Go West, Young Man

I recently reconnected with an old friend, someone whose interest in flying I can legitimately claim to have sparked back in the days when we were just-out-of-college roommates. I took him for his first flight in a personal airplane, and he signed up for lessons later that same day. Today, hes a gazillion-hour captain for a major airline, sitting on more type ratings than there are beers in a 12-pack. But we both remember when things were different.

Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside

Monday, July 18, 2016 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

A planned New Year's flight trip was grounded due to a low-pressure system blocking the direct route and the pilots' lack of instrument ratings.
The pilots retrospectively realized they failed to "think outside the box" and consider an alternative, longer route to circumnavigate the bad weather.
The experience highlighted the importance of exploring reasonable alternatives and not being overly focused on a single path when facing aviation obstacles.

See a mistake? Contact us.

I recently reconnected with an old friend, someone whose interest in flying I can legitimately claim to have sparked back in the days when we were just-out-of-college roommates. I took him for his first flight in a personal airplane, and he signed up for lessons later that same day. Today, he’s a gazillion-hour captain for a major airline, sitting on more type ratings than there are beers in a 12-pack. But we both remember when things were different.

It was the end of a forgotten calendar, and we had grand plans for ringing in the New Year: a hotel reservation in Key West, Fla., and a Piper Archer waiting for us at an airport in nearby Northern Virginia. There were two things we didn’t have, though: flyable weather and instrument ratings. We needed one or the other.