I’ve known and worked with Richard Collins for 28 years, and he has taught me much about flying. I can’t believe there is any general aviation pilot who has traveled more in the IFR system than he has. But I never really fully shared his enthusiasm for studying and understanding the big weather picture. My attitude has been the weather is as you find it. Why should I care if that mean-looking cloud ahead or the precip on my radar was caused by a cold front, warm front, low, high or inverted trough aloft?
My attitude toward weather works pretty well, particularly with the improvements in technology that we have seen over the past years. Flight directors and good autopilots that are common even in light airplanes make flying the perfect ILS a snap, so minimum visibility isn’t the challenge it used to be. Weather radar can find heavy precip miles ahead of the airplane, making it possible to avoid thunderstorms, whatever caused them. And more and more airplanes have ice protection that gives you time to escape icing conditions with a change in altitude or route.
