Dave Siciliano
Final Approach
Just wanted to discuss what happened to us last weekend when we went through another go/no go decision. I was at Rocky Mountain Regional (BJC) with some friends skiing. We were scheduled to fly home to Addison (KADS) Sunday afternoon, but canceled when a large frontal system moved in. The METAR I saved is below.
KBJC 021851Z 01024G34KT 3/4SM SN BLSN VV004 M03/M04 A2995
We were flying a 58P which is a K-ice aircraft. I couldn’t save a lot of the weather info as I didn’t have an interned connection. While, it looked as if we might be able to depart, options for coming back to the airport would be a challenge (if we needed to return). When doing the planning that morning, we saw a major low coming our way; we would be just in front of it at planned departure time. No current PIREPS were available when we were making our decision. We didn’t know if we could climb up and get on top without encountering icing conditions. A frontal system with the low behind it was in front of us; so, if we did launch, we would fly into the large frontal system from the back side. OTOH, if we didn’t launch, that system was headed to our home airport at Addison (KADS) and it would be late the next day before we could fly in far enough behind it for the bad weather to be manageable.In any case, we decided to cancel, go skiing another day and fly in behind the frontal system on Monday.
When we did depart on Monday, we had issues with a turbo charger on the takeoff roll. While we did manage the issue in a manner that allowed us to fly home, all I could think of after we climbed up to FL190 is how glad I was we had waited. Managing the turbo issue while departing in conditions described above wouldn’t be my first choice of things to do on the way home <g>. I guess what was driven home to me (again) was to not plan based on everything going perfectly on the departure (or the climb or cruise and descent). Leave a little room for something that might take some extra attention.
Best,Dave
KBJC 021851Z 01024G34KT 3/4SM SN BLSN VV004 M03/M04 A2995
We were flying a 58P which is a K-ice aircraft. I couldn’t save a lot of the weather info as I didn’t have an interned connection. While, it looked as if we might be able to depart, options for coming back to the airport would be a challenge (if we needed to return). When doing the planning that morning, we saw a major low coming our way; we would be just in front of it at planned departure time. No current PIREPS were available when we were making our decision. We didn’t know if we could climb up and get on top without encountering icing conditions. A frontal system with the low behind it was in front of us; so, if we did launch, we would fly into the large frontal system from the back side. OTOH, if we didn’t launch, that system was headed to our home airport at Addison (KADS) and it would be late the next day before we could fly in far enough behind it for the bad weather to be manageable.In any case, we decided to cancel, go skiing another day and fly in behind the frontal system on Monday.
When we did depart on Monday, we had issues with a turbo charger on the takeoff roll. While we did manage the issue in a manner that allowed us to fly home, all I could think of after we climbed up to FL190 is how glad I was we had waited. Managing the turbo issue while departing in conditions described above wouldn’t be my first choice of things to do on the way home <g>. I guess what was driven home to me (again) was to not plan based on everything going perfectly on the departure (or the climb or cruise and descent). Leave a little room for something that might take some extra attention.
Best,Dave
