The thing with postponing or canceling a flight? One is sometimes left with a nagging feeling that maybe they could have made it and everything would have been fine. But, one then realizes that they’ll never know. Until now.
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A Tale Of Two Flights
The thing with postponing or canceling a flight? One is sometimes left with a nagging feeling that maybe they could have made it and everything would have been fine. But, one then realizes that they’ll never know. Until now. I was supposed to fly home to San Jose, Calif., from Yerington, Nev. The route takes one just north of Topaz Lake and a few miles south of Lake Tahoe. The terrain is rugged and the area southwest of the Pine Nut Mountains is almost always bumpy. I called Flight Service for a briefing and got the news I expected: Winds of 60 to 70 knots were blowing out of the northwest and Airmet Tango was in effect.
Key Takeaways:
- An unprecedented follow-up call from Flight Service specifically warned the author about a 40-mile-long rotor cloud on his planned flight path, prompting him to cancel his flight.
- Tragically, another experienced pilot, flying a similar route over the same hazardous area on the same day, crashed and died due to the severe weather conditions.
- The author expresses profound gratitude for the exceptional Flight Service intervention, recognizing it likely saved his life, and sorrow for the pilot who perished.
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