don't.  But we all have our limitations, and we need to stay within them.

 

- Rob Wolf

LNC2 85%