Peter wrote:
There are certainly pilots who seem to “always fly”. And they have a point: once you are up there, you can see the wx better than sitting on the ground
I phrase I often hear VFR pilots saying, is “suddenly the weather closed in around me”. But of course the clouds aren’t travelling at 120kts, nor do they tend to form instantaneously. What actually happens is that the pilot flys into worse conditions, feeling that they are still in control, right up to the point when they fell it’s gone beyond their abilities.
It’s at the point that it goes beyond their abilities that they get the “sensation” of the weather closed in. I think it’s something that every VFR pilot will experience until they learn to recognise the signs.
The really odd thing is that safety is probably less than 2 minutes back in the direction that they came, but the natural urge is to look for a clear patch further ahead and fine a way through.
One thing I’ve noted is there seems to be a lot of accident reports in which everything is fine until 5-10 minutes before the intended destination. Then everything goes to hell in a handbasket. I suspect it’s psychologically hard when you’re so close to your destination to admit “this is bullshit” and divert. I’ve done it a few times and there’s always that little wheedling voice in the back of your mind saying “oh just push on, we’re almost there”, as I started to divert, and it would be easy to give in.
When I was doing my PPL training I did a solo cross country where my brief was to plan to fly XYZ, and to fly XZY if possible, but that quite possibly the weather would be shoddy and I should expect to divert, but that it would still count for training purposes. Sure enough, the weather was shoddy and I did divert, though I thought I might just have been able to fly my planned route. I thought it was a well thought out lesson.
One thing I’ve noted is there seems to be a lot of accident reports in which everything is fine until 5-10 minutes before the intended destination
The concept of approach ban helps set up your decision making, and no reason why it can’t apply to VFR. If the ATIS or weather is below SOP approach minima, no need to commence the approach, divert to a suitable alternate. Your fuel planning may require you to divert early.
