Home For The Holidays?

At least in North America, that also can be the dead of winter for many locations, and the personal airplanes many of us fly just arent equipped to cope. For example, and other than a warm pitot tube, they generally lack anti-ice equipment. They likely may not have the range or endurance to reliably avoid weather, or retreat to solid-gold alternates. For non-instrument-rated pilots, the challenges can be even grimmer: Low ceilings and visibilities can wreck carefully made schedules by forcing us to stay on the ground.

Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside

Thursday, October 31, 2019 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Pilots often face immense social and self-imposed pressure to complete flights during holidays, which can lead to dangerous decisions, especially when personal aircraft are ill-equipped for challenging winter weather conditions.
The tragic accident of an instrument-rated pilot attempting a holiday flight into night instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) highlights the critical risk of spatial disorientation and loss of control when pilots push limits despite weather warnings.
To ensure safety, pilots must prioritize thorough pre-flight risk assessment and be prepared to utilize all available options, including delaying, driving, or canceling, rather than flying into adverse conditions or exceeding their and their aircraft's capabilities.

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As Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve fast approach, it’s a good time to highlight for U.S. pilots how many of us may be under great pressure to accomplish our planned flights over the holidays. Friends and family are waiting, and we’ll miss the parties if we don’t get there on time. In my experience, pressure to complete a personal flight—whether self-imposed or heaped upon us by acquaintances—can be at its greatest during the holidays.

At least in North America, that also can be the dead of winter for many locations, and the personal airplanes many of us fly just aren’t equipped to cope. For example, and other than a warm pitot tube, they generally lack anti-ice equipment. They likely may not have the range or endurance to reliably avoid weather, or retreat to solid-gold alternates. For non-instrument-rated pilots, the challenges can be even grimmer: Low ceilings and visibilities can wreck carefully made schedules by forcing us to stay on the ground.