Who Do You Trust?

It was a dark and stormy day...seriously. Family issues required me to get to Clark Regional Airport (KJVY) in Jeffersonville, Ind. But the prognoses for the route from Augusta Municipal Airport (3AU) outside of Wichita, Kan., predicted lines of storms scattered across the 600-odd miles.

Editorial Staff

Sunday, April 22, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

A pilot flying through scattered storms followed an Air Traffic Control (ATC) recommendation to deviate through a "soft spot" in a larger storm instead of a wider, visually identified detour.
This decision led to an unexpected and prolonged encounter with severe Level 3-4 weather, as the controller lacked crucial weather radar and misjudged the storm's intensity.
The incident highlighted the critical lesson for the pilot to prioritize their own visual assessment and available information over ATC advice, especially when the controller's data sources are limited.

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It was a dark and stormy day…seriously. Family issues required me to get to Clark Regional Airport (KJVY) in Jeffersonville, Ind. But the prognoses for the route from Augusta Municipal Airport (3AU) outside of Wichita, Kan., predicted lines of storms scattered across the 600-odd miles.

The storms were also forecast to be widely scattered with no overcast. Instrument current and confident in my ability to see and avoid the boomers, my Comanche and I launched for the four-hour flight at about 10 a.m. Central time.